Atestat limba engleza

Elev
Maia Mihon

Profesor coordonator
Vanda Stan

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Table of contents:
Chapter 1: Context.3
Chapter 2: Structure, genre and themes......5
2.1 Love..5
2.2 Choice...6
2.3 Importance of rebellion.....7
2.4 Humility7
2.5 Friendship..8
2.6 Death.8
2.7 Power.9
Chapter 3: Plot...10
3.1 Early years...10
3.2 Voldemort returns12
Chapter 4: Adaptations..15
4.1 Films15
4.2 Games..17
4.3 Stage production.18
Chapter 5: Reception.19
5.1 Literary criticism..19
5.2 Social impacts..21
5.3 Controversies...22
Chapter 6: Attractions24
Bibliography..26

Chapter 1: Context
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J. K. Rowling began her career in the early 1990s, writing on restaurant napkins and drinking
cups of espresso while her newborn baby daughter, Jessica, slept soundly at her side. Recently
divorced and living on welfare, Rowling could not afford to properly heat her small apartment,
nor could she buy a word processor, so she instead spent her days in cafes and wrote nearly all of
her first novel by hand. The result of Rowlings work, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
(Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone in the UK), was passed over by dozens of publishers,
who each believed it to be too long, too complex, and far too slow.

"The Elephant House" one of

the cafs in Edinburgh in
which Rowling wrote the first
Harry Potter novel

Eventually, in 1996, British publisher Bloomsbury Press bought the book, and Rowlings
career exploded almost overnight. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone set record sales, made
literary history, and changed the way children read forever. Quickly, Rowling began gathering
prestigious awards. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was eventually named Childrens Book
of the Year at the 1997 British Book Awards, and in 1998 the book was pronounced Best Book of
the Year by both Parenting magazine and the New York Public Library and deemed one of the
best books of 1998 by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist.
Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and again
Rowling won the Smarties Prize. In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to win the award
three times running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow
other books a fair chance. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread
Children's Book of the Year award, though it lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's
translation of Beowulf.

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The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and
the US on 8 July 2000 and broke sales records in both countries. 372,775 copies of the book
were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equaling the number Prisoner of Azkaban sold during
its first year. In the US, the book sold three million copies in its first 48 hours, smashing all
records. Rowling said that she had had a crisis while writing the novel and had to rewrite one
chapter many times to fix a problem with the plot. Rowling was named Author of the Year in the
2000 British Book Awards.
A wait of three years occurred between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter
novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This gap led to press speculation that Rowling
had developed writer's block, speculations she denied. Rowling later said that writing the book
was a chore, that it could have been shorter, and that she ran out of time and energy as she tried
to finish it.
The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on 16 July 2005. It too
broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release.[75] In 2006,
Half-Blood Prince received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.
The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was announced on 21 December 2006 as
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In February 2007 it was reported that Rowling wrote on a
bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book
in that room on 11 January 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July
2007 and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million
copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. The book's last
chapter was one of the earliest things she wrote in the entire series
The Harry Potter books were fabulously successful upon their publication. Most readers like an
unlikely hero, and Harry, with his broken glasses, skinny frame, and late learning about the
wizard world, is such a hero. He succeeds as a result of his enthusiasm, courage, and good
friends. These are all positive traits that any reader can understand and desire. Because Harry's
relatives undervalue his complex and companionable personality, we are satisfied when he
triumphs over people and creatures more powerful than he. Harry is a quirky, unlikely hero.
Rowling's world offers something to everyone. The novel contains all the elements of
adventure stories, including monsters, magic, sports, and miracles. But it also resembles a
detective story. The masterminds in the books are all clever, and they are never who they seem.
Furthermore, the books familiarize Hogwarts, the magic school that Harry attends. Children can
understand and sympathize with the environment of Hogwarts. Gradually, all of the
extraordinary aspects of the school become unsurprising, and Hogwarts resembles any child's
school where all things are connected and everything is contained. Harry is an ordinary boy who
experiences the complexity of growing up, and yet we are able to see this process against an
enchanting and vivid new background.
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Chapter 2: Structure, genre and themes

The Harry Potter novels fall within the genre of fantasy literature; however, in many respects
they are also bildungsromans, or coming of age novels,[31] and contain elements of mystery,
adventure, thriller, and romance. They can be considered part of the British children's boarding
school genre, which includes Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co., Enid Blyton's Malory Towers, St.
Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl series, and Frank Richards's Billy Bunter novels: the Harry Potter
books are predominantly set in Hogwarts, a fictional British boarding school for wizards, where
the curriculum includes the use of magic.[32] In this sense they are "in a direct line of descent
from Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of
British public school life".[33][34] They are also, in the words of Stephen King, "shrewd
mystery tales",[35] and each book is constructed in the manner of a Sherlock Holmes-style
mystery adventure. The stories are told from a third person limited point of view with very few
exceptions (such as the opening chapters of Philosopher's Stone, Goblet of Fire and Deathly
Hallows and the first two chapters of Half-Blood Prince).
In the middle of each book, Harry struggles with the problems he encounters, and dealing with
them often involves the need to violate some school rules. If students are caught breaking rules,
they are often disciplined by Hogwarts professors. However, the stories reach their climax in the
summer term, near or just after final exams, when events escalate far beyond in-school squabbles
and struggles, and Harry must confront either Voldemort or one of his followers, the Death
Eaters, with the stakes a matter of life and deatha point underlined, as the series progresses, by
one or more characters being killed in each of the final four books.[36][37] In the aftermath, he
learns important lessons through exposition and discussions with head teacher and mentor Albus
Dumbledore. In the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry and his friends
spend most of their time away from Hogwarts, and only return there to face Voldemort at the
dnouement.[36]

