Class Over!

The two classes I was taking – Mythology and The Harry Potter Phenomenon – are over. I’ve got a summer ahead of me, in which I plan to become a father (due date, July 16), continue pressing forward here at SoG, read as many books as humanly possible (Emma, Tom Brown’s School Days, and Catch-22 are the next three on my list), submit a paper for consideration for an upcoming Harry Potter conference, and prepare to start the pursuit of my second graduate degree, all while getting ready to take a certification exam for Cardiovascular technicians.

Crazy, I know.

I’m attaching here my final project for the Harry Potter class, in case you’re interested in reading something longer than a typical blog post. I intentionally keep things short and pithy here to stimulate conversation. This is a bit longer, and quite frankly, it’s not my best work. I wanted to put many, many more hours into this, but, well, you see from the paragraph above that I stretch myself too thin!

Attached is a paper called “The Meaning of the Phoenix: Love’s Victory over Death in Harry Potter.” In it, I look at how Rowling takes on the theme of death through the lense of mythology. Feel free to use it in any way you’d like; I’d appreciate being referenced, though (I’m considering copyrighting what I write here anyway).

The Meaning of the Phoenix: Love’s Victory over Death in Harry Potter

Update: A couple of comments got caught in my spam filter, and they’ve been posted now.  See especially the interesting comments by Pauli added to “Snape is Not a Coward” and “Victory in Georgia.”