Analysis of Elements of Plot in J.K.Rowling's 'Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows'.
ABSTRACT
Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis sebuah novel berjudul Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows karya J.K.Rowling, seorang penulis terkenal abad ke-21
yang lahir di Inggris. Novel tersebut adalah buku terakhir dari serial Harry Potter
yang seluruhnya berjumlah tujuh buku.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows adalah sebuah novel fiksi. Analisis
dilakukan untuk menemukan bukti bahwa elemen suspense dan elemen surprise
dalam novel ini adalah alasan utama yang menyebabkan buku ini menarik bagi
banyak orang. Saya juga ingin membuktikan bahwa novel ini memenuhi syarat-syarat
penulisan plot yang baik. Syarat-syarat tersebut adalah artistic unity di mana arti
cerita dalam novel tersebut mempunyai hubungan sebab-akibat dan tidak ada
sesuatupun di dalam novel ini yang tidak memiliki peran serta dalam inti sari cerita
dan kesimpulan akhirnya, dan yang terakhir adalah plausible, yaitu isi novel tersebut
masuk akal.
Dari hasil analisis saya berkesimpulan bahwa elemen plot membantu dalam
pembentukan artistic unity. Dan penulis menerapkan semua elemen di atas ke dalam
novel karyanya di mana hal itu membuat novel tersebut menjadi sebuah novel yang
baik dan menarik untuk dibaca.
ii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT….…………………………………………………....….i
ABSTRACT……………….…………………………………………………….…...ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS……..…………………………………………………....iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study...……………………………………………………1
Statement of the Problem……………………………………………...………2
Purpose of the Study………………………………………………….……….3
Method of Research…………………………………………………………...3
Organization of the Thesis………….…………………………………………3
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF SUSPENSE, SURPRISE AND ARTISTIC
UNITY IN J.K.ROWLING’S HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY
HALLOWS……………………………………………………………………………4
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION…………………………….……………....14
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………….…………………………….17
APPENDICES:
Summary of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…………….……...……18
Biography of the author……………………………………………………...19
iii
Maranatha Christian University
SUMMARY
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry, Ron and Hermione go to find and destroy the last of Lord Voldemort’s
Horcruxes in which he keeps his soul in order to kill him. However it is a difficult task.
They do not even know where they must find it because the horcruxes have already
disappeared for a long time and they have no experience at all. Because of their lack of
plan, lack of food, and lack of progress, their spirits are often low, and Ron especially
becomes argumentative. One night he and Harry get into a fight and Ron leaves to go
back home.
Harry, Ron and Hermione go to find and destroy the last of Lord Voldemort’s
Horcruxes in which he keeps his soul in order to kill him. However it is a difficult task.
They do not even know where they must find it because the horcruxes have already
disappeared for a long time and they have no experience at all. Because of their lack of
plan, lack of food, and lack of progress, their spirits are often low, and Ron especially
becomes argumentative. One night he and Harry get into a fight and Ron leaves to go
back home.
Harry and Hermione decide to visit Godric’s Hollow in order to search clues, and
once again they are almost caught by Lord Voldemort. Ron back a few weeks later and
saves Harry’s life in the nick of time. They manage to destroy another Horcrux with
Gryffindor’s sword, and they become excited again as they begin to learn about a
mysterious trio of magical objects called the Deathly Hallows. The three deathly hallows
19
Maranatha Christian University
are the cloak of invisibility, the resurrection stone and the elder wand. Whoever possesses
the three objects will be a master of death.
As his adventures and the dangers increase, Harry begins to understand what
Dumbledore intends him to do. Finally, Harry knows the truth from Snape’s memory that
Lord Voldemort cannot be killed before Harry dies because Harry turns out to be the
seventh horcruxes which is made by Lord Voldemort when he killed Harry’s mother. He
realizes that his own life will have to be sacrificed in order to kill Lord Voldemort. Filled
with love for his friends, he willingly gives his life so that they may live.
He meets Dumbledore again in death, and Dumbledore answers many of his
questions. He is given a choice to stay or to go back, and he chooses to go back and fight.
