ROXANNE PENA
Staff Writer
Although the Chudley Cannons had not finally won a Quidditch match, Sarah Nauman was still ecstatic, jumping up and down at the news. Nauman had just discovered that she could sign up for a class on Harry Potter for her mandatory freshman seminar.
“Most of my friends are really jealous,” Nauman said, who has been a Harry Potter fan since the release of the first book in 1998.
The seminar, “Repotting Harry Potter: Popular Literature Made Legit,” taught by humanities professor Dr. James Thomas, was one of 28 seminars from which freshman could choose.
“I suggested and designed the class as one of our first-year seminar offering, so teaching it originated with me,” Thomas said.
The course is suggested for students who have already read all six Potter books and are familiar with the series. Eighteen students are enrolled in the seminar.
Thomas first became familiar with the book through recommendations from his daughter Alexi and a friend.
“The main goal of the class is to take advantage of the familiarity and enthusiasm that students already have for the Potter books, … to build on initial readings … [and] to revisit from a more mature perspective,” Thomas said.
The first half of the semester was spent reviewing the six books, which total more than 3,300 pages. The class discussed topics including puns, wordplay, foreshadowing, symbolic elements and thematic elements.
The second half of the semester thus far has been spent focusing on the larger picture, such as the public’s reactions to the series, Christian symbols and themes, racial purity and superiority, feminist interpretations and talk of what may happen in book 7, which does not yet have a release date. The class will continue to cover these issues until the end of Dec.
“I wanted a class that would be interesting but not too loaded,” Lauren Aldrich said, a student in the class who has been reading Harry Potter since she was in sixth grade. She was initially afraid the class would be focused solely on Harry Potter and connections to the church and was happy to discover that was not the case.
“I recommend there should be more classes like this,” Aldrich said. “More classes offered in popular literature.”
Though the Harry Potter seminar was not freshman Tory Varney’s first choice, she said she is happy she ended up taking the class with Thomas.
“It’s kind of bizarre,” Varney said about the class being offered at Pepperdine. “It’s something you only hear about happening in other places.”
By rereading the series, Varney said many things were brought to her attention that she had not previously noticed.
“I didn’t really think about [foreshadowing and symbols] that much when I was reading them [before],” she said.
For example, Dementors are creatures in Harry Potter that feed on positive emotions, leaving their victims to relive their worst memories. Symbolically they represent depression, something to which many readers can relate.
Thomas, who began reading the series in 2002, said he was skeptical that something so popular could have merit as respectable literature. However, once he began to read he was attracted not by the plot or suspense, but the combination of puns, word play, intriguing names and symbols that the books possess.
Not many can argue the popularity of the Potter series, written by J.K. Rowling.
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” was first published in the United States in October 1998. In the eight years since, the series has sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth and most recent book of the series, became the fastest-selling book in history when it was released July 16, 2005.
During the first 24 hours, 6.9 million copies were sold in the United States, and Barnes & Noble reported sales of 105 copies per second during the first hour.
Fans hope the final book of the series will be released in 2007, but as of yet there is no official announcement for its title or release date.
Many parents, or other concerned adults, have attempted to ban the books from schools or libraries across the country, believing the series to teach witchcraft, resulting in Harry Potter topping the list of the American Library’s Association’s Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century. Currently, Laura Mallory, a mother in Georgia, is fighting to have the books removed from the Gwinnett County school libraries in the state.
The hype created by those wanting Potter banned has perhaps only caused more to become fans, Thomas said. He added that no one at Pepperdine opposed the Harry Potter class.
“A reader would carefully consider not the trees but the forest and also look past the witchcraft and overall themes of good versus evil,” Thomas said.
With each new installment, skepticism from academics has waned and replaced with enthusiasm. Many other universities, including Georgetown and Yale, offer a Harry Potter class, and multiple books have been written on the academic merit of the series.
Katie Cullen had already been analyzing the Harry Potter series with her friends before joining the class.
One thing Cullen credits the class with is emphasizing that things are not always as they seem. Scenes can be turned around and looked at differently to gain a new perspective.
“I think you can apply that anywhere,” Cullen said.
Thomas would like to have the class again.
“I would like to teach them [students] again next fall … and maybe in another course available to upper-division students one day, as well,” Thomas said.
He said he enjoys having the love of the series in common with the students, despite the large generation gap.
“It is a rare pleasure to enter a class where everyone has done the readings, … is fresh on the material, is enthusiastic on the material and is ready to talk about it,” Thomas said.
11-09-2006