Ways in which resilience is shown in the stories of young Marjane from Persepolis I and Harry Potter from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Introduction

The two characters, Marjane and Harry Potter, provide evidence through their actions that they were resilient through the adversities that they faced. The self-confidence easily supports the resilient efforts that they showed in their efforts. The paper seeks to provide a comparison of how resilience is shown in the stories of young Marjane from Persepolis I and Harry Potter from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Persepolis I

Summary

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, is an autobiography told of a young Iranian girl. Marjane tells the story of the girl as a child in the first part and as a young adult in the second part. The setting of the book is in Iraq, where the Iranian girl is born. From there, she goes to exile and returns home as a young adult. The life of the book spans the fall of the shah rules through to the establishment of a revolutionary regime that effectively replaces his practice. The graphic format of the book is quite brilliant. One can view the image of the heroine in virtually every frame of the book. The book draws a picture of the girl from when she is little, then a growing teenager both at home and in exile and finally as a young adult returning home.

Persepolis’ Show of Resilience

The book starts with a revolution where the people are united in trying and overthrowing the rule of the Shah. He was the second Shah as he inherited his father’s position. His father has gained the Shah’s status illegitimately as he was once a military leader. He, however, loved countries and fostered economic growth through his dictatorial rule. During his state, he imprisoned Marjane’s grandfather. His son was ten times worse, and the lack of freedom made people rebel and seek to throw away his government (Shmoop). Marjane was caught in the middle of the revolution. He had everyone who went against his government executed. First, drinking alcohol was strictly prohibited, and parties were held in secret since it was the only way that the people could have a slice of freedom.

Due to the increased killing spree, the parents of Marjane sought to go to exile to try and save their family from the executions that were happening. Marjane helped her father to search for a passport for all her family members. However, since it was nearly impossible for them to get a passport, only Marjane was able to go to exile in Europe with a promise to her parents that she would not forget her past.

While Marjane was in school in Iran, the teachers tried to teach her than the rule was right and that she should always follow the rule of law. However, this was not still the case as she went against the teachings almost always. From when she was young, she was already resisting the rule of the Shah and the religion the same way her relatives and other citizens were resisting the government. She continued being resilient in her beliefs and that of her parents even when her Iranian teachers taught her otherwise.

Harry Potter

Summary

The book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is first in a series of books by J. K. Rowling’s children’s novels about a boy named Harry Potter. On his eleventh birthday, he learns that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and that he possesses a unique set of wizardry powers. During this period, he is summoned to go to Hogwarts as a student. This is an English boarding school for the wizards. It is at school where he meets and makes friends with a few friends who become his closest allies and assist him in learning the truth about the parents that he never knew and their mysterious deaths.

Harry Potter’s Show of Resilience

The objective of the current study is to symbolically expand on the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and determine how Harry Potter shows resilience in the book. From the book, it is clear that the author does not portray resistance as invulnerability. Instead, it is identified by the capacity and flexibility to overcome the challenges that the characters face. Harry Potter is often pushed to the limits (Aten, 2019). To start with, Harry Potter grows up in an abusive environment. Until his eleventh birthday, he grows up at his aunt’s place and does not receive any form of support or encouragement from the family. The family that raised Potter, The Dursleys, had areal hatred of any facts that could not be easily explained or any form of magic.

Potter learned that he had gifts that he could use to help him survive and fight through the challenges that he was facing. His powers could even allow him to speak to snakes. However, due to the hatred that the Dursleys had for magic, Potter learned to avoid the topic. However, he did not deny having the gifts internally. Moreover, he developed the persona of a very submissive and obedient boy. Above all, Potter kept alive his imaginative capacity while trying his best to fight for his survival against his tormentors.

While at Hogwarts, Hermione and Ron get into a disagreement, and Hermione spends the rest of the evening alone in the girl’s bathroom. Once news of a troll entering the dungeons reaches the school, Potter and Ron go to inform Hermione of the troll and try to rescue her (Rowling, 1997). When they arrive at the bathroom, they find that the troll had already entered the bathroom. Consequently, this forces Potter to do everything possible to try and save Hermione from being killed by the troll. Eventually, from his continued resilience and the help of his friend Ron, they can save Hermione from the troll.

Finally, the protection of the Philosophers Stone from falling into the wrong hands was the central theme of the book. Voldemort is the villain in the book and has been after the Philosopher’s stone due to its power to turn any metal into pure gold. Most importantly, the Philosopher’s Stone could create the elixir of life. It would assure immortality to anyone who drank the potion.  Voldemort lived as a parasite in Professor Quirrell. He goes alone to face Voldemort and stop him from acquiring the Philosophers Stone.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the two characters, Marjane and Harry Potter, provide evidence through their actions that they were resilient through the adversities that they faced. Some of the things that Harry Potter and Marjane had in common include the fact that several afflictions continuously met them. However, the self-confidence that was portrayed by each of the two characters helped them to become resilient enough to overcome the difficulties that they met while they grew up as children.

References

Aten, J. D. (2019, May 07). What Harry Potter Can Teach Us About Resilience. From Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-resilience/201905/what-harry-potter-can-teach-us-about-resilience

Rowling, J. (1997). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. From Sparknotes: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/harrypotter/

Shmoop. (n.d.). Persepolis Summary. From Shmoop: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/persepolis/summary