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Browsing English by Author "De Klerk, Danie"
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Item Open Access Magic as moral education: J.K. Rowling's revival of reading and its role in adolescent personal development(University of the Free State, 2011-01-03) De Klerk, Danie; Raftery, M. M.English: Being literate is a privilege which is often taken for granted. The ability to read the morning newspaper or the subtitles of one’s favourite soap opera is often viewed as trivial, or incidental, and yet South Africa’s population is far from 100% literate. The youth’s preoccupation with technology (cell phones and computers, for example) has marginalised healthier pastimes like reading. Fortunately, this trend appears to have begun to shift: our youth may be rediscovering previous generations’ love of reading thanks to best-selling authors like J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett, and Phillip Pullman. Consequently, the rationale for this study is to determine to what extent (if any) a specific author’s contribution to literature is motivating young people to read again, and whether her texts can be deemed a viable aid to the moral education of the youth. Thus, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter oeuvre is the main material under study, and is explored in terms of both its potential as an aid to moral development (and the consequent lessons that can be taken from it), as well as its possible contribution to the re-establishment of a reading culture among the youth of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The question then arises as to whether a culture of reading has, in fact, been established among the above-mentioned group, and whether the suggested texts have played a part in doing so. Moreover, one has to consider what moral lessons, if any, are propagated by Rowling. On the one hand, this dissertation explores the responses of young people who have and have not been exposed to the series in terms of their interest in and affinity for reading, and to what extent Rowling’s series has influenced them, if at all. As the focus of this study is solely on Rowling’s Harry Potter series, it is naturally not quantifiable beyond these limitations. However, the results may still serve as a springboard for future studies. On the other hand, the focus of the study extends to areas of a more personal nature that deal with principles such as young people’s responses to themes like good versus evil, and their understanding of social and moral commentary. The opinion of certain critics, such as Maretha Maartens who fervently denounced the texts for religious reasons, is also considered in an attempt to verify whether young readers are exposed to moral risks by the magical aspect of Rowling’s work, or whether, in sharing Harry’s experiences, they form a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between good and evil and the complexities of life and human relations. From an academic point of view there is no doubt that literacy is a vital and invaluable asset that everyone should be privileged to possess. In conducting this research, I hope to contribute to the already existing body of data pertaining to the study of literacy and the affinity of young people for reading. Furthermore, I intend to confer a greater sense of credibility, from a literary perspective, on Rowling’s oeuvre, which also addresses a number of relevant moral concerns. I believe that the lessons learned from the texts, as well as the companionship they lend to young people, who often feel alone and unappreciated, are not always acknowledged. Additionally, I believe that Harry Potter is the ideal material to prescribe to both first- and second-language speakers of English, especially at primary school level. Apart from the moral and thematic aspects that young people of this age group will be privileged to encounter, they will also be exposed to a body of work that contains an impressive range of words for vocabulary improvement, and a standard of English that will establish a reliable basis for any future studies in the language.