Imam Mahroja Hakim

18101050022
Sastra Inggris A 2018

Popular Literature

Fantasy Formula in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone:

An Analysis of Convention and Invention

Introduction
Novel became popular because its lift up many problems and moral values in
literature that connect into the real life. However, some aspect in real life sometimes
cannot be fulfilled. Witches, unicorns, flying brooms and any other fantasy in our
mind are some examples of human desires that cannot be found in real life. Therefore,
we usually seek an escape for our fantasy by reading some literature works to give us
pleasure and happiness.
In term of literature, fantasy is described as “imaginative fiction dependent for
effect on strangeness of setting (such as other worlds or times) and characters (such as
supernatural beings).1 Fantasy is already widely used in literary works, but this genre
is never obsolete because many authors are constantly uses and developing this genre
as their major theme. John G. Cawelti states that all cultural products contain a
mixture of conventions and invention to develop stories to suit the tastes of people in
certain eras.2
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is one example of a fantasy novel that
written by British author J. K. Rowling which use the concept of convention and
invention. This paper will focused on fantasy aspect in the first novel of the series that
tells about a boy named Harry Potter who entered his first-year magic school at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. According to USS Feed, the record
sales of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" reached USD78,500. The book
also reached the top of the New York Times list of best-selling fiction in August 1999
and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated
into at least 73 other languages, and has been made into a feature-length film of the
same name, as have all six of its sequels.
Departing from the success that this book is incised, do conventions and
inventions have a major influence on its success? This paper will breakdown the

1
Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature
2
Cawelti, John G. “The Concept of Formula in the Study of Popular Literature”
element of convention and invention in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and
show how the impact arising from the use of those concept.

Theoretical Approach and Research Method

This paper uses Cawelti’s concept about convention and invention in popular
literature. Conventions are elements which are known to both the creator and his
audience beforehand-they consist of things like favorite plots, stereotyped characters,
accepted ideas, commonly known metaphors and other linguistic devices, etc.
Inventions, on the other hand, are elements which are uniquely imagined by the
creator such as new kinds of characters, ideas, or linguistic form.3
For fantasy formula, fantasy is treated as “stories of impossible” because the
simplest summary of the genre would contain a hero on a journey fighting evil
wizards, monsters, supernatural power, and other enemies. In these aspects, sword and
sorcery shows affinity with heroic fantasy. Heroic fantasy in this sense is a term
interchangeable with epic or high fantasy. Its main topic is a hero/heroine’s journey
through an imaginary world meeting supernatural beings and fighting for better
world.4 This can lead into reader interest in literary works, especially fantasy genre
novels.
As for the research method, this paper uses qualitative method to analyse the
structure and the content of the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Discussion
Convention Element in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The main focus of heroes on fantasy stories is the hero's journey in dealing with
bad things, supernatural enemies, evil wizards, and any other things that threaten
world peace.5 It is clear that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone adopted those
concept although not explicitly described from the beginning of the story. It follows
Harry Potter, the main hero, a young wizard who discover his magical heritage on his
eleventh birthday right after he receives a letter of acceptance from Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry. On his journey, he met many people who certainly had
good intentions and bad intentions over him. He makes friends with several people

