assignment 2-1

Harry Potter Series Millions of people around the globe see Harry Potter series as a revival of Book Reading. In today’s generation book reading has been places on the back burner, and books are struggling hard to keep up with ever increasing presence of web world. Harry potter changed all that. The last book in the series set a record when it sold approximately 8.3 million copies on the day of release[1]. There are approximately 400 million copies of the book in circulation worldwide. The Harry Potter magic has touched young and adults alike, and interestingly in today’s world of war and deceit the book has transcended every boundary known to man, be it language, culture, age or ethnic background. The book has so far been officially translated into approximately 65 languages. The book is rich in literature and marks its place as one of the best classics since Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Narnia etc. The book essentially has seven parts and tells the journey of an orphan boy who is left to suffer at the hands of his Aunt and Uncle until he realizes he is a wizard. Each part then chronicles his life as he goes to the wizard school for seven years and how in the end Harry wins over the evil with Love and Sacrifice. This series like other fairytales tells us about the war between good and evil and how evil comes to an end sooner or later. The essential theme of the story is centuries old. The author J.K Rowling needs to be credited for the panache with which she has opened the minds of readers to the imaginary world of witchcraft and wizardry. The books are being made into movies and theme parks are being built around the theme of Harry Potter and discussions to include the books as part of school curriculum are in progress. The series goes on to prove that a well-written book never goes out of style. Not everything is beautiful with Harry Potter. Some people have claimed that the book teaches witchcraft that is real. Some have claims that the book uses symbols from “Illuminati” – the secret society propagating the birth of Anti –Christ and hence the book should be banned[2]. All in all the books provides a wonderful reading experience for many. [1] http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/23/news/companies/scholastic_potter/index.htm [2] http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/hp001.cfm