An Analysis on Harry Potter and the Inheritance Cycle

An Analysis on Harry Potter and the Inheritance Cycle

Dilisha Amarasekera
Reg. No. 00002704
ENG 2200 – Section 2
Ms. Ruki Salgado

Introduction
This paper will compare and contrast literal aspects of Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling and The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Though both book series fall under the genres young-adult and fantasy novel, their literal aspects differ in many ways. The plot, characters, setting and themes are different from each other, yet, not too different in some aspects. It may not be possible to say which book series is better, but after critically analyzing both works, it is possible to come to a conclusion that the Harry Potter series has managed to contribute more to literature than the Inheritance Cycle.
Summary
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling is about a boy named Harry, who is an orphan and had the misfortune of growing up with his horrible aunt and her family. On his eleventh birthday, however, his world changed with the visit of a mysterious stranger, who informed him that he is a wizard and as one he should attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to complete his education. He also found out that he was popular among the wizards as “The Chosen One”, as he was the only one who was able to survive the killing curse of the evil dark wizard, Lord Voldemort. While aboard the train that takes all wizard kids to Hogwarts, he meets his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Together with them, he goes on various adventures, learning and changing, guided by his headmaster at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, he struggles to achieve his ultimate goal of overcoming Lord Voldemort, who is the source of his parents’ death and whose aims are to destroy the Muggles (the non-wizard community), conquer the world of wizards, and to become immortal.
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is about a farm boy named Eragon, who is an orphan, brought up by his Uncle Garrow and his late wife Marian. His life changed when the stone he found at the forbidden forest, spine, hatched for him, surprising him with the fact that what he has found is not a stone, but a dragon egg. He named his dragon, Saphira, after a dragon mentioned by the village story-teller, Brom. After the death of his Uncle by the Ra’zac, two mysterious creatures who have come in search of the dragon egg under the orders of the evil king Galbatorix, Eragon decides to go after it and kill it with the help of Saphira. Brom volunteers to join them on their journey for reasons of his own. Through their journey Eragon learns many things about sparring, magic and many races, such as elves, dwarves and Urugals. Many great battles followed, increasing his knowledge about the true meaning of his identity. The journey which began as a pursuit to kill the Ra’zac later turned into saving Alagaësia, the land where the story takes place, from the evil king Galbatorix and uniting all races.
Context
The Harry Potter series was written by J. K. Rowling, and was published during the time period of 1997 – 2007. Joanne Rowling, whose pen name is J. K. Rowling, was born in England in July 1965. She got married in October 1992, in northern Portugal, where she lived at that time and gave birth to her daughter, Jessica in 1993. Jo formed the idea to write the Harry Potter series while riding on a delayed train from Manchester to London, and during the next five years she outlined the plot for each book and began writing the first book of the series, Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone, which she published through Bloomsbury Children’s Books in 1997. Followed by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 1998, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 1999, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2000, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2003,Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2005, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007 (Biography, 2012).
Jo faced many trials during the time she wrote the first book of the Harry Potter series. Her mother’s death in 1990 of multiple sclerosis was followed by her father moving in with his secretary. Her family life was not doing well either. Circumstances brought her to file a divorce from her first husband just after 13 months of marriage, which ultimately made her a single mother with very little money (The JK Rowling Story, 2003). With all that was happening in her life she was diagnosed with clinical depression for a small period of time, and she states that she had been contemplating suicide. The main reason behind her decision to go for help was her feelings for her daughter, which included the thought that she was not been a good mother to her (Harry Potter author: I considered suicide, 2008). Eventually, she got better and those dark periods in her life was portrayed in her writing. Her descriptions of Harry’s feelings towards the loss of his parents in the books were a better description of her own sentiments towards the topic. And the creature Dementors in the book, represents her feelings during her dark period of clinical depression. Success didn’t come easy for J.K. Rowling. Her book got rejected by not less than twelve publishers. After a year of rejections her book finally got a publisher in 1996: the Bloomsbury (JK Rowling Biography).
