Higher Level Of Thinking Essay, Research Paper

A Higher Level of Thinking

In J.K. Rowling s Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone, the author uses the aspect of fantasy to teach courage, friendship and sticking up for yourself through the main character who is enchanted by the world of wizardry. In Edwin A. Abbott s Flatland, the author demonstrates through his analogy of the transcendence of A2 becoming A3 the idea of higher dimensions. Abbott presents fantasy through the morphisis that A2 undergoes to achieve the destiny of transcending away from simpleness. Rowling s technique is similar because the story begins with a human character and we are left with the view of humanity being far more complex, which is his was of presenting fantasy as well. The major difference between the two authors is that Flatland shows more morphisis than Harry Potter. In both books the exploration fantasy is evident because when the main characters enter the story, they are viewed as being normal then they undergo a transformation and make contact with something that is part of the irregular, and the imaginary.

Rowling presents fantasy through Harry Potter who begins the story as a regular child and then discovers his true destiny in wizardry. In parallel this shows us that there is much more to humanity than what appears at first glance. Potter demontrates to the reader how to be courageous through the adventure that he is part of. The whole quest in preventing evil Voldemort in obtaining the philosopher s stone and the battle at the end demonstrates the courage Harry had within him that he never truly believed he possessed. As soon as Harry enters Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he starts making many new friendships. He discovers the game of Quidditch and surprisingly becomes very good at it. That is one of the events in the story which helps Harry make a lot of friends. The friend that Harry makes at Hogwarts end up helping him towards the end to save everyone from Voldemort in the deadly duel. The fact that at the beginning of the story Harry is living under a staircase in a tiny room and is unfairly treated then leaves everything behind to pursue his destiny shows readers how to stick up for themselves. All important transformations in the story occur at Hogwarts, which is the world of fantasy itself. Clearly, the author uses fantasy to portray her influential message to readers. On a higher level, after reading this book we are left behind thinking of humanity in a different way, which is what makes this book and the fantastic world it brings us into quite interesting.

In Flatland Edwin A. Abbot demonstrates fantasy through A2 s transcendence into A3 as an analogy in order to introduce a higher level of thought. Abbott uses geometry to show us the limitations imposed by our own restricted worldview, which is also a satire about Victorian England. For example, in the main character’s universe of two dimensions, the number of sides you have as a polygon determines one s intellect and social class. The workers have three sides and are triangles, the middle class is made up of squares, and the professionals and the nobility have five sides or more. But basically the principle is, the more sides you have, the higher up the social scale you are. The king of this odd dimension has so many sides he is basically a circle. Then there are the women, who are virtually straight lines, pointed at each end, which essentially means they have no intelligence. If a woman bumps into a “higher” polygon she will puncture their side and instantly kill them. This means women are both the dumbest and most dangerous creatures in this strange dimension. If a woman is coming at you straight on, she is presumably invisible, and you can bump into her without knowing she is even there and accidentally kill yourself. Hence, there is a law requiring women, when they are out and about, to make a lot of noise so that other polygons will be able to avoid destroying themselves. Anyhow, there is excessive viscious social satire in this story and that s why A2 wants to achieve the goal of transcending away from the two-dimensional world. Abbott presents all of A2 s emotions in the process of becoming A3, which demonstrates the view of fantasy.

Abbott and Rowling present fantasy similarly in the sense that after reading their stories, the reader is left thinking of humanity as being a lot more complex that we normally view it. In Harry Potter, the main character begins the story as a normal boy in the world of muggles but he soon discovers there is a lot more to life when he enters the world of magic and wizardry. In Flatland, A2 starts the story as being stuck in a world with only two dimensions, but he ventures to the world of limeland to escape the simpleness. In both stories, the main characters begin in a normal world and end up pondering that world from the outside, which is the fantastic world. In A2 s case the fantastic world is one of a higher dimensionality, and it Harry s case it is one of wizardry, both are presumably taboo.

The main difference between the two story lines is that in Flatland, there was a lot more morphisis of the main character happening that in Harry Potter. Harry Potter doesn t undergo a physical change, his attitudes alter due to the fact he was attending Hogwarts. Compared to Flatland, where A2 actually becomes, and achieves an extra dimension and truly demonstrates a physical morphisis, on the other hand, Harry undergoes a mental morphisis. Nevertheless they both change drastically as characters. There was also a difference in the endings of these two stories. In Harry Potter, the main character achieves his destiny unlike in Flatland. The reason why A2 gets cut off from all fantasy and destiny is because in Abbott s time beliefs were narrow minded. The belief was that society is imprisoned and cut off from fantasy and one person can t change everyone s way of looking at things. This had to do with Abbott s satire against the structure of Victorian society.

In conclusion, Rowling and Abbott both present fantasy via the means of higher thought. The true idea of fantasy is that reality is beyond what we regularly view. Both authors wrote stories, which leave the reader lost in thought for hours about what life really is or means. These enlightening stories project the reader into the irregular and make them look at life perceived as normal, but from an outside perspective to achieve a deeper understanding. These two stories really help open up your mind and look at things quite differently, especially Flatland. After reading these stories, one could have a good sense of what fantasy is, and how some authors use it effectively to deliver their message. Fantasy is successfully employed in these stories, as it demonstrates that humanity is far more complicated than it seems.