Then during the final duel between Harry and Lord Voldemort, Lord Voldemort dies
because his curse by using elder wand that is given to Harry turns back to himself
because Harry is the real owner of the elder wand, and finally Harry and his friends win
the battle.
BIOGRAPHY
Ms. J K Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire,
England. Her given name at birth was Joanne Kathleen. She has been writing since she
was 5 or 6 years old. As a child, she enjoyed writing fantasy stories Her first story was
Rabbit, which is filled with interesting characters, such as a large bee called Miss Bee.
Ms. Rowling with her family moved twice while she was growing up. While in
20
Maranatha Christian University
Winterbourne, she has a friend next door which she likes very much. His last name is
Potter. When she was nine years old her family moved again to Tutshill. She graduated
from Wyedean Comprehensive and attended Exeter University. She studied French here
because her parents encouraged her to be a bilingual secretary. But then she realized that
she was not meant to be a secretary. When she was 26 years old she moved to Portugal to
be an English teacher. She worked in the afternoons and evenings so that she could be
free to write. During this period she began to write a story about ‘wizard”. Then she met
and married a journalist in Portugal (he was Portuguese), and her daughter Jessica was
born in 1993. But then her marriage ended in divorce and she along with her daughter
moved to Edinburgh. During this time she determined to finish her Harry Potter ‘wizard’
novel and to get it published. After several rejections she sold the novel, Harry Potter and
The Philosopher's Stone, to Bloomsbury in the UK to support herself and her daughter.
After several months Arthur A Le vine Books/Scholastic Press bought the American
rights to the first “Harry Potter”, and she received enough money to stop teaching and
write
full-time. She
described
this
moment
as
the
happiest
of
her
life.
21
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and the last
novel of the Harry Potter series which tells about Harry Potter’s adventure in the
wizard world. Harry Potter is an orphan because his parents are killed by Lord
Voldemort. He lives with his uncle and aunt who are muggles, non-wizard people.
Then he gets a letter from Hogwarts, a school for wizards. Dumbledore, the
headmaster of the school, asks Harry to join the school. In the school Harry has
two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They help Harry fight
Lord Voldemort, who is after Harry and is determined to kill him.
The remarkable series is written by the famous British author;
J.K.Rowling. Her works have been translated into 65 languages and have become
the best -selling novels until now. Harry Potter novels have won many awards.
I choose to analyze the seventh and the last novel of the Harry Potter series
because I believe that the last novel answers all the readers’ desire to know about
1
Maranatha Christian University
the end of these best-selling novels and I think the last novel also answers all the
suspenses that have not yet been answered in the previous six novels.
I am challenged to analyze the suspense, surprise and artistic unity in the
novel which interest millions of people from children to adults to become the fans
of Harry Potter, the protagonist of the novel. I believe that the surprise and
suspense elements in the novel are the main reasons that make the book
interesting for many people to read.
According to Perrine , suspense, surprise and plausibility are the three laws
of plot. A novel must fulfill the three laws of plot to be a good novel.
Suspense is the quality in a story that makes the reader ask “what’s going
to happen next?” or “how will this turn out?” and impels him to read on to fin d the
answers to these questions (Perrine 45).
Surprise is proportional to the unexpectedness of what happens; it
becomes pronounced when the story departs radically from our expectation
(Perrine 47).
Artistic Unity is essential to a good plot. There must be nothing in the
story that is irrelevant, that does not contribute to the total meaning, nothing that
is there only for its own excitement. The events of the story are linked together in
a chain of cause and effect (Perrine 49).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1. Which events act as surprise in the novel?
2. Which events act as suspense in the novel?
3. How do the surprise and suspense create artistic unity in the novel?
2
Maranatha Christian University
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
1. To identify the surprise in the novel.
2. To identify the suspense in the novel.
3. To show how the surprise and the suspense create artistic unity in the
novel.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
I use library research for my thesis, first by reading Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows as the primary text. Then I also read and compile some data that is taken
from the Internet to support my analysis of surprise, suspense and artistic unity of
the novel. Finally, I draw some conclusion from my analysis.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
This thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter is the Introduction,
which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem,
Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter two is the discussion of sur prise, suspense and artistic unity in Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The third chapter is the Conclusion. The thesis
ends with the Bibliography and the Appendix, which contains the Synopsis of the
novel and the Biography of the Author.
