Language Used by Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart

Introduction

Writers in Third World countries that were formerly colonies of European nations debate among themselves about their duty to write in their native language rather than in the language of their former colonizer. Some of these writers argue that writing in their native language is imperative because cultural subtleties and meanings are lost in translation. For these writers, a "foreign" language can never fully describe their culture.

Choosing a Language

Achebe maintains the opposite view. In a 1966 essay reprinted in his bookMorning Yet on Creation Day, he says that, by using English, he presents "a new voice coming out of Africa, speaking of African experience in a world-wide language." He recommends that the African writer use English "in a way that brings out his message best without altering the language to the extent that its value as a medium of international exchange will be lost. [The writer] should aim at fashioning out an English which is at once universal and able to carry his peculiar experience." Achebe accomplishes this goal by innovatively introducing Igbo language, proverbs, metaphors, speech rhythms, and ideas into a novel written in English.

Achebe agrees, however, with many of his fellow African writers on one point: The African writer must write for a social purpose. In contrast to Western writers and artists who create art for art's sake, many African writers create works with one mission in mind — to reestablish their own national culture in the postcolonial era. In a 1964 statement, also published in Morning Yet on Creation Day, Achebe comments that

African people did not hear of culture for the first time from Europeans. . . . their societies were not mindless, but frequently had a philosophy of great depth and value and beauty, . . . they had poetry, and above all, they had dignity. It is this dignity that African people all but lost during the colonial period, and it is this that they must now regain.

To further his aim of disseminating African works to a non-African audience, Achebe became the founding editor for a series on African literature — the African Writers Series — for the publishing firm Heinemann.

The Use of English

Achebe presents the complexities and depths of an African culture to readers of other cultures as well as to readers of his own culture. By using English — in which he has been proficient since childhood — he reaches many more readers and has a much greater literary impact than he would by writing in a language such as Igbo. Writers who write in their native language must eventually allow their works to be translated, often into English, so readers outside the culture can learn about it.

Yet by using English, Achebe faces a problem. How can he present the African heritage and culture in a language that can never describe it adequately? Indeed, one of the primary tasks of Things Fall Apart is to confront this lack of understanding between the Igbo culture and the colonialist culture. In the novel, the Igbo ask how the white man can call Igbo customs bad when he does not even speak the Igbo language. An understanding of Igbo culture can only be possible when the outsider can relate to the Igbo language and terminology.

Achebe solves this problem by incorporating elements of the Igbo language into his novel. By incorporating Igbo words, rhythms, language, and concepts into an English text about his culture, Achebe goes a long way to bridge a cultural divide.

The Igbo vocabulary is merged into the text almost seamlessly so the reader understands the meaning of most Igbo words by their context. Can any attentive reader of Things Fall Apart remain unfamiliar with words and concepts represented by chi, egwugwu, ogbanje, and obi? Such Igbo terms as chi and ogbanje are essentially untranslatable, but by using them in the context of his story, Achebe helps the non-Igbo reader identify with and relate to this complex Igbo culture.

Chi, for example, represents a significant, complex Igbo concept that Achebe repeatedly refers to by illustrating the concept in various contexts throughout the story. Achebe translates chi as personal godwhen he first mentions Unoka's bad fortune. As the book progresses, it gradually picks up other nuances. As discussed in the Analysis section for Chapter 3, the chi concept is more complex than a personal deity or even fate, another frequently used synonym. Chi suggests elements of the Hindu concept of karma, the concept of the soul in some Christian denominations, and the concept of individuality in some mystical philosophies. The understanding of chi and its significance in Igbo culture grows as one progresses through the book.

Another example of Achebe's incorporation of Igbo elements is his frequent reference to traditional Igbo proverbs and tales. These particular elements give Things Fall Apart an authentic African voice. The Igbo culture is fundamentally an oral one — that is, "Among the Igbo, the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten" (Chapter1). To provide an authentic feel for Igbo culture would be impossible without also allowing the proverbs to play a significant role in the novel. And despite the foreign origin of these proverbs and tales, the Western reader can relate very well to many of them. They are woven smoothly into their context and require only occasional explanation or elaboration. These proverbs and tales are, in fact, quite similar in spirit to Western sayings and fables.

Modern-day readers of this novel not only relate easily to traditional proverbs and tales but also sympathize with the problems of Okonkwo, Nwoye, and other characters. Achebe has skillfully developed his characters, and even though they live in a different era and a very different culture, one can readily understand their motivations and their feelings because they are universal and timeless.

Speech patterns and rhythms are occasionally used to represent moments of high emotion and tension. Consider the sound of the drums in the night in Chapter 13 (go-di-di-go-go-di-go); the call repeated several times to unite a gathering followed by its group response, first described in Chapter 2 (Umuofia kwenu. . .Yaa!); the agonized call of the priestess seeking Ezinma in Chapter 11 (Agbala do-o-o-o!); the repetitious pattern of questions and answers in the isa-ifi marriage ritual in Chapter14; the long narrated tale of Tortoise in Chapter 11; and the excerpts from songs in several chapters.

