SORCERER'S STONE

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the first in a seven part series by J.K. Rowling. It is a book about a young boy search to find himself and figure out life a long the way.

This essay took a while to write for which of these reasons??

A. Television

B. FACEBOOK

C. Pandora playlist
D. FACEBOOK

Despite the many destractions (cough cough FACEBOOK), a star was born.In the end a great essay in my opinion was written, and i'm happy to I didnt cut myself once.

This story begins with a boy named Harry, who for the majority of his life knew nothing about himself. He finds that he has magical powers and gets to go to school for Wizards. Through this discovery, Harry learns a lot about himself, more than he would like to know for the most part. He goes through the school year making discoveries, and getting in trouble along the way.

Food Criticism came very easy to me in this book. There was so much food being talked about and eaten, I didnt realy know where to start, and where to end. I'm usually depressed when i think of papers in any form, but I really enjoyed digging deep for something to write about.

used Marxist vs. Anti-Marxist to analyze this book. It was the only way that really made sence to me, and i got a lot out of this book using this theory.

Talking about the paper must be mind-numbing, so here it is...ENJOY



Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a book about magic, and life, and inevitably discovering who you are. The book is about a boy named Harry who for the first 10 years of his life knew nothing about himself. The story begins at Number four, Privet Drive, where young Harry is dropped off as a child. His parents were killed in a most unfortunate accident, which left Harry all alone. His only family being his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon means that Harry will have to live with them. This same day, is a big day in the magic community. “You Know Who,” an evil sorcerer is defeated by unknown forces, which causes the magic world to be quite a-buzz. There are Wizards out in the daylight in colorful robes, singing songs, and talking about things that shouldn’t be mentioned in the presence of “Muggles” (humans).
In this world, the magic world, Harry potter is referred to as the “boy who lived,” but in the real world where Harry is forced to live he is nothing. Harry, now age 10, has been living with his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin Dudley for 10 years, and in their eyes he is nothing. He is the black sheep of the family, and anytime the Dursleys can hide Harry's existence, they do. Unfortunately on the day of Dudley’s birthday, they can not hide Harry away. Strange unexplainable things have always happened in Harry’s presence, but this day goes a little too far.
Harry and his family go to the zoo for Dudley’s birthday, and it starts out as a good, day, the best Harry has had in a while. Dudley is easily bored and irritated by the easiest things, and unfortunately the family are at the snake exhibit when Dudley’s patience wears out, and he walks away. Harry goes over to the same snake and begins talking to it, and to his surprise, the snake responds. Dudley sees this, and pushing Harry to the ground to get closer to the glass. He then proceeds to press his fat ugly face against the glass of the snake’s case. Dudley becomes irritated when the snake won’t move for him, he starts banging on the glass. Harry yells at him to get away. One moment the glass to the case is there, and the next moment its not and Dudley falls into the snakes pit. The snake escapes with a thank you to Harry, while Dudley is now trapped in the snake’s case.
Soon after this incident, Harry begins getting strange letters from a school he’s never heard of. Mr. Dursley tries to stop the letters, or at least get his family away from the letters. He doesn’t want Harry to know about magic, and even more he doesn’t want anything to soil his perfect “normal” lifestyle. Inevitably the truth comes out about what Harry is, and to his relief he gets to leave the Dursley’s home and go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry has always known that there is something different about him, but he never in a million years thinks he has magical powers. Even not knowing what he is getting into, Harry was already a million times happier than he has ever been with the Dursleys. When Harry first gets to the school, he is astonished that a world like this even exists, or that he could be a part of it. He has friends now, which he had never really had before: Ron Weasley, a red headed boy, and Hermione Granger, a smart know-it all girl. Unfortunately with Harry’s luck, things just can’t all go well. Harry and his friends go through the school year and through a series of unfortunate events get in a lot of trouble and make a few discoveries along the way.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is also about food. Deep down in every chapter in this book you can find food being mentioned. In almost every scene or at least every chapter, there is some form of food, or even the absence of food being mentioned. The way that the food is displayed and accepted by each character shows a little incite about the characters themselves. In the very first chapter, when Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall are waiting for baby Harry to be delivered by Hagrid, they are discussing “You Know Who”. Dumbledore says “we have a lot to be thankful for” because of “You Know Whose” disappearance. He then pulls out Lemon Drops, a type of muggle sweet that he is fond of, and offers some to Professor McGonagall who turns them down coldly (Rowling, pg.11).