3
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
From my analysis, I can conclude that J.K.Rowling is one of the best and
most intelligent authors. This can be seen in her last novel of the Harry Potter series,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is attractive and enjoyable to read.
Rowling arranges a plot which undoubtedly satisfies the reader. I believe that the last
novel answers all the reader’s desire to know about the end of this best-selling novel
and I think this novel also answers all the suspenses that have not yet been answered
in the previous six novels.
Having analyzed the elements of plot in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows, I find that the elements of suspense, surprise and artistic unity are
arranged in such a way that they complement one another. This well-arranged plot
makes the story worth reading and it guarantees that there will be no boredom during
the reading.
The surprise and suspense elements in the novel are the main reasons that
make the book interesting for many people to read. The author puts some suspenses
in the right events from the beginning, the middle, until the end of the novel. She
15
Maranatha Christian University
does not answer the suspense directly, but she creates an event which makes the
suspense become greater. For example, it can be found when Harry decides to
surrender himself to Lord Voldemort and Lord Voldemort gives a death curse to
Harry. I assume that Harry will die because of the curse, but then the author creates
another event that Harry meets Dumbledore in death and the author uses Dumbledore
to explain all the suspenses that have not yet been answered. Finally, the author
creates an unexpected surprise that Harry is not dead and he goes back to defeat Lord
Voldemort. This proves tha t the author is good in arranging such a plot that pour s
some suspenses and answers them in an unexpected surprise which makes the reader
satisfied. She creates suspense to make the reader wonder what will happen next. This
makes the reader eager to read the novel with curiosity until the end of the story.
The author also puts the increasing surprises from the beginning until the end
of the novel. The first surprise is when finally Harry knows the truth about Snape that
his loyalty to Dumbledore is motivated by his lifelong love for Harry's mother, Lily
Evans. Then the surprise becomes greater when the reader knows that Harry is the
owner of the elder wand because in the beginning the reader thought that the wand
belongs to Lord Voldemort after he takes the wand from Dumbledore’s grave. These
events are important because this is the last surprise and also the climax of the novel
because the owner of the wand will win the battle.
Finally, the author creates the artistic unity which makes the novel plausible.
The analysis proves that the suspense and surprise elements of the novel help to
create artistic unity which fulfills the laws of plot. She creates every character that
acts well from the beginning until the end of the nove l. There is no character that does
16
Maranatha Christian University
not contribute to the total meaning of the story; for example when the author creates
characters like Dobby; the house-elf. At the beginning of the story, Dobby does not
seem to have an important role in the story. The author just describes his unique
characteristic and physical condition. But then the author makes him die in order to
save Harry from the Death Eaters. She also makes events of the story that are linked
together in a chain of cause and effect by making resolutions for every event in the
story. These make the story of the novel make sense.
I also find that Rowling is using a tight plot in telling her story because the
action sometimes is non-stop. For example, this can be found when there is a final
battle between Harry and his friends and Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
During the battle, there are many continuous events like when Harry, Ron and
Hermione find and destroy the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. This event is immediately
followed by the event where Lord Voldemort kills Snape, and at his last moments, he
gives Harry his memory whic h makes Harry understand that he is the seventh
horcrux, which means that in order to kill Lord Voldemort, he must sacrifice himself
to die first. The author uses this tight plot to make the suspense of the story become
greater and that will make the readers continue to read the rest of the novel with a
great curiosity.
In conclusion, I agree that the author is great in pour ing her ideas into he r
works. That is why Rowling’s book was sold out and became the best-seller. This
proves that J.K.Rowling deserves to be called a new master of suspense, surprise and
artistic unity.
17
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Great Britain: Bloomsbury,
2007.
References
Jimenez, Betty. J K Rowling biography. Essortment: 2002.
Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. New York: Harcout Brace Jovanovich
Inc, 1974.