Achebe adds another twist in his creative use of language by incorporating a few examples of Pidgin English. Pidgin is a simplified form of language used for communicating between groups of people who normally speak different languages. Achebe uses only a few Pidgin words or phrases — tie-tie (to tie);kotma (a crude form of court messenger); and Yes, sah — just enough to suggest that a form of Pidgin English was being established. As colonialists, the British were adept at installing Pidgin English in their new colonies. Unfortunately, Pidgin sometimes takes on characteristics of master-servant communication; it can sound patronizing on the one hand, and subservient on the other. Furthermore, using the simplified language can become an easy excuse for not learning the standard languages for which it substitutes.

Achebe's use of Igbo language, speech patterns, proverbs, and richly drawn characters creates an authentic African story that effectively bridges the cultural and historical gap between the reader and the Igbo. Things Fall Apart is a groundbreaking work for many reasons, but particularly because Achebe's controlled use of the Igbo language in an English novel extends the boundaries of what is considered English fiction. Achebe's introduction of new forms and language into a traditional (Western) narrative structure to communicate unique African experiences forever changed the definition of world literature.

Pronunciation of Igbo Names and Words

Like Chinese, the Igbo language is a tonal one; that is, differences in the actual voice pitch and the rise or fall of a word or phrase can produce different meanings. In Chapter 16, for example, Achebe describes how the missionary's translator, though an Igbo, can not pronounce the Mbanto Igbo dialect: "Instead of saying 'myself' he always said 'my buttocks.'

Igbo names usually represent meanings — often entire ideas. Some names reflect the qualities that a parent wishes to bestow on a child; for example, Ikemefuna means my power should not be dispersed. Other names reflect the time, area, or other circumstances to which a child is born; for example, Okoye means man born on Oye Day, the second day of the Igbo week. And Igbo parents also give names to honor someone or something else; for instance, Nneka means mother is supreme.

Prior to Nigerian independence in 1960, the spelling of Igbo words was not standardized. Thus the word Igbo is written as Ibo, the pre-1960 spelling throughout Things Fall Apart. The new spellings reflect a more accurate understanding and pronunciation of Igbo words. The List of Characters includes a pronunciation that uses equivalent English syllables for most of the main characters' names.

History of Journalism

Name: Patel Kavita B.

Topic: History of Journalism

“Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. That purpose is to provide people with information they need to understand the world. The first challenge is finding the information that people need to live their lives. The second is to make it meaningful, relevant, and engaging.”

The journalistic principle of engagement and relevance means exactly that – journalists are asked to present the information they find in interesting and meaningful ways, but without being overly sensational.

There are two sides to this principle, however, and they must be balanced for the journalist to be successful. Engagement is what makes the story intriguing and readable. Relevance is what makes it worth the reader’s time, what makes the story important to the reader’s life. The industry has struggled to find that balance throughout its history, but studies, such as those conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, have shown that in the long term journalism that tends more toward the engagement (or entertaining) side without adequately addressing the relevant side will not be as successful.

During the Penny Press era, news consisted of little political debate and much human interest appeal. Stories focused on sex, violence, and features instead; they were sensational and engaging, but not always especially relevant to their readers’ lives. In 1851, however, the New York Times was founded, declaring its commitment to objective and reasoned journalism, and the swing toward the relevant side began. To aid that shift, the inverted pyramid style was developed in response to the strategic destruction of telegraph wires during the Civil War. Journalists had to transmit the most important, or relevant, information first in case the transmission was cut short. This style was then carried through into the post-war era.

During the period known as the era of Yellow Journalism, newspapers became for-profit ventures. Sensationalism still had a hold on the industry, with a focus on high interest stories and attention-getting headlines rather than useful information for the public. Stories focused on the mass appeal of death, dishonor, and/or disaster. In the 1890s, however, relevance made more of a comeback. With immigrants moving into the middle classes, news became more of a commodity. Sensationalism began to give way to the sobriety and objectivity of the New York Times. Two story models were in use at that time: the story model of the Penny Press and Yellow Journalism eras, and the informational model of objectivity.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, even Joseph Pulitzer’s notoriously ‘yellow’New York Sun had become more literary. By the 1920s, though, objective style was beginning to be questioned. Objectivity presented only the facts, the relevance parts, without any commentary or color, and the world was becoming too complex for information alone. Parallel to the rise of radio, interpretive journalism was born to help explain what was happening.

From the Depression through the Cold War, tabloids continued to give way to seriousness in reporting. This trend continued into the 1960s and ‘70s, as the Great Newspaper Wars whittled down the number of papers in each town. The surviving papers were not the tabloids, but the serious papers, and the same was true of television news programs. The news products that people chose in the long term were those that provided them with the more relevant information, rather than entertainment.

During the USA Today era of the 1980s, news was increasingly being produced by companies outside of journalism, and a resurgence of primarily engaging news began. Radio and television had long since replaced newspapers as the dominant news sources, and papers began to add more feature-centered sections. When the industry addressed its readership losses, rather than addressing this substitution of entertainment for content, it focused on cosmetic solutions such as layout, design, and color, thus continuing the decline of relevance in newspapers. To illustrate, a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism found that news magazines such as Newsweek and Time were seven times more likely in 1997 to share a cover subject with an entertainment magazine like People than they had been in 1977. Whereas in 1977 those covers would have contained a political or international figure 31% of the time and a celebrity or entertainment figure only 15% of the time, in 1997 political figures were down to about 10% of cover stories, and celebrities were up to about 20%.

