Kalinda Harris

FDEng301

DEvegnee

9 Jun 2017

Rough Draft

JK Rowlings iconic character Harry Potter is known for becoming friends with people

that his world treats with extreme prejudice. In the latest Harry Potter canon, Harry Potter and

the Cursed Child, however, a now grown up Harry shows bias and a lack of understanding that

make his fans want to cringe. I think JK Rowling did this on purpose in order to show that

sometimes even the people we idolize can be wrong about things; this is shown through Harrys

ineptitude in dealing with his son Albus, which is shown through the use of juxtaposition,

sarcasm, and rhetorical questions in Act One, Scene Seven of Harry Potter and the Cursed

Child.

Juxtaposition is used to emphasize a contrast between two things. The scene begins with

Albus sitting alone in his room while his mother Ginny and his two siblings, James and Lily,

enjoy ordinary parent-child squabbles. The rest of the scene is a conversation between Albus and

his dad, Harry Potter, which turns into a hurtful argument, nothing like the squabbles in the

beginning of the scene. This juxtaposition of how Albus is treated compared to his normal

siblings makes the argument that ends the scene more poignant.

Sarcasm is used to show that there is a growing chasm of bitterness keeping Harry and

Albus from communicating. Throughout the scene, Albus has an increasingly sarcastic attitude
as Harry tries to talk about things that are very important to him and connect with his son on an

emotional level. When Harry loses his temper at his sons sarcastic attitude, it shows that he has

trouble tolerating people who treat with scorn that which he holds as important.

But the straw that really breaks Harrys back is when Albus asks rhetorical questions that

mock not only a prized possession of Harrys but also Harrys continued but failed attempts to be

a good father to Albus. When Harry tells Albus that sometimes he wishes Albus werent his son,

it shows that Harry doesnt know how to handle someone he thinks and fells differently than he

does.