Analysis of “Harry Potter and the Technology of Magic” Elizabeth Tear wrote an essay about the Harry Potter books being about more than Just a young wizard going off to Hogwash’s. In her essay which was published in The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: The Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon, Tear tries to convince her audience that Harry Potter is more than Just a fictional story, and that there are many social and economic ties. Tear tries to present her audience of people who have read the books with facts that support that there could be more thin the covers than a story.
Tear wrote the essay for young to middle age adults who have read the book, whether recently or in their early childhood years, and now have the intellect to look back and make connections to today’s world. Tear aims to take fictional concepts from the book and link them to modern life to show similarities and ultimately prove her argument. Tear does a fantastic Job in connecting to her designated audience, as well as bringing forth items that can be connected to those similar to modern day and linking troubles from modern economy to the book.
Tear’s audience are those who have read the book. She does a great Job connecting to the audience because she uses so many examples from the book. This helps make an easy connection to exactly what Tear is trying to portray. Since her essay was published in The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: The Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon those who are unfamiliar with Harry Potter would not pick up the magazine and read an article. The fact that she uses so many examples in her essay makes her argument really effective.
Tear’s terminology, reasoning, and examples all correlate well with who she is writing for. She writes so that they can understand and comprehend easily. She uses examples that are well known to her audience which she recognize and writes towards well. Tear introduces the many themes that J. K. Rolling wrote in the book that can be compared to those happening around us today. Tear mentions the brooms used to play the fictional game of Quixotic to be a social symbol Just as there are social symbols today(Tear 560).
Today brand named clothing such as Hollister, American Eagle, Nikkei, etc. Are comparable to the type of broomstick Harry plays Quixotic with. Tear explains the ever so common social symbol race as it is in the books. In the book Harry already has an extremely nice “2000 Fireboat” broom only to be topped the “Fireboat 2001” his enemy, Dorado Mallory obtained. Jealous but content of the broom he has Harry is surprised when he gets the newest, nicest broom from a mysterious sender (Tear 560).
Tear sees this as modern-day consumer race, as well as adults nurturing their children. This is affective for in today’s world the reader can make a connection to the social status race humans participate in every day. In Harry Potter it is broomsticks, in the modern world it is cell phones, cars, and Nikkei shoes. Tear also compares Ron Weasels infatuation of collecting the Famous Witch and Wizard trading cards from the candy Chocolate Frogs. Although he has hundreds of cards, he continues to consume the frogs till he finds the ultra-rare Agrarian and Ptolemy cards.
Tear finds this very closely resembles the collecting of baseball and Pokemoon cards (Tear 560). This can create a connection between the story and the reader in the fact that many Americans spend their money on something so useless. It’s Harry Potter’s own “Goat Catch Them All”. These are the two most evident connections between the kook and the modern world that Tear describes in her essay. Not only does the essay make ties to the modern world, it also makes larger, bigger picture connections to problems experienced today.
The main economic trouble Tear is trying to relate between the two is how capitalist based America is and how much America values the consumer. Both Harry Potter’s world and present day America run on a capitalist based society. Money drives every aspect of life. Tear gives many examples from the book in which the purchasing of an item or having the best on the market is valued, Just like modern-day America. T starts out by giving an example of the book itself in which the second and third copies of the series could be purchase online via United Kingdom Amazon.
The publishing company, Scholastic, then moved up their release date not wanting to potentially lose money on people purchasing the book elsewhere (Tear 554). This is an example of how Just the releasing of the book caused a business to get concerned at the thought of losing money. The next comparison is Harry cousin getting spoiled with the newest editions of all the video games when he has shelves upon shelves worth already. Tear is once again comparing the capitalistic glutton of America to a happening in the book.
She offers the reader to recognize the similarity of modern day greed to the cousin’s greed in the book. A more subtle economic similarity in the book is the character Gilder Lockhart, a famous adventurer and author. The Hazarding World put him so high up on a pedestal that he seemed inhuman. His sexual appeal, the way all the middle aged witches loved him only to find that later in the book he was nothing but an over-hyped fraud (Tear 555). This can be compared o modern day pop and movie stars. These are only a few of the many examples Tear uses in her essay.
Using such comparisons can help create a personal realization in which the reader can help see the point she is trying to portray by comparing it to today. Tear does an excellent Job in portraying her argument that there are social and economic ties in the Harry Potter books to her audience. Reading the books and reading Tear’s essay it does make one think about the more in-depth planning behind Harry Potter. Tear uses effective arguing skills by connecting in making items me comparable between the book and modern day as well as taking economic troubles from today’s time and linking them to the book.
