Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone is the most innovative story and the most widely read and publicised since C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia back in the 1950s. The differences between the authors is astounding and yet they shared the same unmistakable and truly remarkable talent of being able to keep a child amused and happy for longer than the space of a television programme. C.S. Lewis was a very well known writer when he published his children's novels. A respected writer of Christian Literature Lewis already had the respect of his peers and his audiences. Before deciding, some say at the encouragement of his good friend Tolkien to branch out into children's literature. Lewis almost certainly wouldn't have approved of J.K. Rowling. He wouldn't have seen book writing as a suitable occupation for the time of a mother, and a single mother at that. Being a Christian, and such a moral staunch one at that Lewis would have seen the fact that Rowling was an unmarried parent to be disgraceful and immoral.
English: Map of Narnian world as described in The ...
Harry Potter <3
Harry Car LiftLewis created most famously the story of four siblings being evacuated into the countryside and discovering another world. The tale of evacuated children is a timeless thrill for children; it is certainly an imaginary game I would play with my friends as a child. The four Pevensie Children were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. Lucy the youngest is the one who discovers the Wardrobe, the door into Narnia, a world outside of our own. The protagonists of this story represent rather patriarchal themes, which would be concurrent with the author's view of the world and indeed, the time he lived in. Peter the eldest is the father figure of the group, this maybe natural as he is the eldest, but I certainly don't have the fear and unquestioning respect for my elder brother as the two younger siblings have for Peter. Susan, is the matriarch of the group, she is the pretty one, the sensible one, whose instinct upon discovering Narnia is to make everyone put on coats to protect them from the cold rather than explore this wondrous miracle. Susan is also the one who wants to turn back at the first sign of trouble. Susan is also the one to defend her younger brother Edmund when it becomes clear that he has betrayed them. There is a strange relationship between the two elder siblings, it is almost a marriage of sorts, obviously I am not implying that there is anything incestual between Peter and Susan, the characters are written as being 13 and 12 years old respectively. Though television adaptations seem to add 3 or 4 years to their ages, not too many or Peter would have been sent to War not the countryside! Peter and Susan do share a quiet mutual respect and friendship that is not present with the more boisterous younger siblings and certainly not mirrored by Edmund and Lucy's relationship with each other which is strained at the best of times! Harry Potter is also concerned with the discovery of another world, but rather differently and in a far more modern setting. Harry is a young Wizard who at the age of 1 was sent to live with his muggle (non-wizarding) aunt and uncle. Harry's parents had been murdered by an evil wizard who had terrorized the wizarding community for many years. Harry himself had mysteriously been the object of his downfall, The said evil wizard placed the same killing curse on Harry as he had Harry's parents but unlike his parents Harry resisted the curse and it backfired draining all the wizards power and leaving Harry, not only orphaned but bearing a scar that would make him famous and warn him of danger in the future. On harries eleventh Birthday he is accepted into Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and wizardry and escapes the abuse he suffered daily at the hands of his relatives. The only known stereotypes in Harry Potter are size-ist rather than sexist. Harry's relatives are 'bad' people; they are also fat and greedy. This has drawn criticism from groups claiming this will encourage bullying of overweight children.
Harry Potter and The Philosophers stone has had three sequels so far, taking Harry and his friends through their school years at a rate of one book per year and we all wait with bated breath for the fifth book. Some say the magic of the first book isn't mirrored in the follow-ups, they say this without disrespect, and simply the very ideas presented in the Philosophers stone were the real magic. Older readers like myself (20) find that as the children get older we empathise with the characters more and await further steps into the world of adolescence mixed with magic, something we all dreamed of during our own adolescence⦠imagine a charm to cure spots, a charm to regulate weight gain, larger breasts, smaller nose, not that teens are superficial or anything! C.S. Lewis also had follow ups to The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, several of these featured Pevensie Children and their relatives. In fact the Pevensie cousin, Eustace bears a striking physical and initially mental resemblance to Harry Potters muggle cousin Dudley Dursley.
Though the worlds they lived in were very different, and as people they ere very different, their magic is enjoyed by children (and adults) with imagination everywhere.
English: J.K. Rowling reads from Harry Potter and ...
A lion being used to represent Aslan Русски...
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and ...