“Infotainment,” or the new version of tabloidism, is still a prevalent format for today’s news, but as a result “avoidance of local news has doubled in the past ten years,” according to data from Insite Research. The public continues to show a preference for relevant information over entertainment-centered coverage. Another study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, conducted between 1998 and 2000, found that stations that produced higher-quality news programs were more likely to have higher ratings, and even rising ratings, than those that produced lower-quality ones. In this Internet era, also, the web has become a vehicle for up to the minute updates on news and information, providing the public with a venue for relevant and engaging information 24 hours a day, allowing for public and civic journalism to get a foothold among the many other choices the public has to choose from.

Over the decades, the journalism industry has swung like a pendulum between a focus on the entertaining and on the significant sides of the news. Whenever it reaches one extreme or the other, the pendulum begins its swing in the opposite direction. Always, the optimal position for the industry and for the public is somewhere in the middle.

Symbolism in Thomas Hardy

Name: Patel Kavita B.

Symbolism in Thomas Hardy

Analyzing the lives of the protagonists in Thomas Hardy’s Wessex Tales and Novels, the questions arise in our mind that: Is their destiny shaped by a certain determinism lying in the environment? Do their decisions and feelings influence the natural surroundings by means of outward projection? If a mythical and archetypal reading will favour the assumption that the characters’ reactions depend upon the cycles of nature, a psychoanalytical interpretation will focus upon the assumption that natural descriptions are in fact nothing but a representation of the characters’ inner self.

Although apparently in contradiction, the two approaches reveal different faces of the same truth: in Hardy’s tales and novels, nature is not just a mere decorative location; it is profoundly and uniquely bound to the characters’ lives and destinies, sometimes becoming a character in the story.

        Throughout the novel Mayor of Casterbridge , his volatile temper forces him into ruthless competition with Farfrae that strips him of his pride and property, while his insecurities lead him to deceive the one person he learns to truly care about, Elizabeth-Jane. Henchard dies an unremarkable death, slinking off to a humble cottage in the woods, and he stipulates in his will that no one mourn or remember him. There will be no statues in the Casterbridge square, as one might imagine, marking his life and work. Yet Hardy insists that his hero is a worthy man. Henchard’s worth, then—that which makes him a “Man of Character”—lies in his determination to suffer and in his ability to endure great pain. He shoulders the burden of his own mistakes as he sells his family, mismanages his business, and bears the storm of an unlucky fate, especially when the furmity-woman confesses and Newson reappears. The importance of a solid reputation and character is rather obvious given Henchard’s situation, for Henchard has little else besides his name. He arrives in Casterbridge with nothing more than the implements of the hay-trusser’s trade, and though we never learn the circumstances of his ascent to civic leader, such a climb presumably depends upon the worth of one’s name. Throughout the course of the novel, Henchard attempts to earn, or to believe that he has earned his position. He is, however, plagued by a conviction of his own worthlessness, and he places himself in situations that can only result in failure. For instance, he indulges in petty jealousy of Farfrae, which leads to a drawn-out competition in which Henchard loses his position as mayor, his business, and the women he loves.

Hardy manages to create not a photograph of the landscape, but a certain mood of the characters, using different elements of nature: the night, the roads, the birds' songs, the beautiful colours of landscapes.

Here, Stonehenge, a collection of giant stones arranged in acicular form has special connotation for the novel, apart from its purpose to serve as an astrological calendar and a ceremonial place for religious or tribal worship. It draws Hardy's philosophy about the indifference of nature to suffering and it shows man's ephemeral character, civilization and human's vanity. But its main symbolism is that it represents death for the heroine who eventually accepts her 

Destiny, that of a heathen and her rejection by the Christian religion as a sinner. This Temple of the Winds implies the idea of primitive religion, worshipping nature while performing rituals, being older than the centuries. Its symbolic shape and its location in a landscape not disturbed by man, represents both solitude and death, the Stone of Sacrifice: 'vast upward structure, close in his front, rising sheer'.

Tess and Angel stop in Stonehenge after they have traveled a long way and need rest. The stones are still warm from the sun, radiating heat all during the cool night. Tess realizes that her mother's family is from the area, "One of my mother's people was a shepherd hereabouts, now I think of it. And you used to say at Talbothays that I was a heathen. So now I am at home." Angel recognizes that Tess is "lying on an altar" - like a sacrifice to the ancient pagans who used to practice there.

Another important element is nature, which contributes to the final scene: the coming of light is the coming of death, the winds die out, the stones are still and the scene is now ready for the sacrifice: the sky was dense with cloud, some fragment of a moon'.

The physical props are suggested by vegetation and stone. The turf, the grass help her finding her way along to an open loneliness and black solitude, that one could both 'see' and 'feel'. Then, the stone is an obstacle, an interdiction 'rising sheer from the grass'; this shows the eternity of nature versus the Man's ephemeral character, the time immemorial and rituals: Stonehenge. 
All in all, Tess's experience and nature elements present a very important connection, as they contribute to the solemnity and the tragedy of the moment when Tess is hanged. 

Henchard’s past proves no less indomitable. Indeed, he spends the entirety of the novel attempting to right the wrongs of long ago. He succeeds only in making more grievous mistakes, but he never fails to acknowledge that the past cannot be buried or denied. Only Lucetta is guilty of such folly. She dismisses her history with Henchard and the promises that she made to him in order to pursue Farfrae, a decision for which she pays with her reputation and, eventually, her life.

