Definitions
It is important to clarify the meaning of some of the key terms used in this thesis so
that a fuller understanding may be reached.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is the hero of the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling. He is
aged eleven when he enters his first year at “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”
and in each subsequent book after PS he ages one year.
Quest
A quest involves a search for something, which can be a person, an object, an idea, an
eradication of a problem, etc. It is a search that is never easy, and always involves challenges
and obstacles along the way. These challenges are necessary because, through undertaking
these challenges, the quester discovers more about himself or herself. Also, to succeed at
these challenges, the quester needs to build up their knowledge, skills and understandings in
both a practical and intellectual sense and also to increase their personal attributes such as
confidence, determination and perseverance. Often a person undertaking a quest needs
assistance from others. This is a reflection on real life where people require assistance from
others if they are to fulfil their potential. In reality the quest search becomes as important as
the object or knowledge sought. The quest is central to the monomyth/hero journey, which
will be commented on later in this thesis.
Values
The Federal Government’s Values Education study: Final report (2003, p. 2) has adopted a broad definition of values from Halstead and Taylor (2000). It defines values as
“the principles and fundamental convictions which act as general guides to behaviour, the
standards by which particular actions are judged as good or desirable” (p. 169). However, the
author of this thesis agrees with Brian Hill (Values Education in schools: Issues and
challenges, 2004) that the Federal Government definition does not place adequate emphasis
on the motivational aspect of values (Hill, p. 4). The author has chosen Hill’s 1994 definition
of values as that which most defines the term “values” when referred to in this thesis. This
definition defines values as “the priorities individuals and societies attach to certain beliefs,
experiences, and objects, in deciding how they shall live and what they shall treasure.’”(Hill,
1994, p. 7). This definition also takes into account morals, which are a particular type of
value. Many people may have different ideas of what morals are defined as but in this thesis
they refer to values that are held in special significance by people (Haydon, 1997, p. 33).
Values Education
In this thesis the term “Values Education” refers to explicit, conscious attempts to
teach values in our schools. This limited definition is used for this thesis because the thesis is
only centred on the use of the Harry Potter series of books as a teaching resource in the
explicit teaching of values. In using this limited definition of “Values Education” the author
of this thesis acknowledges the wider meaning of “Values Education” as recognised by The
National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools (2005). It states “Values
Education is any explicit and/or implicit school-based activity to promote student
understanding and knowledge of values, and to inculcate the skills and dispositions of
students so that they can enact particular values as individuals and as members of the wider
community” (p. 8).
Youth
The term “youth”, as used in the research undertaken for this thesis, requires more
clarification than that provided in a dictionary definition, which outlines it as “the term of life
between childhood and maturity” (The new Merriam-Webster dictionary, Mish, 1989, p.
855). The “youth” in this study refers to students between the approximate ages of nine to
fourteen.
Religious Education
Religious Education, in this thesis, refers to the process of educating people in
religious values. These religious values may vary depending on a person’s religious beliefs
and one’s understanding of the values would be dependent on factors including one’s age,
experiences, knowledge, capabilities, etc. This study focuses on Christian religious values as
espoused by the Roman Catholic Church.
Who is Harry Potter?
As stated above, Harry Potter is the chief character in a series of books written by
English author Joanne Rowling. Rowling created the character of Harry Potter while
travelling on a train in 1990 but did not actually complete the first Harry Potter book, Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (PS) until 1995. It was published in 1997 by Bloomsbury
Press, London and in 1998, in the United States of America, by Scholastic as Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Nel, 2001, pp. 7-22). Since then five other Harry Potter novels
have been published. They are: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (CoS) in 1998,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PoA) in 1999, Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire (GoF) in 2000, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (OoP) in 2003 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (HBP) in 2005. Rowling has always aimed to have seven
books in the series since she began the first one (Eccleshare, p.18, Schafer, p.27) and is
currently writing the seventh book.
The series of books is centred on the fictional character of Harry Potter who was born
on July 31, 1980, in England. He was born to wizarding parents, Lily, from a non-wizarding
family, and James Potter, from a wizarding family. On Halloween night in 1981 the evil
wizard, Lord Voldemort (Tom Riddle), who was trying to kill the young Harry Potter,
murders Harry’s parents. Harry survives Voldemort’s killing curse, the only known person to
survive such a curse, but is left with a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead and a lifelong
link with Voldemort. Harry ends up being left with his mother’s sister’s family, the
unpleasant Vernon and Petunia Dursley and their repulsive son Dudley Dursley. At eleven
years old Harry discovers his true identity as a wizard as well as the fate of his parents. From
then on he becomes actively involved in the wizarding world, spending much of his time at
the “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”. He makes good friends with wizards
such as Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts’ groundsman, and Albus Dumbledore, its Headmaster. He
also becomes friends with two young wizards close to his own age, Hermione Granger, from
non-wizarding parents, and Ron Weasley, from a well-known but apparently poor, pureblooded
wizarding family. They have numerous adventures, many involving saving Harry
from the clutches of Voldemort.
Voldemort’s close connection with Harry is emphasised in the fourth book, GoF,
when Voldemort uses Harry’s blood to resurrect himself (p. 557). They are also closely
connected in other ways. Both are half-blood orphans, conceived from a union between a
muggle (non-wizarding) born and a wizard-born parent, both are Parselmouths (able to talk to
snakes), both have wands that contain feathers from the same phoenix and they both looked similar to each other in their youth: “We even look something alike …” (CoS, p. 233)
(Schafer, pp. 41-45).
Throughout the series we witness Harry growing from age eleven to seventeen.
During that time we are witnesses to his growing struggle with Lord Voldemort and his
allies, the Death Eaters, as well as Harry’s personal struggle with adolescence issues.
Predominantly these struggles occur at Hogwarts but we are told, at the end of the sixth book,
HBP, that Harry does not intend to return to Hogwarts for his final year but that he will be
going on a quest to find and destroy the three remaining Horcruxes, which store parts of Lord
Voldemort’s soul, and then to kill Lord Voldemort (p. 606).
The series has been a commercial success. The Nielson BookScan, for the best-selling
books in Australia in 2005, placed HBP in first place with sales of 805,075 copies (Bantick,
2006). There have been over 300 million Harry Potter books sold all over the world (BBC
News, 2005). The first four books have also been released as movies, and have achieved
success at the box office. Each of the four films has grossed over a billion dollars Australian
in sales so far (Box Office Mojo, 2006). This success has ensured that the books, and the key
character of Harry Potter, are so widely known that even newspaper cartoonists appreciate
the drawing power of the books.
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