Introduction
There are probably few people in this world who can deny the feeling of guilt. Some call that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach or that nagging voice in their head their conscious speaking to them. Whatever people want to call this feeling, few can deny never feeling it. Is it this connection of the feeling guilt and the need to alleviate it that attracts people so much to characters who have imperfections? Is it this inherent human need to root for people who make mistakes what attracts us to characters? Or, is it the fact that in many stories, those characters usually end up redeeming themselves in the end that does? Do we root for the hero with imperfections because humans want that, as well? One character that has become loved for his imperfections and his redemption, at the end of his life, is Severus Snape from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows written by J.K. Rowling. By examining the character of Snape from the artifact Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, through Kenneth Burke’s Guilt Redemption Cycle, the question: "Did Severus Snape accomplish alleviating his guilt according to Kenneth burke’s Guilt Redemption Cycle?" will be answered.
Artifact
In 1997, the first book of the Harry Potter series was released in the United States, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was then that people began to fall in love with “The boy who lived.”, Harry Potter, and began their love/hate relationship with the man who would end up helping to save his life multiple times over (Rowling, J.K., 2007). This love/hate relationship developed because it seems as if this man, a professor at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, constantly was against the hero, Harry. There is a buildup of the fact that Sna...
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Published on June 21, 2003, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is one of the fastest
Over the course of this summer I read four books. The books I read were Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling, The Giver by Lois Lowry, Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry again. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling was the first book I read this summer and I really liked it. I decided to read the 5th Harry Potter book because I had it and I never really got a chance to read it. The book begins were it had left you of in the 4th book when Harry is just about to enter his 5th year at Hogwarts. He still lives with his aunt and uncle whom he hates because they are mean and evil to him. The letters from his friends are very dull and they have nothing to say, which confuses him and makes him furious. He is also mad because he’s still stuck with the Dursleys all summer long. The story goes with his adventures and challenges throughout his 5th year. The genre is fantasy complete with magic. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes the Harry Potter books. I would also recommend that if you have never read any of the previous books you start from the beginning. I can’t wait ‘till the next book comes out!
Just to quickly run through the two previous books; Harry Potter is a wizard, who’s parents were killed by the worst dark wizard ever known. The reason why Harry Potter is still around, is because Lord Voldemort failed to kill Harry. His spell hit Harry, but then backfired on Voldemort taking all of his powers with him. Harry is so famous for two things. Withstanding the powers of Lord Voldemort, and, taking him back in to the underworld in hiding. In the first book, Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He’s eventually allowed to go, and spends the next six months there learning magic, getting into trouble, and trying to solve mysteries of his past, and the school. In the second book, Harry goes back to his second year at Hogwarts, and gets into more trouble, figures out many astonishing mysteries and learns loads more magic. His best friends in the two books consist of Ron and Hermione (two of his fellow wizard students) and Hagrid the gamekeeper who was expelled from Hogwarts but allowed a job as the gamekeeper.
In almost every book the main characters, especially the protagonist, face obstacles and issues throughout the story. These problems can be physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational. As these characters progress throughout the story, they overcome these obstacles and they grow as people. Also, the reader learns about the character and themselves by relating to these experiences. J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, introduces different challenges, personal and physical, to the main character, Harry Potter. Some of these problems are inspired by Rowling's personal experiences in her own life. According to the biography on her website, in 1990, as she was traveling back to London on a train she created the first idea of Harry Potter (JK 2). While composing her manuscript for what was then called, "Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone," several life changing events occurred which were then portrayed into Harry's life as well (2). As she wrote, her life changed, as did Harry's. Harry Potter and I grew physically and mentally throughout the story, but most importantly recognizing humility, rebellion, and desire as the main obstacles to face.
There are many ways to decide what makes a man guilty. In an ethical sense, there is more to guilt than just committing the crime. In Charles Brockden Browns’ Wieland, the reader is presented with a moral dilemma: is Theodore Wieland guilty of murdering his wife and children, even though he claims that the command came from God, or is Carwin guilty because of his history of using persuasive voices, even though his role in the Wieland family’s murder is questionable? To answer these questions, one must consider what determines guilt, such as responsibility, motives, consequences, and the act itself. No matter which view is taken on what determines a man’s guilt, it can be concluded that Wieland bears the fault in the murder of Catharine Wieland and her children.