Some other factors that influence the writing of Harry Potter were the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. As one of Rowling’s childhood favorites, its influence on the Harry Potter series could be shown in the way how, like in the Narnia books, an opposing party of adults is threatened by a group of brave young children, who explores an unknown land and performs heroic deeds. Similarly, it illustrates the challenges and adventures of growing up, describing about every child’s wish for winning respect, learning about loyalty, and believing in something bigger than oneself. Most importantly, Harry’s discovery that there is something uniquely valuable inside him represents the dream of numerous people, children and adults alike, who enjoy indulging in their imaginations. Rowling herself has stated that her books are really about imagination and that practicing wizardry is only a metaphor for developing one’s full potential (SparkNotes, 2003).
The Inheritance Cycle was written by Christopher Paolini, who unlike J. K. Rowling is an American author and began writing the Inheritance Cycle at the age of fifteen. He was born on November 17, 1983, in Southern California and lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana. On one side of the valley rose a snowcapped Beartooth Mountains, which inspired the fantastic scenery in Eragon, the first novel in his Inheritance cycle. Christopher was homeschooled and graduated early at the age of fifteen. He began writing on Eragon after his graduation, as a hobby. After he finished writing his first draft he spent the second year revising it and then gave it to his parents to read. Who in turn thought of publishing it and spent the third year proofreading and editing it. Meanwhile, Christopher drew the map of Alagaësia for Eragon, and his sister-Angela- helped sketch the dragon eye for the book cover. In 2001, his family self-published the book through Paolini International LLC and spent the next year promoting the book at libraries, bookstores, and schools (The Author, 2004).
In 2002, Christopher’s luck turned when author Carl Hiaasen, by the influence of his stepson who has read a copy of the book while on vacation in Montana, introduced Eragon to his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. In August 2003 Knopf published Eragon and it was an instant success, reaching a worldwide audience. It was followed by Eldest in 2005 and Brisingr in 2008. As he was writing Brisingr, the third book of the novel, he realized that his plot and characters need more space to answer all the questions raised in the previous books and decided to write a fourth book which was named Inheritance and was published in 2011. What began as the Inheritance trilogy then became The Inheritance Cycle (The Author, 2004).
What mainly influenced Christopher to write the Inheritance cycle was a book called Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville, in which a young boy in this world goes to an old curiosity shop and finds a stone that he ends up buying and ultimately hatches for him a dragon. He loved reading fantasy novels from his childhood, which he states in hyperbole: “I 'd pretty much read all of the fantasy books in our local library” (Pauli, 2011). His favorites, apart from the above mentioned book, were Frank Herbert 's Dune, and Raymond E. Feist 's Magician. And also the books by authors Anne McCaffrey, Jane Yolen, Brian Jacques, E.R. Eddison, David Eddings, and Ursula K. Le Guin (The Author, 2004).
Plot
The plot of a story differentiates according to the book. Each book of a series has slightly similar though different plotlines. Therefore, in order to critically analyze the plotline of both series (Harry Potter and the Inheritance Cycle), the first book of the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and the first book of the Inheritance Cycle: Eragon will be taken into consideration and discussed in the following.
The plotline for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone begins with some mysterious happenings that occur around Private Drive, an ordinary street in London. Mr. Dursley, one of its inhabitants notices these happenings but deliberately convinces himself that nothing unusual is happening. However, on that very night three strange out-of-the-place people meet to deliver a baby to the same stubborn Mr. Dursley and his wife. A brief introduction of the situation and the main character, Harry Potter, is then given to the reader through the dialogues that take place between these three characters, who are later introduced to be none other than Harry 's headmaster at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore, headmistress of Harry’s appointed house, Professor McGonagall, and Hagrid, the caretaker at Hogwarts. Ten years after, Harry-who was the baby that was delivered that night-is then properly introduced as an ill-treated orphan who had the misfortune of growing up with his aunt and uncle, whose whole worlds revolve around one person in this world, Harry’s cousin, Dudley. Later on Hagrid re-enters Harry’s life and introduces Harry to the wizarding world with much disapproval to his aunt and uncle’s wishes. The exposition continues until the first few days of Harry at Hogwarts. During that time many important characters and minor characters are introduced to the reader. Some of them are Ronald Weasley and his brothers, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and his friends, Professor Snape and all other staff members at Hogwarts, including Professor Quirrell, who turns out to be Lord Voldemort himself in disguise. The rising action includes three main scenarios. They are: the arrival of Harry at Hogwarts, the news of break-in at Gringotts, the wizarding bank, and Hermione’s revelation of the trapdoor under the three headed guard dog in the third-floor corridor. The point of climax happens during the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, in which professor Snape is seen to be hexing Harry, who was playing seeker for Gryffindor and is stopped by Hermione. From there onwards all suspicions that were build up during the story comes to a peak and Snape is suspected as being directly involved with a scheme to steal whatever that is being guarded by the three-headed dog. The falling action takes place when Harry accidently confronts Voldemort at the forbidden forest, where he was sent to as a punishment and proceeds towards the resolution when he decides that it was for Voldemort that Snape is working and heads out to stop him (SparkNotes, 2003). The conclusion or the story’s ending often contains an element of surprise and in this story the element of surprise was Snape’s innocence in the grand scheme, in which he turn out to be none other than the protector of the very stone he was suspected to be stealing.
