As Sam Jackson stated in his blog Rowling captures your
attention from the very beginning of book one because her readers are very
quickly interested and then immersed in this entire world that she has created.
She wastes no time as chapter one of Sorcerer’s
Stone she introduces two polar opposite characters in Vernon Dursley and Albus
Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. These characters are too different for
reader to be able to truly relate to both and Iser explains why later in the “The
Reading Process” in which he goes on to say that “consequently when reading we operate on
different levels. For although we may be thinking the thoughts of someone else,
what we are will not disappear completely - it will merely remain a more or
less powerful virtual force. Thus, in reading there are these two levels - the
alien “me“ and the real, virtual “me.”” Therefore in order to conceptualize the
connection between these two the reader is forced in chapter one of book one to
leave their own much less magical world and enter Rowling’s instead as their
alien selves. Though she still holds firm to realty with vile characters like
the Durlsey’s who serve a dual purpose in the series. In many ways the most
relatable characters because everyone knows someone like Dudley or Uncle Vernon
and as key figures in keeping Harry alive. Rowling creates a character to fill
almost every role someone fills in the average readers daily life. Of all the
characters introduced in the first two books I always was able to relate best
to Neville and Hermione because I am a little up tight as they both are, clumsy
like Neville, but I like to read like Hermione and like to know facts and excel.
My childhood was most similar to a Dean Thomas as I love muggle sports and
always loved the Bearcats the way that he loves West Ham futbol club.
I read the first four books when I
was younger than got away from the series for some reason until last summer
when I randomly decided to come back to it and thoroughly enjoyed reading the
whole series. My perception I feel was completely different when I
read the books last summer because I realized to a much greater extent how dark
the series was. As a small child reading i tended to ignore the bad or the sad
Rowling included in her work and only focused on the good, granted I only read
through the first four at a younger age and the books get a lot darker in those
last three obviously but Rowling does such a great job catering to both her
youth and adult audience. In the first work Rowling tries to target the idea of
Harry being brave and having value with his quest to make friends and fit in.
These resonate much more with teenagers and adults than with the younger
audience. Their perceptions are drastically different as an older reader sees this
struggle for Harry while a younger reader glazes over this and focuses more on
the mystery aspect and the scenery around Harry because in my opinion younger
readers have better imaginations because the world hasn’t beaten the creativity
out of them yet and our less self-conscience about friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment