AGAINST

Veronica~
Harry Potter is far too cliche to be considered quality literature. Originality is a key aspect of writing that should not ignored. The //Harry Potter// series is little more than a Cinderella story, undeserving of the praise it receives. Such coming of age tales are a dime a dozen, and J.K. Rowling's novels are no different. Rather than stimulating the imagination, they merely mimic the plot of other, innovative, children's books.

The literary elements and plot details used in //Harry Potter// is of little originality. In fact, Vladimir Propp lists out the various aspects of fairy tales in his book "Morphology of the Folk Tale". Every device that Rowling uses can be found in the book - there is a villain harming someone in the hero's family, the hero becoming branded, then banished, then released. He must overcome obstacles, search for things, and gain a wise helper. All of those aspects can be found in Rowling's novel, making it a very decidedly unoriginal tale.
 * Clara-**

The Harry Potter series shouldn't be considered literature of merit, because J.K. Rowling's prose does not enrich the reading and does little more than move the story forward. The majority of the book is comprised of basic sentences with basic structures that lack the kind of words and phrases that add to the lexicon in the minds of its readers. There are no sentences that should be re-read simply for the pleasure of their ability to convey ideas and images in a way that is clever and intelligent. Essentially, the writing in Harry Potter is too "dumbed-down" and basic for it to be of much worth on lists including works by Homer, Shakespeare, or Orwell.
 * Nathan-**

The various Harry Potter books were not even of enough literary value to rightfully earn a spot on the bestseller list and thus a new "dumbed-down" children's books category had to be added. Rowlings spends the majority of her novels writing elementary storylines that stimulate no intelligent thought, yet at the end she immerses her young readers in confusing twists they cannot hope to fully comprehend or follow. She loses her adult readers to the simple nature of the story, then loses her young readers with confusing conclusions. The plot is essential one of complaint and immaturity which is possibly not only unhelpful to the young reader but even detrimental to his/her intelligence, furtherance in life. essentially, reading Harry Potter has negative literary merit and should not be read by anyone!
 * Alden-**

Harry Potter has been over glorified for many years, how could it possibly a feasible example of astounding literature? J.K. Rowling confuses and baffles the reader with her many surprises during the series, the changing of character merit among colleagues and making the storyline way too complicated to comprehend. The denouements, which are supposed to help clarify and clear up any questions, last for pages and end up being more confusing than the plot, revealing false identities, unmasking friends as foes, and vice versa. In literature of merit, it is clear what the plot is and it is creatively presented unlike in the Harry Potter series where confusion is evident and absence of intelligence is clear.
 * Luci-**

The ever-darkening storyline of the Harry Potter series ruins its literary merit. In the first two books the plot was playfully magical with only a few instances of suspense and grim fate. There was nothing outlandish that made the story deviate from its children's-book classification. However, as the tale progressed, Rowling incorporated an increasing amount of topics suited more towards teenagers and adults, such as sex, psychological killers, and racial innuendos. Although the book follows Harry's life as he grows older, it is a misnomer to continue labeling the Harry Potter series as a child's fairytale. The issues brought up by Rowling are just too mature to bestow literary merit on a supposed children's story.
 * Josh** -

**Stephanie-** The phenomena, the reading revolution, the spell which has encompassed the entire globe, //Harry Potter//. Not only are these claims arrogant and over-bearing, they are completely and utterly undeserved. The Harry Potter Series started out on a relatively good note, simplistic children's fantasy. Sure, it was cliché and brought on an overwhelming sense of Deja Vu, which only grew with each page, but in today's society there really is no longer a sense of originality in any form of media. The problem arose when she released the second book, the third book, and so on. Every single book follows the same exact storyline, the only difference being the increasingly darker and more adult undertones and the specific problems involved. The book opens with Harry complaining about the Dursleys and most probably his friends, some horrible event occurs which forces him to leave the house early, against all odds he gets to school along with some terrifying rumors which spell out the rest of the book, the golden trio fights over something completely ridiculous and spend half the book refusing to talk to each other, Harry breaks every single school rule but gets away with it because he's //Harry Potter//, gets advice from all of his mentors which are only thinly veiled step by step directions on how to save the world yet again, all seems doomed, and then at the very last moment and against all odd he triumphs over some various reincarnate of Lord Voldemort and gets a long winded recap of the entire ordeal to tie the knot. There is no respect gained by rehashing the same exact story seven different ways, and overusing the copy/paste option is not the way to create a tale deserving high literary merit.

Rowling's // Harry Potter // series can not be deemed as literature for the interest in the works is unjustified and any attention given to the collection follows from an attachment to read to the end, not because of artistic quality. Widespread ‘interest’ ensued by children’s (and adults’) inability to leave // Harry Potter //// without finish and lack of anything better—people read in order to join a trend the media commenced, this one being about make-believe sorcerers and magic. Once started, people feel a desire to “make an end” only to realize what they absorbed was a play on a social modern culture, wherein muggles are an oblivious working class and mudbloods are a criticized racial minority. Rowling wrote //// Harry Potter //// about something overly dramatized, repeatedly seen, and otherwise, evident daily, leaving no individuality or artistic value to the wrongly publicized set, all the while tricking readers into thinking the fairytale world was under the influence of their own imagination. Readers have no interest in the work, only the book portion of //// Harry Potter //// ; therefore, “why read it?” at all. //
 * Shaun**

The Harry Potter series has recieved undeserved praise. It is simply, a mere fairytale that recieved too much credit. The credibility of the author is also very little. For the author had no formal schooling, other than her wild imagination to qualify her to write this novel. J.K. Rowling reveals a simple chilhood fairytale for adults and little kids alike, is on the extreme side. She should not be inducing imagination and the fairytale world to grown adults. Harry Potter is simply mind candy and nothing more.
 * Esther**