This example of food also shows how Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall act, and how they will act as the book goes on. Professor Dumbledore is a very light hearted man, who likes to lighten every situation, in his presence one tends to feel better, because he radiated goodness like a sun. In this very serious moment, he tries to lighten the mood by eating candy and offering some to Professor McGonagall. Her reaction to this shows how serious she is. She is a very uptight woman, and feels that with the severity of this day, there is absolutely no time for lemon drops (Rowling pg. 11).
In the second chapter food is mentioned quite a bit. It starts with a young Harry, age 10 now, being woken up on Dudley’s birthday by his Aunt Petunia to look after the bacon (Rowling pg.19). Bacon is also mentioned again, as Harry tries to scarf his down as fast as possible before Dudley has a tantrum and turns the breakfast table over (Rowling pg.21). When the Dursleys have to take Harry with them to the zoo for Dudley’s birthday, it slowly becomes the best morning that Harry has had in a long time. After buying Dudley and his friend large chocolate ice creams, Mr. Dursley buys Harry a cheap lemon ice pop because the smiling lady in the van asks him what he wants before they could hurry him away (Rowling pg.26). The family also eats at the Zoo’s restaurant, and when Dudley throws a tantrum because his “Knickerbocker Glory” doesn’t have enough ice cream on the top, Uncle Vernon buys him another one and Harry is allowed to finish the first one (Rowling pg.26). Harry considers this the best morning he has had in a log time because he never gets anything good at all. Even when it’s a left over ice cream, or a cheap lemon pop, he is happy and grateful to get it at all
When Harry finally gets to leave the Dursley’s home and go to Hogwarts he finally has something that he’s never really had in his life, money. The first thing that Harry does with his money is buy all the candy imaginable. On the train to Hogwarts, the candy trolley comes past his cabin, and not wanting to miss out on anything, he buys a little of everything because he has never heard of any of those candies. The trolley doesn’t have any Mars Bar, but it does have Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, and Licorice Wands (Rowling pg.101). Harry, as a person, gets very excited about the little things, because he never had anything to truly be excited about.
Even when the food is less than satisfactory, it is still mentioned. On the train, after Harry buys a mountain of candy, Ron unhappily pulls out a lumpy package and unwraps it. He pulls out four nasty looking corned beef sandwiches (Rowling pg.101). Harry sees these sandwiches and immediately offers Ron some of his candy. This shows Harry’s great generosity , that even though its finally his turn to have something good and sweet, he still shares with others because he knows what it feels like to be on the other side of the spectrum.
Even when there is no food being directly mentioned, u still feel the presence of something big to come. When the kids are being sorted into their respected houses, Harry notes that the tables are laid with glittering golden plates and goblets (Rowling pg.116). You can imagine what great food is to come. The first feast at Hogwarts is probably the most significant display of food. The sparkling empty plates are immediately filled with delicious foods with a few crazy words by Professor Dumbledore. Harry had never seen so many things he likes to eat, or was allowed to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon, and steak, boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy ketchup, and strangely peppermint humbugs (Rowling pg.123).
The strange thing about the food in this book is that it is acknowledged and craved by everyone and everything, even the ghosts in the story. The ghost, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, also known as Nearly Headless Nick sadly admits that the food looks good, and even though he hasn’t eaten in nearly 500 years, he does miss it (Rowling pg.123). You cannot have a beautiful dinner without an equally attractive dessert. Just as quickly as the dishes are filled with food, they are now spotless and clean again. A moment later, the same dishes were now filled with desserts. There are big blocks of ice cream in every flavor imaginable, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O and rice pudding (Rowling pg.124-125).
From this point in the book, food is mentioned but not as much. The big Halloween feast signifies the start of trouble for Harry and the school (Rowling pg. 172). At the Halloween feast, Harry is just as excited for the food as he is for the very first feast at Hogwarts. Just like the first big meal, the table is covered in beautiful glittering golden plates, and just like magic, they are filled with all kinds of foods and Halloween treats. The first meal was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone; Harry however over indulged just a bit. Unlike the first meal, the Halloween meal wasn’t enjoyed at all. Before Harry could even reach for anything, there was danger and the children all had to leave the Great Hall. The final feast isn’t really mentioned much but it was still a big part of the story because it symbolizes the end of the day, the book, and this story. But it also symbolizes the beginning of a new day, and a new life for Harry.