Love
Love plays a crucial role in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," as well as all of the
remaining books in the series. Rowling demonstrates the power of love from the very beginning
of the narrative by explaining that Harry's ability to survive Voldemort's killing curse is a direct
result of his mother's love. By sacrificing her own life to save that of her son, Lily Potter gave
Harry an magical form of protection that shielded him from Voldemort's curse and nearly
destroyed the dark wizard. As Professor Dumbledore asserts, Voldemort is incapable of
understanding love, particularly in comparison to the strength of his own dark power, and so he
was taken entirely by surprise when it came to Lily's sacrifice.

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Harry's own ability to love and be loved are the key traits that distinguish him from Voldemort
and ensure that Harry will never be seduced by the Dark Arts. Harry's love for his parents instill
him with an earnest determination to defeat Voldemort and rebell against anything associated
with the Dark Arts (thus, Harry's refusal to be sorted into Slytherin House). Harry's ability to
love also provides him with a support system of friends that Voldemort can never hope to match.

Choice
One of the most important themes that Rowling discusses in the book is the concept of choice
and free will. From the start of the book, Rowling describes many uncanny similarities between
Harry and Voldemort: their twin wands, their connection to snakes, even their some aspects of
their appearance. In some respects, Harry seems fated to follow in the footsteps of Voldemort, a
destiny which is demonstrated in the Sorting Hat's initial intention to sort Harry into Slytherin
House. Yet, Harry refuses to take a passive role when it comes to his own future, particularly
when it means following the path marked by the dark wizard who killed his parents. Thus,
instead of accepting the Sorting Hat's decision, Harry refuses to be placed in Slytherin House and
is placed in Gryffindor House instead.

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As Professor Dumbledore later explains to Harry, it is the choices made by an individual that
determine what kind of person they are and why kind of person they will become. Nothing is cut
in stone when it comes to an individual's future, but, as Harry demonstrates, each individual has
the opportunity to change the direction of their life through significant, as well as insignificant,
choices.

The Importance of Rebellion

Over the course of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," Harry, Ron, and Hermione break
many school rules in pursuing their adventures. Harry, in particular, is always willing to break a
Hogwarts rule if it means taking action or doing something that he believes is right. Although
Rowling does admit that the rules imposed at Hogwarts are meant to keep the students safe, she
also presents Harry's disregard for these rules as a heroic quality of his character. He is able to
think for himself and, depending on the situation, making judgment calls that have the potential
to save lives. Moreover, Harry is perfectly willing to accept the consequences for his rebellion,
just as long as he is able to take action when he can.
It is significant to note that Harry never breaks the rules simply for the sake of breaking them:
he breaks rules only when he truly believes that his actions are necessary. His selfless and
compassionate nature (contrasting sharply with that of Lord Voldemort) is also highlighted in his
reasons for breaking the rules. For example, one of the first rules that Harry breaks is during the
flying lesson with Madam Hooch when Harry flies after Malfoy in order to retrieve Neville's
Remembrall. Harry does not disobey Madam Hooch's direct orders in order to show off; he
breaks the rules in order to retrieve the gift that Neville received from his grandmother.

Humility
One of the primary traits that differentiates Harry from the more malevolent characters in the
book, such as Voldemort and Draco Malfoy, is his humility. Despite his reputation as the boywho-lived and his skills in Quidditch, Harry maintains a modest persona throughout the novel. If
anything, the extra attention that he receives because of his background makes him
uncomfortable and insecure; he feels that he can never be extraordinary enough to be worthy of
such an esteeemed reputation. Harry's humility is, in part, a direct result of his neglected
childhood with the Dursleys. Because he was never treated as someone who was special, Harry
grew up with the understanding that respect is not readily given and must be acheived. When
Dumbledore left Harry with the Dursleys, he knew that Harry would be mistreated. Yet, he also
realized that, by growing up away from the wizarding world that would put him on a pedestal, he
ensured that Harry would grow up without being spoiled by pride and arrogance.
Harry's humility becomes particularly significant as a theme of the book when he faces
Voldemort in the dungeons of Hogwarts. Neither Voldemort nor Professor Quirrell is able to
retrieve the Sorcerer's Stone from the Mirror of Erised because they are both thinking of ways
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that the Stone will benefit themselves. Harry, on the other hand, thinks only of retrieving the
Stone in order to save other people from Voldemort's tyranny: with his humble nature, it would
never occur to him to use the Sorcerer's Stone for his own selfish purposes.

