The World of Harry Potter
06国教英教1班
王薇 0602025
The summer of 2007 saw the ending of Harry Potter., a world famous fantasy series written by J.K.. Rowling. However, the story of the boy named Harry is now beloved by more and more people all over the world from all works of life.
As a loyal reader of Harry Potter , I love every adventurous story of Harry and his fellow friends and those lovely characters in the books. I believe that to many people like me, Harry Potter is not just a regular, common name, but the name of an amazing person, full of bravery, courage, integrity, love, knowledge, and understanding. And among these seven books, I love the first one especial, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone .Not only because it brings me to the world of magic and fantasy, but because it is an emblem of the friendship between me and my intimate friend who brings Harry to me.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone tells a story about an ordinary boy who named Harry and lives in a cupboard under the stairs at his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's house. And he thinks is normal for someone like him whose parents have been killed in a car crash. He is bullied by them especially by his fat, spoilt cousin Dudley, and thus living a very unremarkable life with only the odd hiccup (like his hair growing back overnight!) to cause him much to think about. It is until an owl turns up with a letter addressed to Harry that all the things overturned! He is literally rescued by a world where nothing is as it seems and magic lessons are the order of the day. He is a wizard! Then he goes into Diagonal Alley , through 3/4 Platform ,takes the Hogwarts Express and finally arrives Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, where he will start his adventurous life. In Hogwarts he knows Ron and Hermione, his true friends of life time, and Dumbledore who is the most wonderful teacher in the world. In his first year in Hogwarts he has flying lessons and feels the most honorable moment in his life after he wins the Quidditch,an intriguing sports game played on broom. He finds out the secret of the Philosopher’s Stone and finally defeats Voldemort ,the evil wizard in the story who try to dictate the magic world as well as the muggles’ world(the world where ordinary people live in ) in a face-to-face confliction.
This is the most frequent reviewed volume of Harry Potter books by me. I love every detail in it. We can have an imagination of the ugly and irritating goblin in Gringotts,the bank in the Diagonal Alley., the Chocolate Frogs which will flee from you if you miss to catch it, the Sorting Hat who can sing and sort students to the four houses——Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. There are so many novel stuff and events in this magic world. To me , the most impressive two are platform nine and three-quarters and the mirror of Erised.
Platform nine and three-quarters is the platform where the Hogwarts Express stops. As a matter of fact ,there is only a solid wall between platform
nine and ten, not mention a big enough platform which can hold a train. At first, Harry thinks it must have something mistaken till he finds the Weasleys. Now the puzzle is revealed——if one wants to reach the platform nine and three-quarters, he need run throng the wall between platform nine and ten. That is wonderful! I never think of that dashing towards a wall will probably discovery a new world. This brings me to the story of Mao Mountain Taoist ,who boasts that he has magic and can do what ordinary people cannot. Once he is asked by people to show a bit of his magic by go through a wall. The too confident Taoist sings a weird song and runs all the way to the wall .Out of his expectations, the wall doesn’t vanish or become soft. It is still an intact cement wall. These two story both entail a plot of rushing through a wall, but we can see absolutely different consequent. And what lies behind the stories is the different notion between Chinese and the western .As we can see from the story of Mao Mountain Taoist ,education in China tends to be admonishing children not to do what seem to be unbelievable, not to discover the unknown .The wall do be something one cannot go through, and children in China should all remember not to be an unrealistic person full of fantasy about nothing. On the contrary, the westerners encourage the children to explore themselves. Their education is encouraging and full of motivation and creativity. They won’t just tell children a story and accordingly, require children not to do something or do something out of their norms no matter whether the children really understand .Behind the wall is not a serious lesson that one cannot do what seems to be formidable but a totally new world one can enjoy. Educations in west give children courage to discover the world and become initiative. No wonder western children are more creative than Chinese children.
The other detail I love best is the mirror of Erised. It is a magical mirror in which one can see his desire .And thus everyone will see different image in it, but only those who have no desire will see themselves. Harry sees his family in the mirror because he is longing for family life. Ron sees he wins the Quidditch and becomes the captain of his team. Dumbledore sees he gets a Christmas stock teemed with presents. People like the mirror of Erised because it can realize everyone’s dream. However it will drive people mad, because the world it fabricates is not real. Everyone has desire and equate desire we can call it pursuit of happiness, but too more is evil and disastrous. Excessive desire will devastate one’s life and distort one’s opinion of happiness. The mirror of Erised reflects a wise philosophy of life.
I read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone at the age of fifteen when the mysterious world unfolds itself before me. There are so many decisions waiting for me to make and so many expectations from family and teachers. Sometimes I feel at a loss and not knowing which road to go. At these days when my true self is shaping, it is pains-taking to think a lot of questions, to shoulder responsibility and meet my destiny bravely. Nevertheless, I met my life long friend at that time just as Harry meets Ron and Hermione. She always screws me up when I am down and share her joyfulness and troubles with
me .She makes life different and school life never seems to be burdensome and boring. It was at my fifteenth birthday that she gave me this book to remind me that life is full of surprises, be ready to accept challenges and be gallant to face with difficulties.
Truly ,I am inspired by Harry’s courage and moved by his friendship with Ron and Hermione. At the sacrifice of his mother, Harry survives. He grows under his uncle’s bullies but never surrenders to the dark side of life. He takes on the mission of fate and fights with You-Know-Who (Voldemort ) and never loses faith in truth , kindness and beauty. With the help of his friends Harry finally saves the world. The three of them help each other and at every crucial moment they are will tightly linked together. Hermione who weighs school
grade and marks best runs a risk to be dropped out of school to make a potion to help Harry. Though Ron sometimes has conflict with Harry, but he always stands out when Harry needs him. He will even sacrifice himself when they track Voldemort and have to play true-man chess. Ron narrowly gets killed. They hang on to each other.
Harry is the hero everyone dreams of reading about. Kind, yet hard, brave, yet still fearful. He enchants us with his remarkable story and powers that he takes us to a place beyond the far reaches of our reality, into our wildest
fantasies and dreams, and urges children and adults alike to have courage. Let’s start our journey in the world of Harry Potter.