J. K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling’s Twist of Realism and Fantasy

There are certain twists that are put into play in all of J.K. Rowling’s books that makes them more fun and interesting.  The books all make the reader feel like the story could actually happen, even with all of the wizardry.  The books encompass some very real things in their adventurous pages that add to the fantasy style of book.  It is important to comprehend that this realness is why children love these books and understand them so well.

The realism that Rowling’s books include is derived from the very realistic characteristics of the story itself.  It all begins with the character development.  The characters in the books are developed very extensively making them seem very natural and believable.  This gives them a very strong sense of being very real humans and not just some character out of a book.  Harry has an aunt, uncle and cousin that any normal family would have and I think this builds on children being able to relate to it as possible.

The settings in her books also demonstrate characteristics that enforce the idea of real place when actually it is a very unnatural world.  This is done quite evidently in her books.  It is shown in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone chapter’s 1-3 and throughout her books in how there is actually a normal world that goes along with the unnatural one.  This normal world has regular families, cities, streets, houses and trains as described in the pages of her first book.

 The actual plot and events also enhance the realism that is being portrayed in the stories because they are told in a predictable fashion.  This leaves the reader unconfused and understanding what is going on. To young readers this is a part of making the story seem believable.  The books also include some lessons within their events such as:  caring for one another, treating even the least of us with respect and gaining courage in your life.  Harry needing courage when Voldemort and Quirrell tried to kill him in chapter 17 of Sorcerer’s Stone is an example of this.

These stories also bring forth some very unreal characteristics in their pages to add to the real ones.  Some events and scenarios need a lot of imagination to understand and follow along with like leaving what seems to be a regular society for a magical one (Sorcerer’s Stone chapter 6).  A whole new world is opened up to the reader that is far out of reach from the normal world we are used to.  The imaginary world and events gives the reader a glimpse into what it would be like to toy with life in a way that is impossible in real life.  This gives the reader many new and interesting events not normally seen in everyday life.  This brings a heightened attention level from the reader because they do not want to miss anything.  Just like this reader, “But what happened?” I moaned when my daughter told me what she had done (Common Reader).  She had only read ahead three pages.

All of these unreal characteristics lead to the fantasy part of the book.   It contains a quest which is something seen in most fantasy works.  All of Rowling’s books include a quest that Harry Potter is trying to conquer.  In her first book, Sorcerer’s Stone, it is Harry trying to balance his powers and also find what is hidden on the third floor of Hogwart’s Castle.  The quests are unrealistic in the sense that what they include is uncharacteristic of the world around us.  They are, however, very characteristic of a fantasy work.

J.K. Rowling does a superb job of intertwining these to types of genres together.  She twists the elements of her stories in a way that leaves readers believing the story could actually happen and at the same time recognizing it as the same as a fairy tale in how a lot of things happen that could never be real.  She always pulls them together in great detail giving the stories a very interesting and great quality.  They become very surprising to the reader in how the book works to tell the adventurous story leaving the books to be nothing but very successful. 

--Matt Heuer

Works Cited

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  New York: Authur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 1998.

“A Common Reader” The Akadine Press, Inc. 2001.  
          <www.commonreader.com/cgi-bin/rbox/ido.cgi?3227>

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