The Analysis of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone from the Perspective of Magic Realism

Abstract

The little boy who wears a pair of glasses and rides a broom in the sky, Harry Potter, has worked on his magic on countless teenagers, making the whole world be crazy for his adventurous story. Published in 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, has been translated into more than 70 languages due to its inviting plot, humorous style and themes, warmly welcomed by the fans all over the world. Under this circumstance, this paper analyzes and explores the intersection of imagination and reality in the book from the perspective of magic realism. It is well acknowledged that magic realism is an approach to reflect reality by the dreamland generated from magic, in which the magic is a method when the essence is the reality. This paper first introduces the research objective, the first book of Harry Potter series in terms of the reputation it enjoyed and most importantly, the outstanding British novelist, J. K. Rowling. Combined with the characteristics of magic realism, it discusses about the intersection of imagination and reality in the portrayal of characters, the layout of the scene. Closely related to the attachment of reality from the perspective of magic realism, it finds out and analyzes the values of literal life that the writer intends to convey in the novel. This paper not only points out the shadow of reality in the settings of characters as well as scenes, but also finds out the values that the writer wants to convey like rebellion, the attitude towards desire and the power of love, which would enhance the interpretation of the application of magic realism in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.