Rhetorical Harry Potter Essay

Technology and the magical world

The well-known author JK Rowling has used her best selling novel Harry Potter not only to entertain but also to convey her points of view on current social issues such as technology. Technology has been something that everyone has come to rely throughout the time, and has helped us gain knowledge through the utilization of tools, techniques and systems that make it easier to use, create, manage and exchange information. Our society could not be imagined without new technologies and their role both in this society and in human life in general.

The development of high technology including computer technology, Internet and the cellphone have helped conquer communication barriers and bridge the gap between people all over the world. I think nowadays we need new technologies such as mobile phones, because people need to be communicated and it has become a necessity and not a luxury. Mobile phones make life easier and due to them we opened possibilities, which could not even be imagined. In Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone, JK Rowling uses owls to exemplify communication in the magical world. Without owls they wouldn’t be able to communicate and it would have made things harder. Just like we have cellphones in order to stay connected with the rest of the world, Hagrid decides to give Harry an owl, which will be really useful to him.
“Just yer wand left — oh yeah, an’ I still haven’t got yeh a birth-day present.” Harry felt himself go red.
“You don’t have to —”
“I know I don’t have to. Tell yeh what, I’ll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh’d be laughed at — an’
I don’ like cats, they make me sneeze. I’ll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they’re dead useful, carry yer mail an’ everythin’.”

The significance of technology on humans is tremendous because technology not only provides communication but also helps in education. Online education has set in, making it possible to render knowledge to students inhabiting remote locations on Earth. It is due to the World Wide Web that the information could reach one and all over the computer networks. We have the chance to see and read about everything sitting at home without difficulties. All our jobs depend on new technologies. With it we are powerful and confident and it is so important to have new technology nowadays, because we depend on them for education. Technology has made our life more comfortable and easy and humanity has already got used to it. In the book, they use magic to educate themselves in order to become successful in life. In Hogwarts they used their wands to do everything including learning spells in order to make their lives easier. In Quirrell’s class they learned about defense against the dark magic, which could help and benefit them during a troubling situation.
“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,” she said. “Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.” Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn’t wait to get started, but soon realized they weren’t going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile.

Another of the biggest benefits of modern technology is that human health has improved because of its application. As knowledge of the body and its functions improves, and as new tools to help heal it are created, life lasts longer. Not only does life extend, but people can live more comfortably, and recover from wounds and diseases that even a half a century ago would have been fatal. In harry Potter they used magic to heal or save anyone’s life and learned how to use magic to save others. Like for example they learned different ways of treating werewolf bites with magic, or used their wands to heal any injury. When Harry falls from his broom during a quidditch game and brakes his hand, professor Lockhart try’s to heal harry with a spell but instead ends up making it worst but was latter fixed.
"As Harry got to his feet, he felt strangely lopsided.
Taking a deep breath he looked down at his right side.
What he saw nearly made him pass out again.
Poking out of the end of his robes was what looked like a thick, fleshcoloured rubber glove.
He tried to move his fingers. Nothing happened.
Lockhart hadn't mended Harry's bones.
He had removed them."

While there are advantages to constant evolution of technology, their evolution has also seen the increase of its destructive power as is apparent in the creation of weapons of all kinds. Since the creation of the A-Bomb to the guided missiles that use the newest technology, the world has not only become shorter but a more dangerous place. Stealth technology was used by the new plane bombers in order not to be seen upon arrival of enemy territory, and the recent wars waged in Iraq and Afghanistan are the vivid proof of how lethal can technology also be. We must be careful, because technology can not only help or make our life more easy, but also can destroy every thing we have worked on. An example of Stealth technology in Harry Potter would be Harry’s invisibility cloak. But harry didn’t use it for the wrong reasons but for his well-intentioned purposes. “It’s an Invisibility Cloak,” said Ron, a look of awe on his face. “I’m sure it is — try it on.” Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell. “It is! Look down!” Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely. But sadly not everyone was good as Harry and Voldemort didn’t used magic for good but for evil purposes.
“How touching . . .” it hissed. “I always value bravery. . . .
Yes, boy, your parents were brave. . . . I killed your father first,
And he put up a courageous fight . . . but your mother needn’t
Have died . . . she was trying to protect you. . . . Now give me the Stone unless you want her to have died in vain.”

In a broader sense, technology affects societies in the development of advanced economies, making life more convenient to more people that have access to such technology. I cannot imagine a world without technology and how people in the past centuries could live without this technology we have today. But nevertheless we recognize that in every century people lived their life with the advancements of science and technology available during their time, and each discovery made their life even easier. And we can see how in the book Harry Potter by JK Rowling magic made their life easier as technology also makes ours easier.