The plotline of Eragon begins at a completely different setting and approach when compared to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It begins at a fantasy land called Alagaësia with an ambush on an elven lady and her guards-who seemed to be delivering a stone-by another party of mythical creatures of Urugals and a Shade. Then an introduction on the story’s main character, Eragon, is followed. Unlike Harry, Eragon seemed to have a fair idea of magic and all types of mythical creatures from the stories he have heard from his childhood. But like Harry, he was also an orphan living with his uncle and cousin, who unlike in Harry’s situation are very nice to Eragon and treats him as family. The exposition doesn’t involve that many introductions to characters as in Harry Potter, but gives out a brief introduction to his cousin Roran and his conflicts, Garrow-his uncle, Sloan-the village butcher- and his daughter-Katrina, Horst-the village Smith, and of a story teller named Brom. Though the actions in the exposition seemed to progress slower than in Harry Potter, the introductions are rather descriptive taking the reader to a deeper level of understanding of the characters. Unlike Harry, Eragon finds out his identity on his own, when the dragon egg, which he thought was a stone hatches for him. And an introduction of his dragon, Saphira follows. The exposition ends with an introduction to his conflict, which is to kill the Ra’zac, servants of king Galbatorix, which are responsible for the death of Garrow, his uncle.
There are several rising actions in the story. The three most important rising actions are when Eragon, Saphira and Brom flees from Palancar Valley, Eragon rescues Arya-the elf who is responsible for the delivery of Saphira’s egg in Palancar valley-from the fortress of Shade Durza and when an army of Urugals chases after them. The climax happens when Eragon confronts Durza at the battle of Farthen Dûr, the home of the Varden, who are a group of rebels that are fighting against king Galbatorix, and defeats him. The falling action and the resolution then follow with him fighting an inner battle with the Durza, who has left a scathing mark on his back, winning the title “Shadeslayer”, and comes to a conclusion where he decides to join ‘The Cripple Who Was Whole’ at the elven village, Ellesméra, to complete his training.
Character
J.K. Rowling introduces a great number of interesting characters in the Harry Potter series. Some of the most important characters are Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape and Voldemort. A brief analysis on each character will be described in the following.
Harry Potter – the protagonist in the story, is an eleven year old boy who was ill-treated by his aunt and uncle as a child. He is characterized as a brave, determined and a humble child, who doesn’t take pride in things like fame and honor but only in things that matters to heart. He is loyal to his friends and despises all that is evil. He is portrayed as a true hero with great value.
Ronald Weasley - the first ever wizard friend Harry made, is characterized to be shy and a modest child, who unlike others doesn’t take pride in the fact that he is a pure-blood. He is characterized as a friendly and loyal person, who gets bullied a lot by his brothers. But, when it comes to friendship he displays immense courage like in the moment where he surrendered himself to the giant queen while playing wizard chess.
Hermione Granger – the second best wizard friend harry made is a very bright witch. She is characterized as a very keen and a bossy character, which seem to know every detail by heart and never breaks school rules. But, her character changes through the story and she learns to value friendship and loyalty beyond everything else. Her quick intelligence during compromising situation makes her an interesting character. Draco Malfoy – Harry’s rival at Hogwarts is the complete opposite of Harry. Draco, who has come from a very powerful lineage, loves to bully and show his superiority over others. His action towards others which contrasts with those of Harry’s helps the reader to develop a better affection toward the protagonist of the story and identify good from bad (SparkNotes, 2003).