Following Hardy’s wish for universality, we have not restricted our analysis only to those tales and novels which the author has grouped under the heading “Novels of Character and Environment” since we consider the setting represents a vital element in all his literary pieces, the “Romances and Fantasies” and the “Novels of Ingenuity”. Far from being exhaustive, our analysis will focus on a double-layered interpretation of the role and functions of nature in Hardyan prose. On the one hand, we will highlight the mythical and archetypal significance of the relationship between man and nature and on the other hand, we will attempt to illustrate the idea that natural surroundings are designed to mirror the protagonists’ tormented lives. The description of the bitter wintry conditions under which the parish choir assembles no longer reminds us of an idealised pastoral landscape, but more likely of a realistic scenery. The characters’ symbolic names such as Dewy or Leaf add new elements to the analogy man-nature. As leaves in the wind, the protagonists lead an ephemeral life dependent on the cycles of nature. Not surprisingly, Under the Greenwood Tree consists of four parts, each of them entitled as one of the four seasons and describing seasonal episodes as a Christmas supper, a nutting or a honey-taking. In Far from the Madding Crowd, the cycle of seasons is easily traceable if we look at the references to the days celebrating saints: St. Thomas’s Day Purification Day White Monday Lady Day and White Tuesday On the same wavelength, Galea considers that in the first of Hardy’s great tragedies, The Return of the Native, “human experience is an echo of the cycles of nature”. The arrival of autumn is signalled by the Fifth of November bonfires; the role of the Ancient choir of the Greek tragedies is now played by the group of furze-cutters who gather on the heath or at the Silent Woman where they come with the intention of congratulating Wildeve and Thomasin on their assumed marriage which did not actually take place because of a lack of license or more likely because of Wildeve’s reluctance to marry her. Clym Yeobright is expected home for Christmas and his return is viewed as a sign of hope and rebirth, especially for Eustacia who deludes herself into believing that he is the man to take her away from the heath. The reconciliation and marriage of the two couples is possible only in spring since this season is associated with the prospect of a happy ending. Nevertheless, Clym’s determination to remain on the heath and the gradual weakening of his sight will purportedly lead to the inevitable outcome: the death of both Wildeve and Eustacia. The summer is the season of tragic revelations such as Eustacia’s disappointment with Clym and Mrs. Yeobright’s unexpected death on the last hot day of August. The next Fifth of November marks the ending of a tragic cycle, whereas the new spring comes with the Maypole Festivity and brings about Thomasin’s marriage to the faithful Diggory Venn. From a wider perspective, the four cycles of the natural world have been associated by Frye with four narrative patterns out of which the mythos of autumn and the mythos of winter seem to better define Hardy’s novels.

Many Hardyan characters become an embodiment of the tragic hero who has the potential of being superior anddreams of happiness, but will never achieve his goals due to the puzzling complexities of life entrapping him in a pre-determinism inscribed in the natural surroundings. As representatives of Mother Nature, the women in Hardy’s prose are indeed memorable tragic figures, victims of their illusions and of circumstances. Eustacia Vye in The Return of the Native and Tess Durbeyfield in Tess of the D’Urbervilles are perhaps the most powerful women characters ever created by Hardy Included by Giordano among Hardy’s “self-destructive” characters, the mysterious, dark-haired Eustacia Vye is a goddess of the night and of the magnificent Egdon Heath, which she paradoxically hates and rejects, hopelessly dreaming of the glamour of city life. Her irretrievable hybris is her indifference towards the cycles of nature, or the combination of pagan and Christian rituals dominating an ancestral mode of existence. Her hostility to the heath is irrational and foreshadows her damnation and ultimate death as she herself confesses to Wildeve: “Tiss my cross, my shame, and will be my death!”. If the seclusion of the heath leads Eustacia to desperate acts, the isolation and loneliness of the beautiful Vale of Blackmoor could be the reason for Tess’s innocence and her seduction. A microcosm of the world, Hardy’s Wessex is used in this novel to follow Tess in the different stages of her unhappy life. Sîrbulescu advises the potential readers of the novel to “be aware that Tess’s life begins and ends in spring, that she falls in love during the fecund summer months, and that she marries, ominously, in the dead of winter”. The summer richness of the Talbothay’s Farm where Tess meets Angel contrasts with the desolation of Flintcomb-Ash, the farm on which Tess got a job after Angel Clare’s departure. Forced to pay for the sin of a member of her ancient family who once killed a young woman, Tess’s efforts to improve her condition are doomed to failure from the beginning. Even if her gesture to kill Alec is in fact a necessary act to restore the natural order of things and an understandable act of revenge against the man who destroyed her life, Tess’s murder is still a fatal hybris which requires sacrifice and restoration. Rejected by the Christian church, Tess finds shelter in the “heathen temple” of Stonehenge, a symbol of eternal stability and equilibrium, “older than the centuries; older than the D’Urbervilles” (268). The remnant of a very old civilization which worshipped nature by bringing human sacrifices, Stonehenge suggests the insignificance of man in the face of nature and fate as well as the futility of his efforts to fight against Blind Destiny Like Antigone or Iphigenia, Tess disposes of her earthly assets and advises Alec to continue life by marrying her younger sister Liza-Lu and begetting children. Angel’s ritual marriage to his sister-in-law would symbolize his union with Tess, but in a purified, improved version of the world. Her depersonalization and resurrection in spirit is the normal consequence of the miserable life of “a pure woman, faithfully presented.”Similarly to Eustacia or Tess, the male protagonists in The Mayor of Casterbridge or Jude the Obscure are powerful figures engaged in a perpetual struggle with the cruel forces of the universe.