Friendship
Throughout the book, Rowling expresses the importance of friendship, particularly when it
comes to overcoming challenges and difficult tasks. Before coming to Hogwarts, Harry is
completely isolated. Not only does he not have a loving family environment, but he does not
have any friends to serve as a support system. After becoming a student at Hogwarts, however,
Harry quickly creates a large group of friends but, more importantly, a close relationship with
Ron and Hermione. For most of the students at Hogwarts, a strong group of friends helps with
homesickness and difficult classes. Yet, in Harry's case, Rowling draws a more obvious parallel
between friendship and difficult life challenges: the only way that Harry is able to reach the
Mirror of Erised in the dungeons of Hogwarts is with Ron and Hermione's help. Hermione and
Ron both tackle specific challenges that Harry would have been unable to face on his own,
specifically Professor McGonagall's challenge of the giant wizarding chess and Professor Snape's
challenge of the potions. In this case, Harry's friendship with Ron and Hermione saves his life
and allows him to keep Voldemort from finding the Sorcerer's Stone.

Harry's friendship with Ron and Hermione is also significant in the way that it further
distinguishes Harry from Voldemort. Although Voldemort is far more powerful than Harry, he
prefers to be isolated and independent from those around him. Even Professor Quirrell, who
drinks unicorn blood for him, is nothing more than a servant to Voldemort. Because Voldemort
lacks the ability to form lasting friendships, he is always alone and has only himself to rely on.
Harry, on the other hand, is able to rely on himself while still drawing upon the support system
and exceptional magical talents of his close friends.

Death
Near the end of the book, Professor Dumbledore tells Harry, "Death is but the next great
adventure." Rowling does not describe death as something to be feared or dreaded, but rather a
part of the natural cycle of life that should be embraced as part of an individual's humanity.
Death can also be viewed as something beautiful. For example, by sacrificing her own life for
Harry, Lily Potter gave him the wondrous protection of her love and a chance at a life free from
Voldemort's tyranny. Her death also provided Harry with purpose in his life and the
determination to stop Voldemort from harming other innocent people.
Although none of the main characters die over the course of the book, Rowling still makes a
clear distinction between the natural process of death and Voldemort's warped attempts to
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"defeat" it and attain immortality. After his failed attempt to kill Harry, Voldemort spent the next
ten years existing only as "shadow and vapor," neither dead nor alive. Voldemort acheives a
twisted form of immortality, but his refusal to accept the natural order of life and death
demonstrates his evil nature and further distinguishes him from the pure-hearted Harry.

Power
The theme of power serves as another distinguishing trait between Harry and Voldemort.
Voldemort's primary goal during his reign of terror over Britain was to acheive absolute power in
both the wizarding and Muggle community. Even after he is nearly destroyed by his backfiring
killing curse, Voldemort's objective is still to acheive absolute power, first by stealing the
Sorcerer's Stone and using the elixir of life to construct another body and second, to reach the
same height of tyranny that he had enjoyed before his downfall. Harry, on the other hand, has no
interest in acheiving absolute power. His modest and pure nature leads him to desire nothing
more than the company of his lost parents, as well as a little less attention from those around
him. In fact, it is because Harry does not desire power that he is able to retrieve the Sorcerer's
Stone from within the Mirror of Erised: Professor Quirrell and Voldemort both want to use the
Stone to gain power.

In the theme of power, Rowling notably provides Professor Dumbledore as a foil to Voldemort.
Professor Dumbledore is a highly-skilled wizard and, Rowling points out, is the only wizard that
Voldemort is truly afraid of. Yet, instead of using his vast magical knowledge to seize power and
dominate those around him, Dumbledore is incapable of being corrupted by power. The only
power that he desires is the power to shape young witches and wizards to use their magic safely
and for the benefit of society.
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Chapter 3: Plot
The novels revolve around Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers at the age of 11 that he is a
wizard, living within the ordinary world of non-magical people, known as Muggles. The
wizarding world is secret from the Muggle world, presumably to avoid persecution of witches
and wizards. His ability is inborn, and such children are invited to attend an exclusive magic
school that teaches the necessary skills to succeed in the wizarding world. Harry becomes a
student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it is here where most of the events
in the series take place. As Harry develops through his adolescence, he learns to overcome the
problems that face him: magical, social and emotional, including ordinary teenage challenges
such as friendships, infatuation and exams, and the greater test of preparing himself for the
confrontation in the real world that lies ahead.
Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life with the main narrative being set in the years
199198. The books also contain many flashbacks, which are frequently experienced by Harry
viewing the memories of other characters in a device called a Pensieve.
The environment Rowling created is completely separate from reality yet also intimately
connected to it. While the fantasy land of Narnia is an alternative universe and the Lord of the
Rings' Middle-earth a mythic past, the wizarding world of Harry Potter exists in parallel within
the real world and contains magical versions of the ordinary elements of everyday life. Many of
its institutions and locations are recognizable, such as London. It comprises a fragmented
collection of overlooked hidden streets, ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles
that remain invisible to the Muggle population.