Professor Dumbledore – the kind, long bearded headmaster at Hogwarts is characterized as a wise and a powerful leader. He has managed to obtain respect from almost all his staff members, which displays qualities of true leadership. He is a humble and a gentle leader, who in spite of all things he could obtain with all his power and knowledge, is content with a humble position such as headmaster of a school. Professor Snape – Harry’s potions master is probably the most secretive master at Hogwarts. He is characterized to be discriminative and rude. As a teacher he is the worse sort of example to a child, lacking in moral values and judgments. Nevertheless, his character always seems to bring out surprise and curiosity to the reader.
Voldemort – the antagonist in the story is a very powerful wizard, whose only wish is to become immortal. And by doing that he also wishes to rid the world of all Muggles and wizards except pure-bloods. But his inability to understand love makes him the failure of his own plans. The Inheritance Cycle when compared to Harry Potter has little characters, but the characters that are included are very descriptive and connect much deeply with the reader than in the Harry Potter series. And one of the main characters being a creature is something unique to the Inheritance Cycle. The most important characters in the Inheritance Cycle are: Eragon, Saphira, Roran, Murtagh, Arya and Galbatorix.
Eragon – the protagonist in the story is a fifteen year old farm boy, whose only family is his uncle Garrow and his cousin Roran. He is characterized as an inquisitive boy, who is popular among the village for his talent at archery and bravery. Like Harry, he too despises evil and injustice and stands up for his believe. In his quest, however, he does not have the console of friends like Ron and Hermione, who would stand up with him. But he has something similar and much powerful, he has Saphira. He too like Harry is humble and does not take pride in the fact that he is a dragon rider but, considers it as a responsibility and fights for the greater good, no matter what it would cost him, as a true hero does.
Saphira – the mentally bound companion of Eragon, shares a very unique relationship with him that cannot be named. She is proud as a dragon, yet is gentle as a human. She is the voice of sanity to him as well as the comforter. Her character enlightens the protagonist character and adds meaning to it.
Roran – the only relation Eragon thought he had is a strong and an ambitious man. During the series he shows bravery and courage and achieves the title “Stronghammer” as a sign of respect.
Murtagh – the only human friend Eragon made in the first book, later turns out to be his step-brother and another dragon rider. However, after he got captured in Farthen Dûr, he turns against Eragon, under the influence of Galbatorix, and meets with him in battle. Murtagh is characterized as a person who would make the most of a situation, regardless of whether what he does is right or wrong. He chooses the best path available for him at the time.
Arya – the subject of his love is a mysterious elven women, who Eragon later finds out is actually an elven princess. She is characterized as being strong and courageous, who under the influence of a shade could not even be broken. She, however, is also characterized to be lonely and lost emotionally.
Galbatorix – the antagonist in the story is characterized as a person who was driven to mad by loss. His inability to regain what he lost turned his sadness to hatred and revenge. Through which he developed a dream to take control whole of Alagaësia and re-build it in the way he suits best, under the rule of dragon riders, in which he is the supreme leader of all races.
Narrator/ Point of View
Narrators in both stories take a detached third-person observer close to the action, but not involved in it.
The point of view in the Harry Potter series at most times takes Harry’s point of view. Except at the beginning where Mr. Dursley’s point of view is taken to show the difference between a wizard’s perspectives and Muggle’s perspective, and few other times during the series it changes to take Ginny Weasley’s and Mr. Weasley’s point of view. While in the Inheritance Cycle, the point of view majorly changes between Eragon to Roran and sometimes to Nasuada, the leader of the Varden.
Setting
The Harry Potter series is set out in a much modern period than The Inheritance Cycle. The use of trains and mail posts relate to late 1990’s, while the village setting and the fighting methods in the Inheritance Cycle relate to an early period of 1700’s.
The Harry Potter series is majorly set out in Hogwarts in the first few books, and in later books it also sets out much in London. While the Inheritance Cycle sets completely on a fantasy land named Alagaësia.
Theme
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone underlie four main themes. They are: the value of humility, occasional necessity of rebellion, dangers of desire and the power of love. The value of humility is shown through Harry in many occasions. Harry as a boy who was mistreated from his childhood is a very humble character. Even with all that he endured from childhood he doesn’t for a moment think that he deserve the fame and name that people gave him when he entered into the wizarding world. He humbly accepted it but nothing more. When he discovered that his parents has left him a fortune of money, he didn’t take unnecessary pride in it or show off in front of Ron who seem not to have much, but bought food enough for the two of them so he could share. Even when he discovered that he is good at Quidditch he didn’t look for glory but practiced more each day to be better. His humility enabled him to win some lifelong friends, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise (SparkNotes, 2003).