The Dyonisian myth is at the centre of Hardy’s novel The Mayor of Casterbridgesince Henchard’s drunkenness tempts him to commit the unforgettable sin of selling his wife Susan and his daughter Elisabeth-Jane to a sailor, Newson, for five guineas. When he is sober again, Henchard is seized by remorse and seeks redemption, making a twentyone-year vow to touch no drink. Settling at Casterbrifge, the hay-trusser initially proves that strong will and determination can change man’s fate. After eighteen years, Henchard becomes a highly respected grain merchant and mayor of the town of Casterbridge.                              

Similarly, the love story of Lady Viviette Constantine in Two on a Tower is the story of her quest for self-discovery, of her struggle between her “id,” the psychological reservoir of one’s instincts and most primitive urges and her “ego” or the conscious self. The former allures her to the younger Swithin St. Cleeve who experiences for her the Oedipus complex or the desire of every male child to sleep with his mother. The latter determines her to obey to the moral rules of society and finally give up Swithin and marry the older bishop. The setting is again a representation of her inner struggle. The Great House she lives in is surrounded by “darkness” and the lovers’ meetings can only take place under the cover of darkness. Reminding us of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, young Swithin asks Lady Constantine to imagine “your mind feeling its way through a heaven of total darkness”, in other words, freeing her unconscious desires or fears. From a psychoanalytical perspective, the symbolism of the setting is further enriched by the reference to the tower, a phallic symbol designating the place where Lady Constantine meets Swithin and secretly plans to marry him. The storm which breaks out when they decide to elope is again a symbol of the intensity of Viviette’s feelings: “a circular hurricane, exceeding in violence any that had preceded it, seized hold upon Rings-Hill Speer at that moment with the determination of a conscious agent”. Egdon Heath, the setting in The Return of the Native, is also a symbol of darkness. As Cohen notices, “Hardy presents human inwardness as materially contiguous with the external surface of the earth” . Hence if the heath is a dark, dangerous place for Eustacia Vye, for Thomasin there were no “demons in the air, and malice in every bush and bough”. The wildness of the powers of nature is once more an indication of the characters’ hesitations or torment. In the final scene of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Stonehenge becomes “a Very Temple of the Winds”, reflecting the characters’ rout and despair. The chromatic element enhances the dramatic atmosphere, gradually grasping the passage from darkness to dawn, in fact Tess’s awakening and the end of her inner quest. The coming of light is the coming of death for the unconscious.

No matter if we resort to a mythical and archetypal reading of the Hardyan prose or to a psychoanalytical interpretation, the analysis will prove a valuable source for the understanding of the symbolism of nature which acquires poetical representation especially throughout his novels. In spite of Hardy’s wish to see his Wessex as a universal setting, we cannot deny the high degree of local specificity, which asks for a deeper insight into the ancient embroidery of myths, archetypes and rituals. On too many occasions nature becomes a mirror of the characters’ inner self so we cannot overlook a possible psychoanalytical interpretation as well. To sum up, even if they ask new questions and set forth new arguments about the role and functions of setting, both approaches help us to reveal some of the reasons for Hardy’s characters’ intrinsic bind to nature.

Minor & Major Character in Harry Potter

Name: Patel Kavita B.

Topic: Minor & Major Character in Harry Potter

Roll No. – 08

Semester: IV

Batch: 2011- 12

Submitted to:

Dr. Dilip Barad,

Head of Department of English,

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinji Bhavnagar University,

Bhavnagar.

1)    Harry Potter - The protagonist of the story, who is gradually transformed from timid weakling to powerful hero by the end. Marked on the forehead with a lightning-shaped scar, Harry is marked also by the confrontation between good and bad magic that caused that scar: the standoff between the evil Voldemort and his parents who died to save their son. The story eventually becomes a tale of Harry’s vengeance for their wrongful deaths. As he matures, he shows himself to be caring and shrewd, a loyal friend, and an excellent Quidditch player.

2)    Hermione Granger - initially an annoying goody-two-shoe who studies too much and obeys the school rules too enthusiastically. Hermione eventually becomes friendly with Harry after she learns to value friendship over perfectionism and obedience. She comes from a purely Muggle family, and her character illustrates the social-adjustment problems often faced by new students at Hogwarts.

3)    Ron Weasley - A shy, modest boy who comes from an impoverished wizard family. Ron is Harry’s first friend at Hogwarts, and they become close. He lacks Harry’s gusto and charisma, but his loyalty and help are useful to Harry throughout their adventures. Ron’s mediocrity despite his wizard background reminds us that success at Hogwarts is based solely on talent and hard work, not on family connections. Ron’s willingness to be beaten up by the monstrous chess queen shows how selfless and generous he is.