Early years
When the first novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published in some
countries as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) opens, it is apparent that some significant
event has taken place in the wizarding worldan event so very remarkable, even the Muggles
notice signs of it. The full background to this event and Harry Potter's past is revealed gradually
through the series. After the introductory chapter, the book leaps forward to a time shortly before
Harry Potter's eleventh birthday, and it is at this point that his magical background begins to be
revealed.
Harry's first contact with the wizarding world is through a half-giant, Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of
grounds and keys at Hogwarts. Hagrid reveals some of Harry's history. Harry learns that as a
baby he witnessed his parents' murder by the power-obsessed Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who
then attempted to kill him also. For reasons not immediately revealed, the spell with which
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Voldemort tried to kill Harry rebounded. Harry survived with only a lightning-shaped scar on his
forehead as a memento of the attack, and Voldemort disappeared afterwards. As its inadvertent
savior from Voldemort's reign of terror, Harry has become a living legend in the wizarding
world. However, at the orders of the venerable and well-known wizard Albus Dumbledore, the
orphaned Harry had been placed in the home of his unpleasant Muggle relatives, the Dursleys,
who kept him safe, but hid his true heritage from him in hopes that he would grow up "normal".
With Hagrid's help, Harry prepares for and undertakes his first year of study at Hogwarts. As
Harry begins to explore the magical world, the reader is introduced to many of the primary
locations used throughout the series. Harry meets most of the main characters and gains his two
closest friends: Ron Weasley, a fun-loving member of an ancient, large, happy, but poor
wizarding family, and Hermione Granger, a gifted and very hardworking witch of non-magical
parentage. Harry also encounters the school's potions master, Severus Snape, who displays a
deep and abiding dislike for him, and the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Quirinus
Quirrell, who later turns out to be controlled by Lord Voldemort. The plot concludes with Harry's
second confrontation with Lord Voldemort, who in his quest for immortality, yearns to gain the
power of the Philosopher's Stone, a substance that bestows everlasting life.

Harry holding the

Philosopher's Stone after he

The series continues with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets describing Harry's second
year at Hogwarts. He and his friends investigate a 50-year-old mystery that appears tied to recent
sinister events at the school. Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, enrolls in her first year at
Hogwarts, and finds an old notebook which turns out to be Voldemort's diary from his school
days. Ginny becomes possessed by Voldemort through the diary and unconsciously opens the
"Chamber of Secrets," unleashing an ancient monster which begins attacking students at
Hogwarts. The novel delves into the history of Hogwarts and a legend revolving around the
Chamber that soon frightened everyone in the school. The book also introduces a new Defence
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Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, a highly cheerful, self-conceited know-it-all
who later turns out to be a fraud. For the first time, Harry realizes that racial prejudice exists in
the wizarding world even before, and he learns that Voldemort's reign of terror was often directed
at wizards who were descended from Muggles. Harry also learns that his ability to speak
Parseltongue, the language of snakes, is rare and often associated with the Dark Arts. The novel
ends after Harry saves Ginny's life by destroying a basilisk and the enchanted diary which has
been the source of the
problems.
The third novel, Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
follows Harry in his third year
of
magical education. It is the
only book in the series which
does
not
feature
Lord
Voldemort. Instead, Harry
must deal with the knowledge
that he has been targeted by
Sirius Black, an escaped mass
murderer believed to have
assisted in the deaths of
Dementors, first portrayed in Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry's parents. As Harry
struggles with his reaction to
the dementorsdark creatures with the power to devour a human soulwhich are ostensibly
protecting the school, he reaches out to Remus Lupin, a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher
who is eventually revealed to be a werewolf. Lupin teaches Harry defensive measures which are
well above the level of magic generally executed by people his age. Harry learns that both Lupin
and Black were best friends of his father and that Black was framed by their fourth friend, Peter
Pettigrew. In this book, a recurring theme throughout the series is emphasizedin every book
there is a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, none of whom lasts more than one school
year.

