Teaching Levels for the Harry Potter Series

Additional Resources

Elementary School

Middle School

High School

College

Graduate

-Literary Theory & Harry Potter

--Marxist Unit

-Adapting Harry

-Appeal of Harry Potter

The lesson plan for this three week unit

Week 1:  

• Marxist Theory - read the background information on Karl Marx, Marxism and Marxist Theory. Please read both of these, as they focus on different aspects, despite some minor overlap.

  -marxist_criticism1.htm

  -marxist_criticism2.htm

• Write 300-500 word journal on how Marxism can be applied to literature in general and what we can learn from it.

• Discuss the social dialectic of Harry's life in the opposing Wizarding and Muggle worlds in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

• You should post at least twice, first with your own thoughts on the subject, and then in response to one or more classmates.

Week 2:

• Write a long entry (1000-1500 words, approx.) Discuss the bourgeoisie and proletariat segments throughout all five Harry Potter books. Consider each separate societal group, wizards and muggles, as well as the status that arises when the two groups are combined.

• Discuss the superstructure of the wizarding world and how it compares with our world. You should post at least twice, the first time with thoughts of your own and the second time in response to one or more of your classmates.

Week 3:

• Write 300-500 words exploring how Harry Potter is ideological (according to the definition in our Marxism readings).

• "All literature is ideological. That is, all literature reflects the social dialectic of history and directly or indirectly declares an allegiance or hostility to these forces. All literature, then, is polemical. Good literature is consciously polemical. It is itself a force of change, fostering a dialectical consciousness in readers. The good writer is conscious of the dialectic of social forces reflected in the literary subject and seeks to make the reader aware of the dialectical predicament of society and its member-individuals." (from reading for week 13)

• Is Harry Potter "good literature" according to this definition? Why or Why Not?
  As always, you should post at least two times, first with your own thoughts and second in response to one or more of your classmates.

• Choose one or more aspects of Marxist Theory and use it to discuss Harry Potter in a conference length paper. You may focus on one or more specific books or the entire series. 

Some supplemental readings

- http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/news/story.jsp?story=537922