4)    Hagrid - An unsophisticated giant who works as a groundskeeper at Hogwarts. Rubeus Hagrid is a well-meaning creature with more kindness than brains. He cares deeply for Harry, as evidenced by the tears he sheds upon having to leave the infant Harry with the Dursleys. His fondness for animals is endearing, even if it gets him into trouble (as when he tries raising a dragon at home). Hagrid symbolizes the importance of generosity and human warmth in a world menaced by conniving villains.

5)    Albus Dumbledore - The kind, wise head of Hogwarts. Though he is a famous wizard, Dumbledore is as humble and adorable as his name suggests. While other school officials, such as Professor McGonagall, are obsessed with the rules, Dumbledore respects them (as his warnings against entering the Forbidden Forest remind us) but does not exaggerate their importance. He appears to have an almost superhuman level of wisdom, knowledge, and personal understanding, and it seems that he may have set up the whole quest for the Sorcerer’s Stone so that Harry could prove himself.

6)    Voldemort - A great wizard had gone bad. When he killed Harry’s parents, Voldemort gave Harry a lightning-shaped scar. Voldemort has thus shaped Harry’s life so that Harry’s ultimate destruction of him appears as a kind of vengeance. Voldemort, whose name in French means either “flight of death” or “theft of death,” is associated both with high-flying magic and with deceit throughout the story. He is determined to escape death by finding the Sorcerer’s Stone. Voldemort’s weak point is that he cannot understand love, and thus cannot touch Harry’s body, which still bears the traces of Harry’s mother’s love for her son.

7)    Draco Malfoy - An arrogant student and Harry’s nemesis. Malfoy, whose name translates roughly to “dragon of bad faith,” is a rich snob from a long line of wizards who feels entitled to the Hogwarts experience. He makes fun of the poorer Ron Weasley and advises Harry to choose his friends more carefully. As the story progresses, Malfoy becomes more and more inimical to Harry and his friends, and there is a hint that he may grow up to become another Voldemort.

8)    Neville Longbottom - A timid Hogwarts classmate of Harry’s. Neville is friendly and loyal, but like Ron, he lacks Harry’s charisma. Like Hermione, he is initially too obedient, and when the time comes to go after the Sorcerer’s Stone, he fears punishment and threatens to report his friends to the teachers.

9)    Professor McGonagall - The head of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts and a high-ranking woman in the wizard world. Minerva McGonagall is fair but extremely stern and severe in her punishments. Her devotion to the letter of the law is impressive but a bit cold, and we constantly feel that she could never become a warm and wise figure like Dumbledore. Rowling named her after a notoriously bad nineteenth-century Scottish poet named William McGonagall who was nevertheless highly confident of his own talents.

10)                      Professor Snape - A professor of Potions at Hogwarts. Severus Snape dislikes Harry and appears to be an evil man for most of the story. His name associates him not only with unfair snap judgments of others but also with his violent intentions to snap the bones of his enemies. Snape’s grudge against Harry, which is nevertheless far from a murderous ill will, helps us remember the difference between forgivable vices and unforgivable evil intentions.

11)                      Professor Quirrell - a stuttering and seemingly harmless man and a professor of Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Quirrell appears as nervous and squirrelly as his name suggests for most of the story. It is he, for example, who nearly faints when announcing the news that a troll is loose in the school. It turns out later, however, that Quirrell has faked his withdrawing meekness and is actually a cold-blooded conniver.

12)                      Vernon Dursley - Harry’s rich uncle, with whom Harry lives for ten miserable years. Dursley symbolizes the Muggle world at its most silly and mediocre. It is through Mr. Dursley’s jaded Muggle eyes that we first glimpse wizards, and his closed-mindedness toward the colorful cloaks and literate cats that he meets emphasizes how different the human and wizard worlds are.

13)                      Petunia Dursley - Mr. Dursley’s wife. Petunia is an overly doting mother to her spoiled son, Dudley, and a prison-keeper to Harry. She is haughty and excessively concerned with what the neighbors think of her family. She is somewhat humanized for us when we discover that she was always jealous of the magical gifts of her sister, Lily, Harry’s witch mother. Perhaps her malevolence toward Harry springs from an earlier resentment of her sister.

14)                      Dudley Dursley - Harry’s cousin, a spoiled, fat bully. Annoying and loud, Dudley manipulates parental love to get what he wants—his outrageous desires for multiple television sets foreshadow the important scenes involving the Mirror of Erised and the wrongful desire for eternal life that motivates Voldemort. Dudley’s tormenting of Harry foreshadows Malfoy’s later bullying tendencies at Hogwarts, though he is less gifted than Malfoy

15)                      Tom Riddle - Tom’s past and appearance resemble Harry's. Tom, who grew up to become Voldemort, is the last remaining descendent of Salazar Slytherin. Through his old diary he enchants Ginny Weasley to perform his dark tasks.

16)                      Ginny Weasley - Ron’s younger sister. Ginny is a shy red-haired girl with an enormous crush on Harry. She finds Tom Riddle's diary. The magic diary manipulates her into opening the Chamber of Secrets and releasing the basilisk.

17)                      Percy Weasley - Ron’s brother. Percy is a perfect who is in charge of a group of younger students. He is annoying, nagging, and pompous, but has good intentions.

18)                      Fred Weasley -  One of Ron's older brothers, Fred is a beater for the Gryffindor House Quidditch team. Fred and his twin brother George are troublemakers. Fred has a louder sense of humor than George, but they are almost identical and usually inseparable.