Voldemort returns
During Harry's fourth year of school (detailed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Harry is
unwillingly entered as a participant in the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous contest where
Harry must compete against a witch and a wizard "champion" from visiting schools as well as
another Hogwarts student, causing Harry's friends to distance themselves from him. Harry is
guided through the tournament by their new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor
"Mad-Eye" Moody, who turns out to be an impostorone of Voldemort's supporters named
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Barty Crouch, Jr. in disguise. The point at which the mystery is unraveled marks the series' shift
from foreboding and uncertainty into open conflict. Voldemort's plan to have Crouch use the
tournament to bring Harry to Voldemort succeeds. Although Harry manages to escape, Cedric
Diggory, the other Hogwarts champion in the tournament, is killed by Peter Pettigrew and
Voldemort re-enters the wizarding world with a physical body.
In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry must confront the newly
resurfaced Voldemort. In response to Voldemort's reappearance, Dumbledore re-activates the
Order of the Phoenix, a secret society which works from Sirius Black's dark family home to
defeat Voldemort's minions and protect Voldemort's targets, especially Harry. Despite Harry's
description of Voldemort's recent activities, the Ministry of Magic and many others in the
magical world refuse to believe that Voldemort has returned. In an attempt to counter and
eventually discredit Dumbledore, who along with Harry is the most prominent voice in the
wizarding world attempting to warn of Voldemort's return, the Ministry appoints Dolores
Umbridge as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts and the new Defence Against the Dark Arts
teacher. She transforms the school into a dictatorial regime and refuses to allow the students to
learn ways to defend themselves against dark magic.
With Ron and Hermione's suggestion, Harry reluctantly forms "Dumbledore's Army," a secret
study group aimed to teach his classmates the higher-level skills of Defence Against the Dark
Arts that he has learned from his previous encounters with Dark wizards. An important prophecy
concerning Harry and Lord Voldemort is revealed, and Harry discovers that he and Voldemort
have a painful connection, allowing Harry to view some of Voldemort's actions telepathically. In
the novel's climax, Harry and his friends face off against Voldemort's Death Eaters at the
Ministry of Magic. Although the timely arrival of members of the Order of the Phoenix saves the
children's lives, Sirius Black is killed in the conflict.
In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort begins waging open
warfare. Harry and his friends are relatively protected from that danger at Hogwarts. They are
subject to all the difficulties of adolescenceHarry eventually begins dating Ginny, Ron
establishes a strong infatuation with fellow Hogwarts student Lavender Brown, and Hermione
starts recognizing her loving feelings for Ron. Near the beginning of the novel, lacking his own
book, Harry is given an old potions textbook filled with many annotations and recommendations
signed by a mysterious writer; "the Half-Blood Prince." This book is a source of scholastic
success and great recognition from their new potions master, Horace Slughorn, but because of
the potency of the spells that are written in it, becomes a source of concern. Harry takes private
lessons with Dumbledore, who shows him various memories concerning the early life of
Voldemort in a device called a Pensieve. These reveal that in order to preserve his life, Voldemort
has split his soul into pieces, creating a series of horcruxes - evil enchanted items hidden in
various locations, one of which was the diary destroyed in the second book. Harry's snobbish
adversary, Draco Malfoy, attempts to attack Dumbledore, and the book culminates in the killing
of Dumbledore by Professor Snape, the titular Half-Blood Prince.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book in the series, begins directly after the
events of the sixth book. Lord Voldemort has completed his ascension to power and gains control
of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione drop out of school so that they can find and
destroy Voldemort's remaining horcruxes. To ensure their own safety as well as that of their
family and friends, they are forced to isolate themselves. As they search for the horcruxes, the
trio learns details about Dumbledore's past, as well as Snape's true motiveshe had worked on
Dumbledore's behalf since the murder of Harry's mother.
The book culminates in the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione, in conjunction with
members of the Order of the Phoenix and many of the teachers and students, defend Hogwarts
from Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and various dangerous magical creatures. Several major
characters are killed in the first wave of the battle, including Remus Lupin and Fred Weasley.
After learning that he himself is a horcrux, Harry surrenders himself to Voldemort in the
Forbidden Forest, who casts a killing curse (Avada Kedavra) at him. The defenders of Hogwarts
do not surrender after learning of Harry's presumed death and continue to fight on. Harry
awakens and faces Voldemort, whose horcruxes have all been destroyed. In the final battle,
Voldemort's killing curse rebounds off Harry's defensive spell (Expelliarmus) killing Voldemort.
An epilogue describes the lives of the surviving characters and the effects of Voldemort's death
on the wizarding world.

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Chapter 4: Adaptations
Films
In 1998, Rowling sold the film rights of the first four Harry Potter books to Warner Bros. for a
reported 1 million ($1,982,900). Rowling demanded the principal cast be kept strictly British,
nonetheless allowing for the inclusion of Irish actors such as the late Richard Harris as
Dumbledore, and for casting of French and Eastern Europe actors in Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire where characters from the book are specified as such. After many directors including
Steven Spielberg, Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Demme, and Alan Parker were considered, Chris
Columbus was appointed on 28 March 2000 as director for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone (titled "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States), with Warner Bros.
citing his work on other family films such as Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire and proven
experience with directing children as influences for their decision.

The locomotive that featues as Hogwarts

Express in the movies

After extensive casting, filming began

in October 2000 at Leavesden Film
Studios and in London itself, with
production ending in July 2001.
Philosopher's Stone was released on 14
November 2001. Just three days after
the film's release, production for Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, also
directed by Columbus, began. Filming
was completed in summer 2002, with
the film being released on 15
November 2002. Daniel Radcliffe
portrayed Harry Potter, doing so for all
succeeding films in the franchise.

Columbus declined to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, only acting as producer.
Mexican director Alfonso Cuarn took over the job, and after shooting in 2003, the film was
released on 4 June 2004. Due to the fourth film beginning its production before the third's
release, Mike Newell was chosen as the director for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, released
on 18 November 2005. Newell became the first British director of the series, with television
director David Yates following suit after he was chosen to helm Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix. Production began in January 2006 and the film was released the following year in July
2007. After executives were "really delighted" with his work on the film, Yates was selected to
direct Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which was released on 15 July 2009.
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In March 2008, Warner Bros. President and COO Alan F. Horn announced that the final
instalment in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would be released in two
cinematic parts: Part 1 on 19 November 2010 and Part 2 on 15 July 2011. Production of both
parts started in February 2009, with the final day of principal photography taking place on 12
June 2010.
Rowling had creative control on the film series, observing the filmmaking process of
Philosopher's Stone and serving as producer on the two-part Deathly Hallows, alongside David
Heyman and David Barron. The Harry Potter films have been top-rank box office hits, with all
eight releases on the list of highest-grossing films worldwide. Philosopher's Stone was the
highest-grossing Harry Potter film up until the release of the final instalment of the series,
Deathly Hallows, while Prisoner of Azkaban grossed the least. As well as being a financial
success, the film series has also been a success among film critics.