The critical analysis that I’m going to use to analyze this story will be the Marxist theory. But it will also be a spin-off of Marxist vs. Anti-Marxist. It is a battle of the haves and the have not's, but the twist is it is also the battle of the haves and have not’s in one world vs. the haves and the have not’s in another world. In the first world, being the muggle world, Harry is a have not, and for as long as he can remember he has always been a have not. He grew up with nothing, wanting to be more than he was but knowing that he couldn’t. Meanwhile, he lived in a house full of haves. His Aunt and Uncle were the haves who were obsessed with their social standing; they wanted to be normal and nothing more. But in some way they were have not’s also, because even though they were trying to portray this image of being regular normal people, they really weren’t.
In this world, Harry was treated like nothing because he had nothing. He would have to cook for the Dursleys and clean up after them. He was treated like a house servant, and the worst part is that he is family. He was abused by his cousin Dudley whenever he was bored. He was given hand me downs and leftovers because he had nothing of his own. In this world, Harry had no expectations of himself because that’s just the way he was treated. Deep down, he knew he was special, but there was no way of showing that.
In the other world, the magic world, Harry is a have and he had no idea why in the beginning. He is revered by most of the people he met, because he was something special “the boy who lived” (Rowling pg. 17). He finally had friends, and money, a life all his own, and a place he felt he belonged. Even though now he is looked at as a have, he is still a have not. While Harry felt like he belongs in this world, he is still not whole because a big part of him is still missing. The special thing about Harry is that he is not trying to be anything he already isn’t. He finally gets money, but he doesn’t allow it to change his outlook or the way he acts. He doesn’t pick and choose his friends based on who will benefit him more, like Malfoy. He makes friends with good people, like himself.
In the Marxist world Harry is nothing but a house slave to the Dursleys. He would have to cook for them, and was mistreated by the people who were supposed to be his family. If something went wrong, or the Dursleys disapproved of something he did, Harry would be punished. Sometimes he would be locked in his cupboard and he wouldn’t get food. He would have to wait until the whole family was asleep so he could get something to eat. In the Anti-Marxist world, instead of being denied food, there was an over abundance of it and Harry could have anything he wanted. Harry has never seen a table full of different food he liked, let alone was allowed to have back home. As a result of this, Harry indulges, and eats a little bit of everything, not wanting to miss out on anything.
A form of a Utopian Society is created at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is an ideal almost perfect place for wizards; it suites all of their needs and then some. However, it is still divided into different houses, and then further divided into different classes. Hogwarts consist of four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. The two main houses are Gryffindor and Slytherin. The other two houses are really just fillers in the story. Whoever is put in the other houses doesn’t really matter in a sense. This is the first form of separation at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is further divided into full-blooded wizards, half-blooded wizards, and the muggle born wizards. Money and social standing don’t play as big of a role in separating the classes in Hogwarts as birth standing does.
The full-blooded wizards were revered as being first class, and in their eyes they thought they were. Certain wizards like Draco Malfoy feel that they are better than everyone else in the school because he in a full-blooded wizard and he comes from money. He treats everyone like filth and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He even tries to convince Harry to be careful, and to stay away from riffraff’s like the Weasleys and Hagrid or it would rub of on him (Rowling pg. 109).
Class and social standing then play a part In the case of Full-blooded wizards. If you were a full wizard and you had money, like Malfoy, you were looked at as the best. Other wizards who were full-blooded but came from a lower class, like Ron Weasley and his family, were treated just as badly as those who were half or muggle –born wizards. Malfoy made it his job to make sure this kind of separation was enforced.
The Half-Blooded wizards were looked at as middle class. They were no different than anyone else, but because they weren’t full wizards they were looked down upon by those who were. They weren’t treated as badly because for the most part no one cared what you were. There were only a select few people who made it their business to differentiate between the wizards. If a person was a muggle-born wizard they were looked at as the lowest of all people. They were considered filthy and they had “dirty-blood”.
Even though in the magic world muggles are looked at as inferior, the haves in both worlds act and think the same. The wizards are just like the muggle, whether they like it or not. They approach people the same, and they base there judgment of people on what class they are from. In both worlds however, the haves still have the power. In the muggle world, Harry’s family still have control over him. He has to do what they say and when they say it. In the magic world Harry is a have, but he refuses to act like the rest of the haves. He knows and understands what its like to be mistreated, and in turn he stands up for himself and all the others who aren’t in power. This story has more lessons, and hidden messages than I ever imagined.