19)                      George Weasley - One of Ron's older brothers, George is a beater for the Gryffindor House Quidditch team. He and his twin brother Fred are troublemakers. George is subtler and more tongue-in-cheek than his twin. Together, the Weasley twins are an infamous, amusing, and charming pair.

20)                      Molly Weasley - Ron’s mother. Molly is very maternal and protective, but also quite strict.

21)                      Arthur Weasley - Ron’s father, who works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office within the Ministry of Magic. He Muggle artifacts, and has a buoyant, childlike enthusiasm...

22)                      Gilderoy Lockhart - The teacher of the class called "Defense Against the Dark Arts." Lockhart is the author of many magical books, and the five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. An incompetent, astonishingly vain man, Lockhart offers much of the comic relief in this story.

23)                      Professor Sprout - The Herbology teacher who is in the process of growing Mandrakes to save the petrified victims.

24)                      Argus Filch - The Hogwarts caretaker, who is grouchy and adores nothing but his cat.

25)                      Cornelius Fudge - The Minister of Magic, who visits to apologetically remove Hagrid.

26)                      Colin Creevey - A first year boy who follows Harry around, taking his photographs and embarrassing him tremendously; the first person to be petrified.

27)                      Goyle - One of Draco Malfoy's unintelligent, lumbering cronies; Harry uses Polyjuice potion to transform himself into Goyle.

28)                      Crabbe -  The other of Draco Malfoy's unintelligent, lumbering cronies; Ron uses Polyjuice potion to transform into him.

29)                      Millicent Bulstrode - A belligerent Slytherin girl who has to duel with Hermione during the dueling club meeting. Hermione tries to transform into her, but becomes her cat instead.

30)                      Justin Finch-Fletchley - A Muggle-born boy in Hufflepuff House who is petrified.

31)                      Ernie Macmillan - Justin’s friend, who suspects Harry to be responsible for the suspicious occurrences at Hogwarts.

32)                      Remus Lupin  -  Lupin is the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, and he is very competent and likeable. He teaches Harry how to defend himself against Dementors, but he is forced to leave Hogwarts at the end of the year on account of his being a werewolf. He is one of the creators of the Marauder's Map.

33)                      Sirius Black - Once James Potter's best friend, now an escaped convict from the wizard prison Azkaban, Black is suspected to be the cause of twelve Muggle deaths as well as the indirect cause of the deaths of Harry's parents. He is a threat on the frontier of this story, one of the premier good wizards turned bad, although in the end he is revealed to be innocent in addition to being Harry's godfather. Also, Black is able to transform himself at will into Padfoot, a large black dog that Harry mistakes for the Grim. One of the creators of the Marauder's Map.

34)                      Peter Pettigrew - The fourth in the group of friends that included James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, Pettigrew betrayed Lily and James turning their whereabouts over the Voldemort, then blowing up a dozen Muggle, framing Black and turning himself into a rat so that he could escape. Another of the creators of the Marauder's Map. Disguised as Scabbers, he has lived many years as Ron's pet rat.

35)                      Sibyll Trelawney - The Divination Professor; an insect-like, rather dramatic woman who loves predicting deaths but is not at all accurate in her predictions.

36)                      Lucius Malfoy - Draco Malfoy's father, a mean, powerful man whose name and money his son, Draco, uses to get his way.

37)                      Aunt Marge -  Vernon Dursley's visiting sister; a loud, beefy, nasty-tempered Muggle woman who adores attack dogs and enjoys insulting Harry and his late parents.

38)                      Lily Potter -  Harry's mother who sacrificed herself to save Harry from Voldemort; Harry can hear her screams when Dementors are near.

39)                      James Potter -  Harry's father, also killed by Voldemort; his animagi stag becomes the shape of Harry's patronus. One of the creators of the Marauder's Map.

40)                      Cornelius Fudge - The rather eccentrically dressed Minister of Magic, very involved in the protection of Harry and Hogwarts against Sirius Black.

41)                      Cedric Diggory - The handsome Hufflepuff seeker; catches the Snitch when Harry falls from his broom.

42)                      Cho Chang - The pretty fourth-year Ravenclaw seeker; Harry beats her to the Snitch.

43)                      Penelope Clearwater - A Ravenclaw prefect and Percy's girlfriend.

44)                      Madam Rosmerta - The barmaid at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.

45)                      Luna Lovegood - A student and outcast at Hogwarts. Luna’s father owns the Quibbler, a Wizard tabloid. She is often mocked at school but doesn’t seem to mind.

46)                      Bellatrix Lestrange - Sirius’s cousin and a Death Eater. Bellatrix is responsible for torturing Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom into insanity. She is loyal only to Voldemort.

47)                      Mad-Eye Moody - A retired Auror who once taught Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Moody is a member of the Order and loyal to Dumbledore.

48)                      Horace Slughorn - The newly recruited Professor of Potions at Hogwarts. Slughorn is obsessed with making the acquaintance of potentially powerful and influential young wizards. He hosts weekly parties in his room, inviting only select students known as the “Slug Club.” Posesses an important memory of Voldemort, having been the first person to tell Voldemort what a Horcrux is.

