Bravery In Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone

Bravery has always been a very important trait. Evolutionarily speaking, bravery is what has allowed our species to survive. The importance of bravery is indisputable but the necessity of bravery to achieve a better life can be debated on. In this essay, I will examine the rituals performed in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone directed by Chris Columbus to prove that bravery is absolutely essential in order to achieve an overall better live. By examining Harry’s first Quidditch match and the troll attack on Hogwarts using Emile Durkheim’s theory of rituals and relationships, the beneficial relationships that bravery can create are shown. Also, by examining Harry’s transition to a wizard using Arnold van Gennep’s rite of passage theory, …show more content…
In Arnold van Gennep’s rite of passage theory he states that in a rite of passage the participants go through 3 stages. The first stage is separation which is defined by the participant leaving their old life. For Harry this begins when he leaves Dursley residence and joins Hagrid to go to Hogwarts. In doing this Harry is leaving behind his old life of being a muggle by both physically leaving his old household and in practice as he pursues becoming a wizard. The second stage is liminality, described as crossing a threshold and “may entail and inversion of ‘normal’ life”. As Harry begins to choose his wand, he chooses a few wrong wands which cause damage the store as he tries them out. Harry has never seen any magic being performed before so for him this is completely different than anything he has ever seen before and is different from his normal life. The last stage is incorporation, where the participant completes his rite of passage and is accepted into his new life where a physical change may be seen. Harry’s incorporation stage begins when he is placed in the Gryffindor house. Since Harry is now part of a house he is required to sleep and stay in a certain area where only members of the Gryffindor house are, marking his physical change. During the entire rite of passage Harry goes from being …show more content…
Nye’s theory states that “All rituals actions are all about expressing power, about making people subordinate, or challenging subordinacy”. During the ending portion of the movie Harry disobeys many rules in order to stop Voldemort from stealing the Sorceress stone, and as a result Harry and his friends are awarded points for the Gryffindor house by Dumbledore, which wins them the house cup. In this sequence, Dumbledore show his power by changing the winner of the house cup. As Dumbledore shows his power and awards the Gryffindor house the cup, he also shows that certain characteristics are more important than others. One of these characteristics was bravery. Dumbledore even says “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends”, showing that the reason for him awarding the house points was due to bravery. This line was also said just before the final points would be awarded to the Gryffindor house, that would cause them to win the house cup, showing that bravery was the reason the house was going to win. During this portion of the movie it is easy to see the importance of bravery, with even the most powerful person in the room showing his bias towards the trait. Through this, the movie is able to convey its message, that bravery is vital to achieving a better