Review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a Novel

---

 

A Review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a Novel

by J. K. Rowling

  The novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, written by J. K. Rowling is the first book in a

seven-part series. Harry Potter’s heroic journey through the Muggle World into the Wizarding

World shows a growth in himself and his mind. Potter follows the stages introduced by Joseph

Campbell's Monomyth, learning new wizarding skills and challenging himself. Harry

demonstrates the three stages; separation, initiation, and return, which are then divided into

seventeen steps. Harry Potter’s heroic journey can be traced by readers throughout the novel.

  The first stage of Joseph Cambell’s seventeen stage monomyth is separation, with five steps:

call to adventure, refusal of call, supernatural aid, crossing the threshold, and belly of the whale.

The call to adventure is the original alarm given to the hero, taking him from normality into an

unknown trip. Harry Potter lives with his uncle, aunt, and cousin who hide from Harry that he is a

wizard. His uncle, Mr. Dursley, shows characteristics of the ruler archetype by trying to have the

most successful family. He displays his force through constantly nagging Potter. Dursley takes

drastic measures to keep the letters that Harry has been admitted to Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry unopened, like moving the family of four out to a secret shack. The first

two steps in Joseph Cambell’s monomyth are actually switched because oddly enough, the

refusal of call is not done by Potter himself, but by his own uncle before the call to adventure.

The refusal of the call is when the hero objects to the undertaking. Fortunately Mr. Durley could

not keep the mail a secret and Potter ends up receiving a letter that he is admitted to Hogwarts

School. Harry seems excited and ready to explore the magical world. A supernatural aid is often

a figure who guides the hero through his new journey. Harry’s supernatural aid is a “giant of a

man” who delivers the letter on Potter’s eleventh birthday, Rubeus Hagrid (Rowling 46). Hagrid

can be classified as an explorer in the twelve common archetypes. The motto that the explorer

exhibits is “don’t fence me in” (Golden 3). Throughout the book, he likes to live alone and

barbarically as keeper of the grounds. Hagrid first introduces Harry to the wizardry world and

helps him and his friends decipher the Sorcerer's Stone. In the next step Harry crosses the

threshold by leaving the behind his world of normality for a foreign experience. This is done by

Potter at the “famous” Leaky Cauldron with Hagrid (Rowling 68). Potter is greeted with

“scraping chairs” of excitement and instantly “...shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky

Cauldron” (69). He will then cross another threshold in Diagon Alley where he encounters

“dragon liver” and the “Gringotts” (72). The last threshold crossed is at Platform 9 ¾ with a

fellow wizard family named the Weasleys into the wizarding world. This is when Harry meets a

young boy named Ronald, a pureblood. Harry and Ronald descend from magic from both of

parents which causes them to bond on the eleven o’clock train to Hogwarts. The fifth and final

gradesfixer.com