The first book of the Harry Potter series also underlies the importance of occasional rebellion. Hermione as a perfectionist never deliberately disobeys a school rule. But, when the necessity arrived she lied to the teachers to protect her friends proving that she is able to adapt and understand when it is necessary to break a rule. Harry on the other hand never hesitates to break a rule. When a need arise he follows his instincts and make great discoveries and bother less about rules. It does not diminish his character; rather it shows that he is brave enough to take action when needed and to understand the difference (SparkNotes, 2003).
Other themes that are portrayed throughout the story are the danger of desire and the power of love. The danger of desiring more than one should is shown in two scenarios. One is shown through Voldemort, who desired for immortality through the stone and the other is shown through professor Dumbledore’s advice to Harry when he sees him looking at the Mirror of Erised, desiring to see his parents. It was explained to Harry that no matter how noble his desire is, an overblown desire can lead to lose perspective on life (SparkNotes, 2003). As for the theme power of love, it is shown in the way how Voldemort was unable to touch Harry because of the love of his mother, which protects him. As if mocking him for his inability to understand the power in it that caused him to fail in the first place.
The theme of Eragon is to be true to yourself and believe in yourself, that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. Eragon was shown to be in indecision whether or not to accept his true fate to become a dragon rider. He was shown to be struggling to accept the offer that was given to him by the Varden. He did not believe in himself to be a leader or a peacemaker of all races. But, in the end he proves himself to be worthy of the title “Argetlam”, by killing the shade Durza. And finally he also decides to accept his fate and decides to fulfill his training at Ellesmere.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both the Harry Potter series and the Inheritance Cycle are great literal works. Though in both plots the protagonist is an orphan boy who gains a new identity, the plotline in the first book of the Harry Potter series seems to grab the sympathy of the reader much more than it seem to do in Eragon. The exposition though descriptive is rather slow in development. The rising actions, climax and falling actions have a better flow in Harry Potter than in Eragon. But, the conclusion seemed to be much direct than in Harry Potter. When considering the characters, they are better developed in Harry Potter. The introduction of totally opposite characters in the story seemed to highlight the characteristics of the different parties and make the story interesting. While in Eragon it seems hard to identify the characteristics of each character, which seem to present an individual mystery. When considering the themes, it is hard to decide which theme is better, but it is my opinion that the themes in Harry Potter are more simple and easy to adapt, while the theme in Eragon is a bit complex. After analyzing the literal aspects such as plot, character, setting and theme we can come to a conclusion that the Harry potter series has managed to contribute more to literature than the Inheritance Cycle.
References
The JK Rowling Story. (2003, June 16). Retrieved from scotsman.com: http://scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/
The Author. (2004). Retrieved from Alagaesia.com: http://www.alagaesia.com/christopherpaolini.htm
Harry Potter author: I considered suicide. (2008). CNN.
Harry Potter - All 7 Novels, Deluxe Editions. (2009, January 14). Retrieved from EBOOKEE: http://ebookee.org/
Biography. (2012). Retrieved from jkrowling.com: http://www.jkrowling.com
JK Rowling Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved from bio.: http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk
Pauli, M. (2011, November 16 ). Christopher Paolini: 'Inspiration strikes about once every blue moon '. Retrieved from theguardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/
S. E. (2003). SparkNote on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's stone. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/harrypotter/

References: The JK Rowling Story. (2003, June 16). Retrieved from scotsman.com: http://scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/ The Author. (2004). Retrieved from Alagaesia.com: http://www.alagaesia.com/christopherpaolini.htm Harry Potter author: I considered suicide. (2008). CNN. Harry Potter - All 7 Novels, Deluxe Editions. (2009, January 14). Retrieved from EBOOKEE: http://ebookee.org/ Biography. (2012). Retrieved from jkrowling.com: http://www.jkrowling.com JK Rowling Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved from bio.: http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk Pauli, M. (2011, November 16 ). Christopher Paolini: 'Inspiration strikes about once every blue moon '. Retrieved from theguardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/ S. E. (2003). SparkNote on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's stone. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/harrypotter/