Wikipedia. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow.
18
Maranatha Christian University
Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis sebuah novel berjudul Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows karya J.K.Rowling, seorang penulis terkenal abad ke-21
yang lahir di Inggris. Novel tersebut adalah buku terakhir dari serial Harry Potter
yang seluruhnya berjumlah tujuh buku.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows adalah sebuah novel fiksi. Analisis
dilakukan untuk menemukan bukti bahwa elemen suspense dan elemen surprise
dalam novel ini adalah alasan utama yang menyebabkan buku ini menarik bagi
banyak orang. Saya juga ingin membuktikan bahwa novel ini memenuhi syarat-syarat
penulisan plot yang baik. Syarat-syarat tersebut adalah artistic unity di mana arti
cerita dalam novel tersebut mempunyai hubungan sebab-akibat dan tidak ada
sesuatupun di dalam novel ini yang tidak memiliki peran serta dalam inti sari cerita
dan kesimpulan akhirnya, dan yang terakhir adalah plausible, yaitu isi novel tersebut
masuk akal.
Dari hasil analisis saya berkesimpulan bahwa elemen plot membantu dalam
pembentukan artistic unity. Dan penulis menerapkan semua elemen di atas ke dalam
novel karyanya di mana hal itu membuat novel tersebut menjadi sebuah novel yang
baik dan menarik untuk dibaca.
ii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT….…………………………………………………....….i
ABSTRACT……………….…………………………………………………….…...ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS……..…………………………………………………....iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study...……………………………………………………1
Statement of the Problem……………………………………………...………2
Purpose of the Study………………………………………………….……….3
Method of Research…………………………………………………………...3
Organization of the Thesis………….…………………………………………3
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF SUSPENSE, SURPRISE AND ARTISTIC
UNITY IN J.K.ROWLING’S HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY
HALLOWS……………………………………………………………………………4
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION…………………………….……………....14
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………….…………………………….17
APPENDICES:
Summary of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…………….……...……18
Biography of the author……………………………………………………...19
iii
Maranatha Christian University
SUMMARY
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry, Ron and Hermione go to find and destroy the last of Lord Voldemort’s
Horcruxes in which he keeps his soul in order to kill him. However it is a difficult task.
They do not even know where they must find it because the horcruxes have already
disappeared for a long time and they have no experience at all. Because of their lack of
plan, lack of food, and lack of progress, their spirits are often low, and Ron especially
becomes argumentative. One night he and Harry get into a fight and Ron leaves to go
back home.
Harry, Ron and Hermione go to find and destroy the last of Lord Voldemort’s
Horcruxes in which he keeps his soul in order to kill him. However it is a difficult task.
They do not even know where they must find it because the horcruxes have already
disappeared for a long time and they have no experience at all. Because of their lack of
plan, lack of food, and lack of progress, their spirits are often low, and Ron especially
becomes argumentative. One night he and Harry get into a fight and Ron leaves to go
back home.
Harry and Hermione decide to visit Godric’s Hollow in order to search clues, and
once again they are almost caught by Lord Voldemort. Ron back a few weeks later and
saves Harry’s life in the nick of time. They manage to destroy another Horcrux with
Gryffindor’s sword, and they become excited again as they begin to learn about a
mysterious trio of magical objects called the Deathly Hallows. The three deathly hallows
19
Maranatha Christian University
are the cloak of invisibility, the resurrection stone and the elder wand. Whoever possesses
the three objects will be a master of death.
As his adventures and the dangers increase, Harry begins to understand what
Dumbledore intends him to do. Finally, Harry knows the truth from Snape’s memory that
Lord Voldemort cannot be killed before Harry dies because Harry turns out to be the
seventh horcruxes which is made by Lord Voldemort when he killed Harry’s mother. He
realizes that his own life will have to be sacrificed in order to kill Lord Voldemort. Filled
with love for his friends, he willingly gives his life so that they may live.
He meets Dumbledore again in death, and Dumbledore answers many of his
questions. He is given a choice to stay or to go back, and he chooses to go back and fight.
