ELIAS RETIZ EXTENSIVE READING

04/12/2017

WHAT INSPIRED J.K. ROWLING?

I´m reading the book “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer´s Stone” by Joanne Kathleen Rowling
and what I found about the influence Rowling had, was that it can be distinguished that
she took some structures or ideas from books written by the authors Enid Blyton, Richmal
Cropton and Roald Dahl. But even so, she became a writer since she was 6 years old, and
later Rowling created some characters inspired by the names or personalities of the
people that she was meeting. She had some problems in her family, and went through
difficult times in her life, and I think that this mix of good times, bad times, people that she
knew, authors, the books that she read, were the basis of her creativity at the time of
writing Harry Potter. It was on a train trip, from Manchester to London when Rowling
began writing the story of Harry Potter, it was at that time when she captured all her ideas
on paper.
SETTING

This book is located in England, 30 years ago. Two worlds are involved on this story, the magic
world and the common world (also muggle world). This worlds are not allowed to mix up, the
magic world can´t use magic in the common world and it is supposed that the common world
doesn´t know about the existence of the other. This magic world has a school that is famous
because all the greatest wizards came from this place called Hogwarts. This is the school where
Harry Potter will have all his amazing adventures with his best friends Ron Weasley Hermionie
Grange rand Hagrid.

Harry prefers to be in Hogwarts due to he lives with his uncle Vernon, his aunt Petunia and his
mean cousin Dudley, Harry Potter´s parents died by the hand of Voldemort, the darkest wizard of
the world. Voldemort also tried to kill Harry but he couldn´t do it, Harry Potter just got a scar with
the shape of lightning in his forehead.
The curiosity of he and his friend will lead them to found some strange things and they will try to
solve the mysteries that will occur.

CHARACTERS

- Harry Potter: He is the main character of the book, he didn´t knew that his parents were
wizards because his uncles had never told him. When he stars his journey studying on
Hogwarts, the other students know who he is, and get amazed about him. Also he realizes
that he is good on Quiditch and in other topics of magic. He is really brave and curious
about the things that happen on Hogwarts.
- Ron Weasley: He is Harry Potter´s best friend, he is red-headed, and he has freckles on his
face. He has 5 brothers and 1 sister. His family is poor, but everyone in his family is kind
with others, he comes from a wizard’s family.
- Hermionie: At first she wasn´t friend of Ron and Harry, but after they saved her life, she
became closer to them. She doesn´t belong to a wizards family so it can be said that he
belongs to a muggle family, in despite of this, she is the smartest student of the class.
ELIAS RETIZ EXTENSIVE READING
04/12/2017

Opinion and evaluation

The story itself takes you to that magic universe and makes you feel like a wizard in some parts of
the book. This reading included new vocabulary for me, a lot of adjectives, nouns, etc. I can say
that the author make a specific description of every scene, relating every detail of what is in the
environment of the chapters. In my case the more I read the more I wanted to know about this
universe, and I’m thinking of reading the 7 books. In comparison of the movie and the book, I have
to say that the movie includes most of the book, just with some omissions.

An important part to evaluate from this book is that it can be considered an easy-reading book,
and it is, but it has also his difficult level, in the way that you have to know a lot of adjectives and
nouns to have a full understanding of the environment and the plot.