HOMEWORK:

pr_chu - 28
ju311 - 22
as300 - 29
an381 -23
br376 - 27
Ni045 - 25
be210 - 26
cy304 - 27
fe001 - 28
se043 - 27
na300 - 30
ma330 - 25
el378 - 21
mi200 - 26
ni200 - 24
mo300 - 28
mi092 - 27

DISCUSSION:

cy304 - 27
br376 - 26
pr_chu - 24
el378 - 24
mi200 - 25
as300 -25
ma330 - 28
na300 - 26
mo300 - 25

HOMEWORK EXAMPLES (from the students):

Characters:

Hagrid

"Rowling describes Hagrid as a gentle person. She doesn’t use any harsh words that would make you believe Hagrid is a bad person. I agree with her view on Hagrid as we’ve seen throughout the books how gentle and loving he really is. When you look at people like Voldemort or Lucius Malfoy she uses words that would make you hate or resent that person."

"His outer appearance totally conflicts with his inner self, conveying the theme appearance vs. reality. Rowling stresses the hugeness of this person, although her style implies that he is a careful, gentle character, with his head "brushing" the ceiling instead of banging into it."

"I love how Rowling brings him to life. With all that hair and being so big you would think that you would be afraid of him, but under that rough image, with his 'glinting eyes' to me they express a sparkliing in his eyes, so you can see that he is friendly. I think Rowling enjoys writing Hagrid's parts...... she gives humor and insight."

"Rowling gives the impression that Hagrid is a misunderstood beast"

Draco Malfoy

"Sickly people are usually pale- those who are neglected- and Draco has been "abused and bullied" by his father in my opinion. Rowling also describes him as constantly sneering. To me this implies jealousy and unhappiness. Draco is jealous of Harry. Slytherin sounds like slithering which is snakelike. Draco is a seeker, like Harry, both seeking acceptance in the wizarding world. I get the feeling that Draco is jealous and abused to a certain extent. He is seeking something, which i quite haven't figured out yet. I would like to believe that there is some good inside of Draco. Every story needs a villain and Draco is that- our hero's enemy. Rowling has to make us, her readers, dislike Draco and i think she does a good job with that."

"Because of the stilted and angular description, Rowling's character development fits Malfoy's appearance. Instead of being soft and cuddly, he's jagged and unapproachable. It sets him apart as someone who the reader shouldn't like. Right off the bat, I got a feeling of distaste for Malfoy, and knew to expect some trouble from him."

"At first, Malfoy is seen as a harmless, innocent and rather pathetic character, with his robes being pinned up by the witch. On his footstool, he appears childish. JK Rowling goes on, comparing him to Harry, showing their similarities and differences in just one line. They are both seekers, yet one is a Gryffindor and the other a Slytherin, total opposites."

"It’s often repeated in the books that Draco is 'pale' with a 'pointed face'.
Perhaps his paleness reflects that he is cold and unfeeling, like a corpse. His 'pointed' and 'sneering' face gives the impression that he is harsh and
callus."

Crabbe and Goyle

"They are the stereotypical brawn without brains."

"A metaphor is used where Crabbe's haircut is compared to a pudding-bowl, showing his obsession with food. JK Rowling uses made up words such as "gorilla-ish" and "musclely" to describe them, to show how silly they are, and how people like them have no effects on society. Clearly Rowling uses them to portray people who don't think for themselves in a pitiful, yet playful tone. She feels, as I do, that they are followers unworthy of real attention."

Sirius

"The physical effects of Azkaban are very obvious, but when he laughs, you can almost see the old glimmer of his younger self."

"Rowling describes Black in such a way as to provoke sympathy but at the same time some suspiscion. When I read the book the first time, which is the reaction Rowling writes for, I had this response. However, reading it multiple times and looking back knowing the endings, it is even more melancholy and sympathy-evoking."

"His appearance seems to be frightening, with the metaphor which compares his face to a 'starved mask'. Clearly, he is expressionless; unaccustomed to interacting with people, he has lost his sense of feeling....... Rowling uses terrifying images to create the picture of Sirius Black, but then the whole image 'broke' to give way for the 'shining' of light and hope. The theme of hope is evident in this paragraph, and the tone and mood show that this is the beginning of happier times."