Then during the final duel between Harry and Lord Voldemort, Lord Voldemort dies
because his curse by using elder wand that is given to Harry turns back to himself
because Harry is the real owner of the elder wand, and finally Harry and his friends win
the battle.
BIOGRAPHY
Ms. J K Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire,
England. Her given name at birth was Joanne Kathleen. She has been writing since she
was 5 or 6 years old. As a child, she enjoyed writing fantasy stories Her first story was
Rabbit, which is filled with interesting characters, such as a large bee called Miss Bee.
Ms. Rowling with her family moved twice while she was growing up. While in
20
Maranatha Christian University
Winterbourne, she has a friend next door which she likes very much. His last name is
Potter. When she was nine years old her family moved again to Tutshill. She graduated
from Wyedean Comprehensive and attended Exeter University. She studied French here
because her parents encouraged her to be a bilingual secretary. But then she realized that
she was not meant to be a secretary. When she was 26 years old she moved to Portugal to
be an English teacher. She worked in the afternoons and evenings so that she could be
free to write. During this period she began to write a story about ‘wizard”. Then she met
and married a journalist in Portugal (he was Portuguese), and her daughter Jessica was
born in 1993. But then her marriage ended in divorce and she along with her daughter
moved to Edinburgh. During this time she determined to finish her Harry Potter ‘wizard’
novel and to get it published. After several rejections she sold the novel, Harry Potter and
The Philosopher's Stone, to Bloomsbury in the UK to support herself and her daughter.
After several months Arthur A Le vine Books/Scholastic Press bought the American
rights to the first “Harry Potter”, and she received enough money to stop teaching and
write
full-time. She
described
this
moment
as
the
happiest
of
her
life.
21
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and the last
novel of the Harry Potter series which tells about Harry Potter’s adventure in the
wizard world. Harry Potter is an orphan because his parents are killed by Lord
Voldemort. He lives with his uncle and aunt who are muggles, non-wizard people.
Then he gets a letter from Hogwarts, a school for wizards. Dumbledore, the
headmaster of the school, asks Harry to join the school. In the school Harry has
two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They help Harry fight
Lord Voldemort, who is after Harry and is determined to kill him.
The remarkable series is written by the famous British author;
J.K.Rowling. Her works have been translated into 65 languages and have become
the best -selling novels until now. Harry Potter novels have won many awards.
I choose to analyze the seventh and the last novel of the Harry Potter series
because I believe that the last novel answers all the readers’ desire to know about
1
Maranatha Christian University
the end of these best-selling novels and I think the last novel also answers all the
suspenses that have not yet been answered in the previous six novels.
I am challenged to analyze the suspense, surprise and artistic unity in the
novel which interest millions of people from children to adults to become the fans
of Harry Potter, the protagonist of the novel. I believe that the surprise and
suspense elements in the novel are the main reasons that make the book
interesting for many people to read.
According to Perrine , suspense, surprise and plausibility are the three laws
of plot. A novel must fulfill the three laws of plot to be a good novel.
Suspense is the quality in a story that makes the reader ask “what’s going
to happen next?” or “how will this turn out?” and impels him to read on to fin d the
answers to these questions (Perrine 45).
Surprise is proportional to the unexpectedness of what happens; it
becomes pronounced when the story departs radically from our expectation
(Perrine 47).
Artistic Unity is essential to a good plot. There must be nothing in the
story that is irrelevant, that does not contribute to the total meaning, nothing that
is there only for its own excitement. The events of the story are linked together in
a chain of cause and effect (Perrine 49).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1. Which events act as surprise in the novel?
2. Which events act as suspense in the novel?
3. How do the surprise and suspense create artistic unity in the novel?
2
Maranatha Christian University
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
1. To identify the surprise in the novel.
2. To identify the suspense in the novel.
3. To show how the surprise and the suspense create artistic unity in the
novel.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
I use library research for my thesis, first by reading Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows as the primary text. Then I also read and compile some data that is taken
from the Internet to support my analysis of surprise, suspense and artistic unity of
the novel. Finally, I draw some conclusion from my analysis.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
This thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter is the Introduction,
which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem,
Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter two is the discussion of sur prise, suspense and artistic unity in Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The third chapter is the Conclusion. The thesis
ends with the Bibliography and the Appendix, which contains the Synopsis of the
novel and the Biography of the Author.