49)                      Fleur Delacour - A beautiful young woman recently graduated from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic (located presumably in France). Fleur is loyal to Harry, who once saved her younger sister. She marries Bill Weasley.

50)                      Elphias Doge - A member of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s oldest friend. He writes Dumbledore’s obituary for the Daily Prophet.

51)                      Rita Skeeter - The notoriously aggressive and deceitful tabloid journalist who tormented Harry and his friends two years earlier during the Triwizard Tournament. Skeeter has recently published a tell-all biography of Dumbledore.

52)                      Bathilda Bagshot - A senile old woman who knew Dumbledore’s mother, Kendra, and who started many of the rumors about Dumbledore’s family. She is Rita Skeeter’s source for much of the biography.

53)                      Ollivander - A famous English wand maker, who made both Voldemort’s and Harry’s wands.

54)                      Gregorovitch - a famous European wand maker and Ollivander’s only serious competition.

55)                      Gellert Grindelwald - A powerful Dark wizard, second only to Lord Voldemort in his destructiveness. Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in a famous duel in 1945. Grindelwald is a prisoner in Nurmengard.

56)                      Kendra Dumbledore - Dumbledore’s mother, who died during his final year as a student at Hogwarts. Kendra is rumored to have been a terrifying and controlling woman who shunned contact with other wizards out of shame about her imprisoned husband and Squib daughter.

57)                      Ariana Dumbledore - Dumbledore’s younger sister, who died soon after their mother. Ariana was kept out of sight of the world, and is rumored to have been a Squib—a person born to wizard parents who has no magical abilities.

58)                      Aberforth Dumbledore - Dumbledore’s younger brother. Less intellectually accomplished than Dumbledore, he is rumored to have broken Dumbledore’s nose at Ariana’s funeral and been estranged from Dumbledore since.

59)                      Regulus Arcturus Black - Sirius’s younger brother, who was a Death Eater during Voldemort’s previous reign, and who died young.

60)                      Xenophilius Lovegood - Luna’s father, who shares her interest in unusual plants, animals, and objects, but who is priggish and pompous in a way Luna is not. Xenophilius wears an unusual triangular symbol resembling an eye.

61)                      Runcorn - A powerful member of the Ministry of Magic under Voldemort, and a Death Eater.

62)                      Mafalda Hopkirk - A low-level functionary at the Ministry of Magic.

63)                      Narcissa Malfoy - Lucius’s wife, the mother of Draco, and sister of Bellatrix.

64)                      Amycus and Alecto Carrow - Brother and sister Death Eaters who enforce discipline at Hogwarts, torturing students and teaching them to torture each other.

65)                      Dolores Umbridge - Formerly (and briefly) the head of Hogwarts, and now a senior member of the Ministry of Magic. Umbridge is thoroughly evil, delighting in punishing others and using rules and regulations to persecute people, though she is apparently not one of Voldemort’s Death Eaters. She is in charge of finding and punishing Mud bloods for the Ministry.

      Creature:

66)                      Dobby -  The Malfoy house-elf. Dobby tries to get Harry out of Hogwarts to keep him away from the danger that lurks there. he almost kills Harry by trying to save his life so many times.

67)                      Hedwig -  Harry's pet owl.

68)                      Aragog - A giant spider raised in captivity by Hagrid.

69)                      Fang - Hagrid’s large but friendly dog.

70)                      Mrs. Norris -  Filch's beloved cat.

71)                      Buckbeak -  One of Hagrid's beloved hippogriffs, Buckbeak attacks Malfoy and is sentenced to death, only to be saved by Harry and Hermione when they turn time back.

72)                      Scabbers -  Ron's aging rat; the animal form of Peter Pettigrew.

73)                      Crookshanks - Hermione’s aggressive ginger cat.

74)                      Padfoot - Sirius Black's animagi name, when he is a large black dog.

75)                      Prongs -  James Potter's animagi name, when he is a stag.

76)                      Moony - Remus Lupin's werewolf name.

77)                      Wormtail -  Peter Pettigrew's animagi name, when he is a rat.

78)                      Dobby - Formerly the Malfoy House-Elf, and freed by Harry at the end of Book II. Dobby has grown increasingly loyal to Harry. He helps Harry and the D.A. discover the Room of Requirement. Even though he has been freed, Dobby is still prone to self-punishment and often hurts himself when he feels he has not served his master well.

79)                      Kreacher - The Black House-Elf. Kreacher is loyal only to Bellatrix Lestrange and defies the Order to serve her. Kreacher lies and tells Harry that Sirius is at the Ministry when he is actually in the attic. Kreacher is inadvertently responsible for Sirius’s death.

80)                      Griphook - A goblin who worked at Gringotts bank. Griphook is resentful of wizards in general, but sees Voldemort’s regime as particularly bad for goblin freedom and autonomy.

81)                      Fenrir Greyback - A werewolf who serves Lord Voldemort.

     Ghost:

82)                      Moaning Myrtle - A ghost who haunts the girls' toilet. Myrtle was killed by the Chamber of Secrets basilisk fifty years earlier.

83)                      Peeves - A poltergeist that causes harmless trouble at Hogwarts.

84)                      Nearly-Headless Nick - The friendly Gryffindor ghost whose Deathday party Ron, Harry, and Hermione attend.

85)                      The Gray Lady - The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower. In life, she was Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, the founder of Ravenclaw House