Opinions of the films are generally divided among fans, with one group preferring the more
faithful approach of the first two films, and another group preferring the more stylised characterdriven approach of the later films. Rowling has been constantly supportive of all the films and
evaluated Deathly Hallows as her "favourite one" in the series. She wrote on her website of the
changes in the book-to-film transition, "It is simply impossible to incorporate every one of my
storylines into a film that has to be kept under four hours long. Obviously films have restrictions
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novels do not have, constraints of time and budget; I can create dazzling effects relying on
nothing but the interaction of my own and my readers' imaginations".
At the 64th British Academy Film Awards in February 2011, Rowling was joined by producers
David Heyman and David Barron along with directors David Yates, Alfonso Cuarn and Mike
Newell in collecting the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema
on behalf of all the films in the series. Actors Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who play main
characters Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, were also in attendance.

Games

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There are eleven Harry Potter video games, eight of which correspond with the films and books,
and three other spin-offs. The film/book based games are produced by Electronic Arts, as was
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, with the game version of the first entry in the series,
Philosopher's Stone, being released in November 2001. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
went on to become one of the bestselling PlayStation games ever. The video games are released
to coincide with the films, containing scenery and details from the films as well as the tone and

spirit of the books. Objectives usually occur in and around Hogwarts, along with various other
magical areas. The story and design of the games follows the selected film's characterization and
plot; EA worked closely with Warner Brothers to include scenes from the films. The last game in
the series, Deathly Hallows, was split with Part 1 released in November 2010 and Part 2 debuting
on consoles in July 2011. The two-part game forms the first entry to convey an intense theme of
action and violence, with the gameplay revolving around a third-person shooter style format. The
other spin-offs games, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 14 and Lego Harry Potter: Years 57 are
developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Stage production
On 20 December 2013, J. K. Rowling announced that she was working on a Harry Potterbased
play for which she would be one of the producers. In her statement, the author said that the play
will "explore the previously untold story of Harry's early years as an orphan and outcast". British
theatre producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender will be the co-producers.
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J.K. Rowling stated for the guardian: "Over the years, I have received countless approaches
about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production, but Sonia and Colin's vision was the only
one that really made sense to me and had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought
appropriate for bringing Harry's story to the stage," Rowling said in a statement. "After a year in
gestation, it is exciting to see this project moving on to the next phase. I'd like to thank [Harry
Potter movie studio] Warner Bros. for their continuing support in this project."

Chapter 5: Reception
Literary criticism

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Early in its history, Harry Potter received positive reviews. On publication, the first volume,
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, attracted attention from the Scottish newspapers, such
as The Scotsman, which said it had "all the makings of a classic", and The Glasgow Herald,
which called it "Magic stuff". Soon the English newspapers joined in, with more than one
comparing it to Roald Dahl's work: The Mail on Sunday rated it as "the most imaginative debut
since Roald Dahl", a view echoed by The Sunday Times ("comparisons to Dahl are, this time,
justified"), while The Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive
wit".
By the time of the release of the fifth volume, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the
books began to receive strong criticism from a number of literary scholars. Yale professor,
literary scholar, and critic Harold Bloom raised criticisms of the books' literary merits, saying,
"Rowling's mind is so governed by clichs and dead metaphors that she has no other style of
writing." A. S. Byatt authored a New York Times op-ed article calling Rowling's universe a
"secondary world, made up of intelligently patch worked derivative motifs from all sorts of
children's literature ... written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons,
and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and
celebrity gossip".
Michael Rosen, a novelist and poet, advocated the books were not suited for children, who
would be unable to grasp the complex themes. Rosen also stated that "J. K. Rowling is more of
an adult writer." The critic Anthony Holden wrote in The Observer on his experience of judging
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the 1999 Whitbread Awards. His overall view of
the series was negative"the Potter saga was essentially patronizing, conservative, highly
derivative, dispiritingly nostalgic for a bygone Britain", and he speaks of "a pedestrian,
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ungrammatical prose style". Ursula K. Le Guin said, "I have no great opinion of it. When so
many adult critics were carrying on about the 'incredible originality' of the first Harry Potter
book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a
lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically
ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited."
By contrast, author Fay Weldon, while admitting that the series is "not what the poets hoped
for", nevertheless goes on to say, "but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful
prose". The literary critic A. N. Wilson praised the Harry Potter series in The Times, stating:
"There are not many writers who have JK's Dickensian ability to make us turn the pages, to weep
openly, with tears splashingand a few pages later to laugh, at invariably good jokes ... We
have lived through a decade in which we have followed the publication of the liveliest, funniest,
scariest and most moving children's stories ever written". Charles Taylor of Salon.com, who is
primarily a movie critic, took issue with Byatt's criticisms in particular. While he conceded that
she may have "a valid cultural pointa teeny oneabout the impulses that drive us to
reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art", he rejected her claims that
the series is lacking in serious literary merit and that it owes its success merely to the childhood
reassurances it offers. Taylor stressed the progressively darker tone of the books, shown by the
murder of a classmate and close friend and the psychological wounds and social isolation each
causes. Taylor also argued that Philosopher's Stone, said to be the most light-hearted of the seven
published books, disrupts the childhood reassurances that Byatt claims spur the series' success:
the book opens with news of a double murder, for example.
Stephen King called the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", and
declared "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-cocked sense of humor" to be "remarkable".
However, he wrote that despite the story being "a good one", he is "a little tired of discovering
Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of all seven books.
King has also joked that "Rowling's never met an adverb she did not like!" He does however
predict that Harry Potter "will indeed stand time's test and wind up on a shelf where only the best
are kept; I think Harry will take his place with Alice, Huck, Frodo, and Dorothy and this is one
series not just for the decade, but for the ages".