Quick note from me: The use of "starved" not only refers to a man seeking food and nourishment, but also to a man who for years has been starved for love, trust, and friendship. These are "food for the soul."

Cedric's death:

"The tone is a dark one that all of us must go through in life. And,
like in the book, we rarely have a second to catch our own breaths to
deal with death and disasters, before life pulls us to our feet for the
next battle. "

"The simile 'blank and expressionless as the windows of a deserted house,"'accurately describes the expression in the eyes of a person who has passed on and no longer has a soul to make their eyes alive and sparkling. This simile is also a good use of imagery. A deserted house is an interestingly accurate description of a deceased person's face. A deserted house has been vacated, just like a dead person's body."

"Almost everyone has run across an abandoned, old, delapidated house at some point in their life. If they haven't, they've seen a dramaticized one in a movie or television show. Regardless, we eat have a vision in our heads when we read the phrase "deserted house." For this reason, Rowling's simile is extremely effective because it's a universal image."

"I would think Rowling sees death as a shock, something that even though it's inevitable, comes as a surprise no matter how much warning one has. She relates with the emotional response to the sudden loss of a friend. With her wording, Rowling makes the subject become passive and almost a victim, appearing to be in a daze in which the world acts upon them rather than them acting in the world. She sees friends of the dead as people who momentarily become puppets of the world, reacting rather than acting--only there to respond to things that cannot be controlled. IN this way, she sympathizes with helplessness in the face of death."

"I think it's also key that it's not a gory death."

"Rowling creates a stressful, upsetting mood in which she describes Cedric's death picture. She uses a lot of imagery, similes and metaphors to get the complete image across to the reader, her main aim being to get the reader to feel with Harry and understand his inner emotions.

Rowling uses the factor of time to a great extent in this excerpt. She starts with "for a second" to stress that it was not indeed as long a time as Harry believed. In this second Harry goes over every feature in Cedric's face from the eyes down towards his mouth. Rowling cleverly describes the details of some of Cedric's features, while she leaves others for the reader's imagination. Cedric's eyes are blank and expressionless, yet his mouth expresses some sort of emotion, surprise; this is opposite to normal conditions, when the eyes are what betray a person's feelings most clearly. Indirectly, this gives a sense of Harry's feelings to the reader; it should have been the complete opposite, Harry should have been there alone, and he should be the one dead, not Cedric. The length of the first sentence stresses how long this moment was for Harry.

A variety of sentence structures and literary tools are used in this excerpt. To start the extract, a paradox is used, where "a second" is compared to "eternity," its exact opposite. Rowling goes on to use a simile where the expressionless eyes of Cedric are compared to "the windows of a deserted house," this gives us a sense of Harry's feeling of loneliness. It also reminds the readers of the deserted Riddle House at the beginning of the book, which brings a sense of fear and foreboding upon the reader. The variation of sentence structure shows that the situation which Harry will now face will be different than anything he has experienced before.

The tone used during the description is somber, solemn and serious, yet simple. The diction used is basic and can be understood by all levels of readers. Rowling is to-the-point and does not dwell upon the description. Any further explanation might make the reader too involved with Cedric to appreciate the next scene to its fullest extent. Her tone shows the reader that death is a serious matter and should not be belittled in any cases, it should not even be talked about scornfully; however, it is a matter that needs to be dealt with directly and it should be faced.

Harry's feelings of "numb disbelief" shows that he is still human in spite of all that he has faced, and that facing anything after this shows extreme bravery as most people would not be able to take any more. He is not only a little hero, he has feelings and may not be able to face everything going on in his life. That fact that he is "pulled to his feet" shows that he will be able to continue, and that some outside force will give him the strength to carry on, and keep him on his feet.

This passage is a very emotional one, which has a great impact on the reader. It ends on a suspenseful note and the reader hangs on, wanting more. Harry's feelings are easily brought across to the reader by the diction and images used. The whole structure of the excerpt and its length affect the reader indirectly."

Themes: friendship, good vs. evil, love conquers all, destiny, discrimination, revenge, growth, bravery, time, unyielding faith