3
Cawelti, John G. “The Concept of Formula in the Study of Popular Literature” 118
4
Havířová, Tereza. “Fantasy as Popular Genre in The Works of J. R. R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling” 28
5
Ibid 29
and had several enemies in his first year at Hogwarts. However, the main problem he
faced was the attempted resurrection of the evil wizard who killed his parents, Lord
Voldemort.
The interesting thing about this novel is the portrayal of Harry Potter's main
enemy that is not clearly described. Once he entered into the world of magic and met
many people, the boundaries between good people and bad people are always shown
to convince the reader that Harry always gets into trouble because of his kindness. At
the beginning of his departure, Harry meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger on
the train to Hogwarts and becomes a close friend after entering the same hostel,
Gryffindor. As introduction with protagonist characters, antagonist characters also
appear before the new students Hogwarts do the selection through a sorting hat. Draco
Malfoy, a son of a rich man who tried to make friends with Harry but through the
wrong way by looking down on Ron Weasley.6 From this incident the reader is
presented with a boundary between the good and bad in the story, this always happens
during the story and the clash between Harry and Malfoy did not stop there. Harry and
Malfoy also fought when Malfoy took and threw Neville Longbottom's Remembrall
while in the air with his flying broom. Harry managed to catch up and capture the
Remembrall with a flying broom and was instead appointed by Professor McGonagall
as Gryffindor's new Quidditch player.7 At this moment, Harry passing through his
problem with his bravery and gets the victory over Malfoy, such a typical hero.
However, Harry's main enemy, Lord Voldemort, is introduced little by little as
the story develops. It starts when problems appear one by one at Hogwarts and the
magical world. The Gringotts Bank burglary, the death of the unicorns in the
forbidden forest, the secret room guarded by a three-headed dog, to Harry's
broomstick that was enchanted so he fell during the Quidditch match. All of these
problems are always related to Harry's presence. All these problems led to Lord
Voldemort's awakening from his death. He tried to survive by drinking unicorn blood
and searching for the philosopher's stone relics of Nicholas Flamel to resurrect from
his dead. Until finally Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ended with victorious
ending with the struggle of Harry and his friends prevented the revival of Lord
Voldemort who want to rule the world with black magic and his army. The end of the
story is a relief for the reader because the protagonist wins the victory by defeating

6
Rowling, J.K. “Harry Potter dan Batu Bertuah”, 136-137
7
Ibid 184-186
the antagonist. That is what the reader wants to happen in the real world. In addition,
Rowling illustrates the magical world in an exciting way to be imagined by the reader.
It is also one of the fantasy genre goals that is fulfilled in this novel.

Invention Element in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In the novel, Harry Potter is told as an innocent child who is entering his new
world, the world of magic. Rowling does not describe Harry Potter as a character who
has great power and extensive knowledge about magic. He was only described as an
innocent eleven-year-old child who did not understand anything. Inventionally, this is
a development and modification from heroic aspect in old fantasy epic tale like in
Beowulf that the main character have a great power.
Different from old fantasy that also include romance on the story, this novel
highlights the story of friendship more and illustrated by the relationship between
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. They were together and helping
each other to overcome obstacles and prevent the resurrection of Lord Voldemort. For
example, they helped one another while searching for information about the
philosopher's stone that Nicolas Flamel had created. They are also together when
facing obstacles on their way to take the philosopher's stone by passing a three-headed
dog and catching a flying key to enter a special room. Even Ron had to sacrifice
himself while doing a human chess match so that Harry could cross that obstacle.
The heroic aspect in this novel is arguably thicker than the fantasy genre. This
can even be seen from the title of the novel that takes the name of the main character
itself. In the end this novel tells more about the heroic journey of Harry Potter in a
fantasy world, a world of magic. However this does not completely make the fantasy
genre fade, rather the two things complement and strengthen each other.

Conclusion
Based on analysis, Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone used the
formula of convention and invention in writing the story. With the plot, theme, and
struggle of the hero that ends happily, the Harry Potter novel fits the convention
formula. Meanwhile, the depiction of the main characters absorbed and modified from
old fantasy stories is enough to represent the invention in the novel. The combination
of these formulas has proven to make this novel popular and loved by several groups.
Even the Harry Potter novel series continued until seven books and all of them were
adapted in the film Hollywood and had topped theaters in several countries when
released. In the end, literary works will always develop following the times and the
development of the audience as well. That actually makes literature more acceptable
and sustainable from time to time.

References
Cawelti, John G. “The Concept of Formula in the Study of Popular Literature.” The
Bulletin of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Vol. 5, No.2 Criticism
and Culture, pp. 115-123

Havířová, T. (2007). Fantasy as a Popular Genre in the Works of J. R. R. Tolkien and

J. K. Rowling. Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and
American Studies English Language and Literature, 1–113.

Merriam – Webster’s Ecyclopedia of Literature. Ed. Kathleen Kuiper. Springfield,

Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1995.

Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter dan Batu Bertuah. Jakarta, Indonesia: PT

Gramedia.