34 days before - Our story so far . . .

I'm midway through the second book of the Harry Potter series and my analysis of the story based on the hero's journey is coming along nicely. Here's what I've got.

Altogether, there are seventeen parts to the hero's journey, but they're divided into three sections. The five parts in the first section all come to pass in the first book.

1. The Call to Adventure, where the hero is first given notice that everything in his life is changing. This is (obviously enough) the sequence between the arrival of the letters to the arrival of Hagrid.

2. Refusal of the Call, where the hero resists the notice. Harry doesn't resist, exactly, but he does have serious doubts about himself, and really right up until classes begin, he doesn't believe himself good enough to be a wizard and fears the dream will come crashing down around his ears.

3. Supernatural Aid, where the guide or magical helper shows up. The helper is often an old man, so obviously that's Dumbledore, but in this story it's really Hogwarts itself . . . of which Dumbledore, of course, is headmaster.

4. Crossing of the First Threshold, where the hero first ventures into the unknown adventure. Obviously, this happens throughout the book, and Harry's trip to Diagon Alley or his arrival on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters could both be seen as threshold crossing. But since Hogwarts is the place where everything happens in this book, the first real adventure comes when Harry begins attended classes and learning how to be a wizard.

5. The Belly of the Whale, where the hero is completely immersed in his new world and severed from his last one. There's a point in the novel where Harry truly gets what Voldemort is all about, and that's when he knows he has to fight him. At this point, there is no turning back for Harry. Also, although he returns to Dursley's every summer, he now sees Hogwarts as his true home.

The second section, from my brief skimming, seems to encompass the events of books 2 through 6, so we'll see how that bit goes.

-Matt