Yet, The Scarlet Letter gave me three-dimensional characters that are sinful and imperfect yet can attain redemption by following themselves and acting on their romantic impulses. The first step of redemption, acceptance, while seemingly difficult to people such as Dimmsdale, comes fairly natural to me. I openly accept my flaws and have no problem admitting to them. However, the second step, self-forgiveness, constantly plagues me. I remember as a child, being wrongly accused of things by my parents. My mom used to me that if I truly were not guilty, that it would not matter what others thought of me. I realize now she was telling me, much like in The Scarlet Letter, that redemption is more than acceptance by others, it is looking at yourself and finding redemption from
...ave evolved about the subject matter of these books. The greatest controversy, though, centers on the series’ religious references, which have caused many parents to despise the “immoral” concepts of the stories and forbid their children from reading these books. Such people feel that Rowling promotes paganism through the magic performed by the characters, and promotes evil through various connections to Satan. Still, Harry Potter does not reflect the practices of Wicca and good always overpowers evil in the end; therefore, we should not be concerned with the effects of the series on children, or even adults. After all, readers have been enjoying stories containing magical references for centuries and humanity has not suffered because of it. Harry Potter is just another magical story and should be enjoyed, rather than judged because of its controversial references.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23). Since the beginning of time guilt has existed, and in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, guilt illustrates itself through adultery involving Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale resided in New England during The Puritan Age and committed adultery while Hester’s husband was out of town. Hester’s sin did not go unnoticed, as her baby illuminated the situation. While Hester’s mister hid in the shadows, she was branded with a scarlet letter A for adultery as punishment for her sin. The scarlet letter was more than a piece of cloth over her chest; it was reminder to everyone around about Mrs. Prynne’s actions. Hawthorne uses biblical and spiritual allusions to argue that guilt causes individuals to change their lifestyles.
The wildly popular Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling has caused controversy for many families over the past five years. These novels according to some critics are harmless, adventurous, children's tales. Others choose to portray them as stories that inspire children to become involved in the occult and serious witchcraft. The Harry Potter novels chronicle the life of a young wizard whose wizard parents were killed by the evil Lord Voldermort. On his eleventh birthday he receives invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each of the five books represents a year of his life there (Walker). This essay will discuss whether the Harry Potter novels are a suitable read for children and why despite what some critics portray, Harry Potter can be a positive role model for youth.
The idea of redemption is an idea that has existed for as long as humanity has. Therefore, it should be no surprise to see the idea of redemption in the literature of many different periods, let alone the Romantic period. Throughout Great Expectations, characters experience redemption in a manner of ways. Characters go through vast changes and lives change unexpectedly. A theme and motif of redemption is clearly developed in Great Expectations. Some ways this theme of redemption is express during the book are, when Pip gets a mysterious note to go to the marches and is ambushed and almost killed, Throughout the story when Pip warms up to Magwitch, When Pip realizes how much he loves Joe and Biddy, How Pip’s redeeming factors stem from his early childhood, Ms. Havisham’s eventual realization of the error of her ways, and in society itself.
Throughout the literary world there are very few books as renowned as Homer’s Odyssey, Dante 's Alighieri Divine Comedy, and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. These works are from evidently different time periods; however all tell the same story of an epic spiritual and physical journey to find oneself in their respective times through atonement. This spiritual and physical redemption comes through their interactions with their respective cultural and religious customs.
...ck and a potential pitfall. Someone full of hate and greed, such as Tom Marvolo Riddle, who has never known it even once in their entire life, cannot understand its full magical power. Love is one of the hardest and strongest kinds of magic and is perhaps the fabric that holds the wizarding world of Harry Potter together. Dumbledore says to Harry “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Halllows 722). The series stresses that it is important to love. It is obvious throughout the series that Harry embraces his history and duty by accepting the soul-purifying act of practicing self-sacrificial love. It is no surprise that the Harry Potter series is so widely in a time of fear, uncertainty, and unrest. Harry defeats evil not by fearing it, but by embracing it and overcoming it with love.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007. Print.
First of all, this book is fiction. The story is stated in the real world, contemporary in England, but the magic is described in this book, so there are wizards, witches, and many kinds of creatures. Of course, there are normal humans too, but they are called Muggles who donft have magic power, so they donft show up so much. Anyway, the story of this book is about Harry, who lost both parents when he was one year old, and his first life at Hogwarts School, which is for young wizards and witches. The story begins at Mr and Mrs Dursleyfs home, where Harry has lived since his parents were killed by an evil wizard named Load Voldemort. Harry is living there because Mrs. Dursley is his aunt, but this family really hates magic things, so they turn sour to him. One day, he gets a letter from Hogwarts, then, he realizes himself that he is a wizard, and he decides to go to the school. After Harry starts his new life at Hogwarts, he makes friends, learns much kind of magic, and knows about himself and his parents. Then, one day, he knows about philosopherfs stone, and also Load Voldemort is seeking it.