Social impacts
Although Time magazine named Rowling as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year award,
noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom, cultural comments
on the series have been mixed. Washington Post book critic Ron Charles opined in July 2007 that
the large numbers of adults reading the Potter series but few other books may represent a "bad
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case of cultural infantilism", and that the straightforward "good vs. evil" theme of the series is
"childish". He also argued "through no fault of Rowling's", the cultural and marketing "hysteria"
marked by the publication of the later books "trains children and adults to expect the roar of the
coliseum, a mass-media experience that no other novel can possibly provide".
Librarian Nancy Knapp pointed out the books' potential to improve literacy by motivating
children to read much more than they otherwise would. Agreeing about the motivating effects,
Diane Penrod also praised the books' blending of simple entertainment with "the qualities of
highbrow literary fiction", but expressed concern about the distracting effect of the prolific
merchandising that accompanies the book launches. However, the assumption that Harry Potter
books have increased literacy among young people is "largely a folk legend." Research by the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has found no increase in reading among children
coinciding with the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon, nor has the broader downward trend in
reading among Americans been arrested during the rise in the popularity of the Harry Potter
books. The research also found that children who read Harry Potter books were not more likely
to go on to read outside the fantasy and mystery genres. NEA chairman Dana Gioia said the
series, "got millions of kids to read a long and reasonably complex series of books. The trouble is
that one Harry Potter novel every few years is not enough to reverse the decline in reading."
Jennifer Conn used Snape's and Quidditch coach Madam Hooch's teaching methods as
examples of what to avoid and what to emulate in clinical teaching, and Joyce Fields wrote that
the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class:
"sociological concepts including culture, society, and socialization; stratification and social
inequality; social institutions; and social theory".
Jenny Sawyer wrote in Christian Science Monitor on 25 July 2007 that the books represent a
"disturbing trend in commercial storytelling and Western society" in that stories "moral center
have all but vanished from much of today's pop culture ... after 10 years, 4,195 pages, and over
375 million copies, J. K. Rowling's towering achievement lacks the cornerstone of almost all
great children's literature: the hero's moral journey". Harry Potter, Sawyer argues, neither faces a
"moral struggle" nor undergoes any ethical growth, and is thus "no guide in circumstances in
which right and wrong are anything less than black and white".[120] In contrast Emily
Griesinger described Harry's first passage through to Platform 9 as an application of faith and
hope, and his encounter with the Sorting Hat as the first of many in which Harry is shaped by the
choices he makes. She also noted the "deeper magic" by which the self-sacrifice of Harry's
mother protects the boy throughout the series, and which the power-hungry Voldemort fails to
understand.
In an 8 November 2002 Slate article, Chris Suellentrop likened Potter to a "trust-fund kid
whose success at school is largely attributable to the gifts his friends and relatives lavish upon
him". Noting that in Rowling's fiction, magical ability potential is "something you are born to,
not something you can achieve", Suellentrop wrote that Dumbledore's maxim that "It is our
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choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" is hypocritical, as "the school
that Dumbledore runs values native gifts above all else". In a 12 August 2007 New York Times
review of Deathly Hallows, however, Christopher Hitchens praised Rowling for "unmooring" her
"English school story" from literary precedents "bound up with dreams of wealth and class and
snobbery", arguing that she had instead created "a world of youthful democracy and diversity".

Controversies
The books have been the subject of a number of legal proceedings, stemming either from claims
by American Christian groups that the magic in the books promotes Wicca and witchcraft among
children, or from various conflicts over copyright and trademark infringements. The popularity
and high market value of the series has led Rowling, her publishers, and film distributor Warner
Bros. to take legal measures to protect their copyright, which have included banning the sale of
Harry Potter imitations, targeting the owners of websites over the "Harry Potter" domain name,
and suing author Nancy Stouffer to counter her accusations that Rowling had plagiarized her
work. Various religious conservatives have claimed that the books promote witchcraft and
religions such as Wicca and are therefore unsuitable for children, while a number of critics have
criticized the books for promoting various political agendas.
The books also aroused controversies in the literary and publishing worlds. In 1997 to 1998,
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won almost all the UK awards judged by children, but
none of the children's book awards judged by adults, and Sandra Beckett suggested the reason
was intellectual snobbery towards books that were popular among children. In 1999, the winner
of the Whitbread Book of the Year award children's division was entered for the first time on the
shortlist for the main award, and one judge threatened to resign if Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban was declared the overall winner; it finished second, very close behind the winner of
the poetry prize, Seamus Heaney's translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.

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Image from satirical

newspaper The Onion, which
jokingly proclaimed that Harry
Potter was leading children to
Satanism

In 2000, shortly before the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the previous
three Harry Potter books topped the New York Times fiction best-seller list and a third of the
entries were children's books. The newspaper created a new children's section covering children's
books, including both fiction and non-fiction, and initially counting only hardback sales. The
move was supported by publishers and booksellers. In 2004, The New York Times further split
the children's list, which was still dominated by Harry Potter books into sections for series and
individual books, and removed the Harry Potter books from the section for individual books. The
split in 2000 attracted condemnation, praise and some comments that presented both benefits and
disadvantages of the move. Time suggested that, on the same principle, Billboard should have
created a separate "mop-tops" list in 1964 when the Beatles held the top five places in its list, and
Nielsen should have created a separate game-show list when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
dominated the ratings.

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Chapter 6: Attractions

After the success of the films and books, Universal and

Warner Brothers announced they would create The
Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a new Harry Potterthemed expansion to the Islands of Adventure theme park
at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. The land
officially opened to the public on 18 June 2010.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has five rides.
Three rides opened in 2010 as part of phase one. An additional two rides opened with phase two
in 2014.
Dragon Challenge is a roller coaster which features two distinct tracks built to overlap and
intertwine with each other. The ride was formerly in operation since the park's 1999 opening
under the name Dueling Dragons. The physical coaster is exactly the same, with some new
decor. The attraction was renamed in homage to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament where
Harry and the other contestants are to each duel with a dragon, depicted in chapter 20 of Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The two sides of the coaster have been renamed "Hungarian
Horntail" and "Chinese Fireball", after two of the dragon breeds which appear in the book. It is
the only chasing inverted roller coaster in the world. The queue for this ride features many Harry
Potter relics, including the Goblet of Fire and the Triwizard Cup. In addition, the hike to the ride
features the flying car featured in the second film, as well as Hagrid's hut.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a new attraction inside the replica of Hogwarts
Castle, simulating a tour of the castle and its surrounding grounds. Visitors initially walk through
the castle, interacting with various characters and props from the Potter series, including a speech
from Dumbledore, and directions from Harry, Hermione and Ron, before boarding a "magical
bench" (controlled with a KUKA robotic arm system). Throughout the ride, guests are taken
around the outside of the castle, using a combination of simulated flight as well as encountering
realistic animatronic versions of the Whomping Willow, a horde of dementors, giant spiders, the
Hungarian Horntail Dragon, and a Quidditch match.

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Hogwarts Castle
exterior, part of the
Harry Potter and the
Forbidden Journey

Flight of the

Hippogriff is a steel roller coaster designed for families, located adjacent from "Harry Potter and
the Forbidden Journey". The ride opened in 2000 as the Flying Unicorn.[58] Similar to the
Dragon Challenge, this ride was re-themed prior to the opening of the Wizarding World. The
roller coaster's back-story is that Hogwarts' Care of Magical Creatures professor Hagrid is
teaching young wizards to fly on a Hippogriff (as Harry does in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban) by using a wicker replica of the creature. A re-creation of Hagrid's Hut is passed on the
way for a lesson from Hagrid himself on how to properly approach a hippogriff.
Also, a completely functioning recreation of the Hogwarts Express connects Kings Cross Station
at Universal Studios to the Hogsmeade station at Islands of Adventure. Hogwarts Express was
manufactured by Doppelmayr Garaventa Group.
Four years later, on 8 July 2014, Universal opened a Harry Potter-themed area at the Universal
Studios Florida theme park. It includes re-creation of Diagon Alley and connecting alleys, as
well as, a small section of Muggle London. The flagship attraction is Harry Potter and the Escape
from Gringotts roller coaster ride. Universal also added a completely functioning recreation of
the Hogwarts Express connecting Kings Cross Station at Universal Studios Florida to the
Hogsmeade station at Islands of Adventure. Both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley contain many
shops and restaurants from the book series.
On 15 July 2014, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at the Universal Studios Japan
theme park in Osaka, Japan. It includes the village of Hogsmeade, Harry Potter and the
Forbidden Journey ride, and Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster.[171][172]
There is also The Wizarding World of Harry Potter under construction at the Universal Studios
Hollywood theme park near Los Angeles, California, with a planned opening in 2016.

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Bibliography:

www.wikipedia.com last accessed on 20th of April

www.sparknotes.com last accessed on 18th of April

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1998

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1999

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2003

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing. 2007

www.theguardian.com last accessed on 20th of April

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