3
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
From my analysis, I can conclude that J.K.Rowling is one of the best and
most intelligent authors. This can be seen in her last novel of the Harry Potter series,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is attractive and enjoyable to read.
Rowling arranges a plot which undoubtedly satisfies the reader. I believe that the last
novel answers all the reader’s desire to know about the end of this best-selling novel
and I think this novel also answers all the suspenses that have not yet been answered
in the previous six novels.
Having analyzed the elements of plot in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows, I find that the elements of suspense, surprise and artistic unity are
arranged in such a way that they complement one another. This well-arranged plot
makes the story worth reading and it guarantees that there will be no boredom during
the reading.
The surprise and suspense elements in the novel are the main reasons that
make the book interesting for many people to read. The author puts some suspenses
in the right events from the beginning, the middle, until the end of the novel. She
15
Maranatha Christian University
does not answer the suspense directly, but she creates an event which makes the
suspense become greater. For example, it can be found when Harry decides to
surrender himself to Lord Voldemort and Lord Voldemort gives a death curse to
Harry. I assume that Harry will die because of the curse, but then the author creates
another event that Harry meets Dumbledore in death and the author uses Dumbledore
to explain all the suspenses that have not yet been answered. Finally, the author
creates an unexpected surprise that Harry is not dead and he goes back to defeat Lord
Voldemort. This proves tha t the author is good in arranging such a plot that pour s
some suspenses and answers them in an unexpected surprise which makes the reader
satisfied. She creates suspense to make the reader wonder what will happen next. This
makes the reader eager to read the novel with curiosity until the end of the story.
The author also puts the increasing surprises from the beginning until the end
of the novel. The first surprise is when finally Harry knows the truth about Snape that
his loyalty to Dumbledore is motivated by his lifelong love for Harry's mother, Lily
Evans. Then the surprise becomes greater when the reader knows that Harry is the
owner of the elder wand because in the beginning the reader thought that the wand
belongs to Lord Voldemort after he takes the wand from Dumbledore’s grave. These
events are important because this is the last surprise and also the climax of the novel
because the owner of the wand will win the battle.
Finally, the author creates the artistic unity which makes the novel plausible.
The analysis proves that the suspense and surprise elements of the novel help to
create artistic unity which fulfills the laws of plot. She creates every character that
acts well from the beginning until the end of the nove l. There is no character that does
16
Maranatha Christian University
not contribute to the total meaning of the story; for example when the author creates
characters like Dobby; the house-elf. At the beginning of the story, Dobby does not
seem to have an important role in the story. The author just describes his unique
characteristic and physical condition. But then the author makes him die in order to
save Harry from the Death Eaters. She also makes events of the story that are linked
together in a chain of cause and effect by making resolutions for every event in the
story. These make the story of the novel make sense.
I also find that Rowling is using a tight plot in telling her story because the
action sometimes is non-stop. For example, this can be found when there is a final
battle between Harry and his friends and Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
During the battle, there are many continuous events like when Harry, Ron and
Hermione find and destroy the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. This event is immediately
followed by the event where Lord Voldemort kills Snape, and at his last moments, he
gives Harry his memory whic h makes Harry understand that he is the seventh
horcrux, which means that in order to kill Lord Voldemort, he must sacrifice himself
to die first. The author uses this tight plot to make the suspense of the story become
greater and that will make the readers continue to read the rest of the novel with a
great curiosity.
In conclusion, I agree that the author is great in pour ing her ideas into he r
works. That is why Rowling’s book was sold out and became the best-seller. This
proves that J.K.Rowling deserves to be called a new master of suspense, surprise and
artistic unity.
17
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Great Britain: Bloomsbury,
2007.
References
Jimenez, Betty. J K Rowling biography. Essortment: 2002.
Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. New York: Harcout Brace Jovanovich
Inc, 1974.
Wikipedia. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow.
18
Maranatha Christian University