Class to study 'Harry Potter'

Whimsical characters, fantasy lands, along with topics of rhetoric and in-depth analysis describe the honors General Education class offered next semester which will explore all five books of the "Harry Potter" collection.

Elisabeth Gumnior, associate professor in the writing program, will teach a GWRIT 103 honors course involving J.K. Rowling’s fictional works.

"The topic is one that the students can relate to, can be fun for a whole semester, and there is enough rich academic material for analysis," Gumnior said.

The course objectives will not be all that different than regular GWRIT 103 classes, Gumnior said.

Students still will examine how arguments are constructed whether they are in Rowling’s work itself or in others’ responses to the books.

"I think [Rowling’s] writing goes way beyond children’s literature," Gumnior said. "It’s all about rhetoric and how arguments are presented."

Joanne Gabbin, director of the Honors Program, said that the program always has been interested in going outside of the box. "I applaud teachers who do that, and I am confident that Dr. Gumnior can pull this off," she said.

Gumnior said she plans to break the class into four units, each touching on different aspects and effects of the books.

The first unit will explore how people respond to the Harry Potter books and movies. Students will analyze the reviews and responses within popular and public discourse.

The second unit will explore guide books published to explain mythological and other allusions made in the series.

The third unit will allow students to make their own arguments about the text after reading literary criticisms and rhetorical analysis.

The final unit will give students the opportunity to look at academic research and pick their own academic approach to the Harry Potter books.

Shelley Aley, interim director for the writing program, said she is interested in reading students’ papers for this class. The class takes familiar topics and mixes with a interesting, relatively unexplored field, Aley said.