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IDS 336-01 – Fall 2019

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Death in Harry Potter

Posted on December 5, 2019December 5, 2019 by Ale

A lot of fans of Harry Potter know that Death is talked about repeatedly throughout the books and is one of the major themes in Deadly Hallows. Although the series is labeled as a children’s book, I think it is most suitable for older teenagers to adults. The reason I say this is because the concept of death becomes more impactful as we grow up. What I mean by this is that we start becoming more self aware about life itself and how it ends. Children can experience this too if they suffer a loss at a really young age or have gone through a traumatic experience that included death. However, the theme of Death is such a difficult topic because it happens to everyone and everything that is living and people are afraid of the unknown. Personally, I have always thought about death at a young age but as my parents age and I do too, it seems that everyday I can’t stop worrying about the day that I will lose the people I love the most. Not only that, having no concrete visual evidence of what happens after death scares me from dying as well.

We can say the same thing about Voldemort. He was so afraid of death that he broke laws and went where most people haven’t to live forever and gain power. In an interview with J.K. Rowling she says that “”Voldemort’s fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it’s a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death.” (Wikipedia)  As we can see, Voldemort did not just want to be an average wizard. He wanted to be so powerful that he could cheat death by using or destroying anything in his way.

This fear was so powerful that he manipulated and killed to tear his soul into seven pieces in order to live forever. “You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. He had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a child…” (Deadly Hallows) As we see other deaths in the series, we observe how Harry copes with his losses as he ages. His parents are the first person he experiences death with but he does not remember much of the incident. Cedric was then a death that he first witnessed in remembering. In the end, Harry does not fear death anymore for he becomes a “Master of Death.”

In my world, the only thing I can do is hope that in what I believe in is true and that I will one day see the people I love so much in Heaven. I think a lot of people go through having to accept death and there is nothing that can be done about it when the time has come. J.K. Rowling wanted to come in terms with her mother’s death by expressing herself in writing about it. People have different ways of coping with death and I am still struggling with coming to terms with it. I admire J.K. Rowling for being strong and find a way to bring herself peace through her books.

“You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.” (Deadly Hallows)

Sources:

 Rowling, J. K., et al. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Scholastic Inc., 2018.

“Lord Voldemort.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Voldemort.

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anneperezAnnemarie Perez@anneperez·
26 Nov 2019

I just spent an hour and a half discussing Snape and his story arc with my students. It was amazing. They're so smart. Also, Snape. #hogwartsDH.

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hufflepuffjaxHufflepuffjax@hufflepuffjax·
4 Jan 2020

Ok so I know I’m super late for this but is anyone still down to meet up with Dr. Perez, We talked about going to Nimbus Coffee in downtown LA. I know we have all been busy but let me know what you all think? #hogwartsdh

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GryffindorAndyAndrea Martinez@GryffindorAndy·
13 Dec 2019

Harry Potter animation on twitter and slack
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aRlt4cI1WKYLT0KeudSXo7Q8vw5V8iGc/view?usp=sharing

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