Symbols, Imagery, Allegory
In the first chapter, Frank Bryce, the unfortunate gardener for the Riddle house, is arrested for the murder of the Riddle family in Little Hangleton, England. Frank is soon released because there'...
Setting
The setting that we really care about in Harry Potter is, of course, Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little Hangleton is only significant because the Riddle family once lived there; it...
Genre
The Harry Potter series starts out squarely in the genre of children's literature. Harry is eleven, and so is his intended audience. By the time we get to Goblet of Fire, we seem to be inching towa...
What's Up With the Title?
Amelia Bedelia and the Cat. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. What do these titles have in common? Well, for starters, they all belong to popular series t...
What's Up With the Ending?
Any book in a series (except maybe the last one) has to walk a delicate balance. It must wrap up the individual plot of one book while still leaving enough loose ends to carry on in the next one. A...