Kate\’s Rants

old college essay November 3, 2008

I was searching for my transcript from college in my old emails (hoping i had maybe sent it to my parents or something) because i honestly cannot remember my GPA. it really wasn’t THAT long ago, right? 

anyway, i found this awesome essay/journal entry i had emailed to my professor of my children’s lit class:

Kate O’Hara

Ravenclaw

Journal 4

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Issues in Identity

In the chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets titled “The Polyjuice Potion”, Harry and Ron face the challenge of being in someone else’s shoes, which relates to the book as a whole in that Harry faces continuous troubles facing his identity, and tries to come to terms with who he is.  In the beginning of the chapter, Harry is brought to the headmaster Dumbledore’s office, and is introduced to Fawkes, a phoenix, and re-introduced to the sorting hat (a hat that talks to you when you put it on, and decides which of the four houses you will be in).  The sorting hat is an interesting recap, because during this school year, Harry is having difficulty accepting the sorting hat’s decision to put him in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin.  Harry has found out that he speaks Parselmouth, a snake language, the same as the founder of the Slytherin house, and also the same as the heir who is out to kill all the muggle-borns.  This presents an interesting crisis in Harry’s young life, for he knows that the sorting hat originally thought he should go in the Slytherin house.  While in Dumbledore’s office, Harry tries on the sorting hat again, to reassure himself, but finds the sorting hat still thinking Harry would have done well in Slytherin.  With the mention of that word, Harry jerks the hat off of his head, and turns to see Fawkes.  The introduction of a phoenix is another interesting comment on identity.  A phoenix is reborn after it dies, so it does not really ever die.  The fact that Fawkes bursts into flames right in front of Harry shows him that even though something seems like one thing, it really can be another.  Although Harry thinks Fawkes is a goner, in all reality, he is simply being reborn.  Lately everything in Harry’s life has been a mix of messes, and Harry really does not know what is going on.  People are scared of him, for the wrong reasons.  Having something solid to believe in is very important to Harry right now, and will help him later on.  In addition to that, Dumbledore tells Harry all of a phoenix’s qualities, which will come in useful later on.  Next, the chapter transitions into the upcoming winter break, and who is staying at Hogwarts.  The fact that most people are leaving is important to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, because they want to test the Polyjuice Potion and find out if their enemy, Malfoy, knows anything about the heir of Slytherin and the accidents that have been happening around the school.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione take the potion, Harry turning into Goyle, Ron turning into Crabb, Malfoy’s two sidekicks.  Hermione refuses to go with them, saying she will catch up with them later on, all the while staying in the bathroom stall.  Harry and Ron seek out Malfoy, and get him to tell them some information.  They learn that Malfoy is not the heir to Slytherin, but he wishes he knew who it was so he could help them.  A lot of light is shed on Malfoy’s character in this chapter.  It seems as if Malfoy tries too hard to be evil, and that he only wants to impress his father.  He also talks about Hermione in such a way that one is reminded of elementary school and pulling of pigtails. Malfoy is like Harry in some ways, because he too, is having an identity crisis.  He comes from an evil family, and he feels he must do evil things.  He must hate all muggle-born witches and wizards, he must go around wreaking havoc, and he must be an enemy of Harry Potter’s.  The fact that Malfoy is obviously attracted to Hermione makes him very uncomfortable, because she is a so-called “mud-blood” and interferes with his pure-blood heritage.  His way of dealing with this attraction is to attack her personally, and try to make it seem less obvious that he likes her.  Malfoy only wants to impress his father, and by liking a muggle-born witch, he is letting his father down.  Malfoy seems lost and confused, just as Harry is.  Meanwhile, Harry and Ron face a different identity, by literally being in someone else’s shoes.  They have the opportunity to be someone else for an hour, and by taking this opportunity, they learn just how it is to be Crabb and Goyle.  The get a first hand look at Malfoy’s character, and they get incriminating information about Malfoy’s family.  Finally, at the end of the chapter, Ron and Harry meet up with Hermione in the bathroom again, only to find she has put a cat hair in her polyjuice potion, and has turned partly into a cat.  Hermione’s “miss perfect” identity is shocked when this blunder reveals that Hermione is NOT perfect, and makes her a little more human (once she gets re-transfigured from being a cat/human).  Since she is perfect most of the time, this reveals that she can make mistakes and she does have feelings.  Instead of laughing at her, Harry and Ron comfort her and take her to the nurse to get fixed.  The bonds of friendship are shown once again.  

The comments on identity run strong through this chapter.  Everyone is confused as to who they are, especially Harry and Malfoy. They are actually a lot more similar than they think, and one is reminded of two opposite ends of the same pole.  Identity is a strong theme in a lot of children’s books, because children are growing and learning who they are.  perhaps people in general are continually changing and growing, but children are doing it at a rapid pace, and can change drastically in a matter of months.  this common thread can be found in a few fairy tales: The Little Mermaid (she wants to be a human, wants to leave everything she knows), Cinderella (changing a pumpkin into a carriage, a wench into a princess), as well as some books: Tom Sawyer (wants to be Huckleberry Finn), The Secret Garden (Mary and Colin grow and learn who they are, change their personalities and identities when in the garden and because of it), The Wind in the Willows (Toad is continually searching for who he is through a mix of adventures and new interests).  identity is something that everyone wants a solid grasp on, and will go through pain and suffering to find themselves.  

ever think there was that much depth in harry potter?