Talk:FF Tuesday November 15

Libby Henry: Notes for Tuesday November 15, 2011 Today class began with reminders about meetings for final papers. Students were reminded to bring their one page project proposal to their meeting. Also students should begin working on the annotated bibliography as this is due the Thursday we come back from Thanksgiving break (Dec.1). The last reminders were that students will be required to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl for Thursday’s class and that Group 3 will be posting their final blogs by Wednesday at 9pm. We started today’s discussion on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with group work. Each group was asked to compare the ways in which their character is initially portrayed and the ways in which they are depicted at the novel’s conclusion, and consider why Rowling might offer two such different portraits of the same character. Once the groups finished discussing we came together as a class to discuss what each group talked about. The first group discussed Sirius Black and how he is portrayed negatively in the beginning and middle of the book, but at the end he makes the switch to positive. In the first half of the story he is described as “murderin’ traitor”(206). However, during the scene in the Shrieking Shack Black’s role is reversed as we find out that that it was Pettigrew who actually betrayed Harry’s parents. Black illustrates this change when he exclaims, “YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED…AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!”(375). The group also shared their views as to why Rowling might have created Sirius’s character this way. As a class we discussed that Rowling was trying to show readers that things are not always what they appear and a simple misunderstanding can go very wrong. It also makes her characters seem more human since we are shown that no one is totally bad or good. In this book especially, Rowling creates complex characters and blurs the boundaries between good and evil. Group 2 discussed Lupin and the multiple changes he goes through from the beginning to the end of the novel. Lupin undergoes more changes than any other character in this novel as he goes from good to bad to good again. In the beginning of the story he comes off as homely and some of the students look down on him although he quickly proves to be a very adept teacher and even becomes a father figure to Harry. During the Shrieking Shack scene we become confused about Lupin’s loyalties as we listen to Hermione’s accusations that Lupin has been helping Sirius into the school and wants to harm Harry. We come to think (briefly) that Lupin is bad because of his hidden friendship with Sirius. Once the whole story comes out both Sirius and Lupin change from seemingly bad to good. Throughout the course of the series we learn more about Lupin’s friendships with James and Sirius and we come to see that Lupin really has changed from a mischievous “marauder” in his school days to a responsible adult. Lupin sometimes acts immature around Harry because part of him wants to recreate the relationship that he had with James with Harry. Group 3 discussed the changes in the character Peter Pettigrew. At first Pettigrew is seen as someone to be pitied. He is viewed as the victim both as Pettigrew who was “killed” for no reason and as Scabbers whom Crookshanks was trying to kill. The Shrieking Shack scene is pivotal to his character switch because that is when his true colors show. He is discovered for who he really is and what he has done. He switches from a brave, but slightly stupid hero for trying to hunt down Black, to a cowardly traitor for betraying James and Lily. Rowling added this character to show us that evil is very complex and can exist in layers. She also brings up the issue of trust; people are not sure who they can trust and who is on their side. Lastly, Pettigrew shows us that not everyone is who they appear to be. Group 4 discussed the fairly consistent and mysterious portrait of Snape in this book. Until the final book in the series we are never sure whose side Snape is really on. Throughout this book, Snape is shown to be complex as evidenced by his desperate attempts to get Lupin fired or the trio in trouble, but at the same time he is making the potion for Lupin and covering up for the trio when they knock him out. Since we only see the story from Harry’s point of view Snape’s torment and vindictiveness towards Harry overshadows the actions that show he might actually care about him. We discussed that by giving Snape complexities Rowling is again trying to show that people are not always what they appear and that characters can have many sides to them. The two main sides in Snape are the side that wants to help Harry because he is Lily’s son and the side that loathes Harry because he is James’s son. Group 5 discussed the roles of Crookshanks and Buckbeak. Crookshanks was added to draw more attention to Scabbers and to make him an important part of the plot. In the beginning Crookshanks causes us to sympathize with Ron because the cat seems bad since he is always trying to attack and presumably kill Scabbers. In the end though we realize that Crookshanks is good and has been trying to help Black show Scabbers for what he truly is. Buckbeak also changes over the course of the novel as he becomes less dangerous. In the beginning he seems hostile, requiring Harry to go through the ritual before allowing Harry to pet him, whereas at the end Buckbeak seems to realize the change in situations and allows Sirius to climb on his back and fly away without the ritual. Both of these animals display elements of heroism and villainy and serve to show readers that characters can change from the way they are perceived originally. Next we worked on a Pair/Share activity in which we thought about the similarities and differences between Harry and James. Harry and his friends don’t go looking for trouble, it usually finds them, whereas James and his friends often went looking for trouble, to the point of learning to become Animaguses and creating the Marauder’s Map to lead future students into trouble. Harry is like his dad on the surface, but underneath his is more like his mom. Harry seems to have matured faster than his dad and is not as cool as his dad was. Harry is also a lot kinder then his dad. Someone pointed out a really good explanation as to why Harry was kinder. They said it was because when he was growing up with the Dursley’s Harry suffered a lot of neglect and emotional abuse and he doesn’t want to inflict that on any one. Our last official activity of the day was in-class writing. We were given the choice between writing about the significance of the witch burning essay that Harry has to write at the beginning of the book or the political institution of the Ministry of Magic. After about 5 minutes for writing we came back together and shared what we wrote. First we discussed the Ministry of Magic as a political institution. The Ministry of Magic is portrayed as a self-preserving, corrupt government that cares more about pleasing the public then it does about effectively solving problems. The Ministry is extremely image concerned and is susceptible to external corruption (i.e. Lucius Malfoy). They are not always concerned with their own rules and can be extremely two-faced as evident by the indulgent treatment Harry receives in this novel vs. the harsh and ridiculous trial of the fifth book. The witch burning essay that Harry is attempting to write as the novel begins sets up one of the main themes of this book as well as the series as a whole: prejudice. Many people that medieval muggles burned as witches were not actually guilty of witchcraft. This shows a parallel between the muggle and the magical world where both Sirius and Buckbeak have been prejudiced against and accused of crimes they did not commit. In the series, prejudice is also prevalent in the treatment of non-human creatures and the classification of different blood statuses. This also helps to illustrate the dangers of prejudice and that most prejudices stem from people’s fear of the unknown or things that are different than them. We finished the class by watching this video just for fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvvFiZyEyTA