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Folktale Structure as the Key to the Success of the

Harry Potter Series

Dr. Joel Hunter

A Brand of Fictional Magic: University of St. Andrews, Scotland

May 2, 2012

The Question

“Why has the Harry Potter series of books been so popular?”

Hypothesis

The popularity of the Harry Potter series is due to the books’ narrative structure, in

particular, its concordance with a linear sequence of elements typical of folktales1 as

outlined by Vladimir Propp. The aesthetic satisfaction with any particular book in the

series positively correlates to that book’s fairy tale structure as enumerated in Propp’s

system of 31 functions of a folktale’s dramatis personae.2 In other words, readers will report

less aesthetic satisfaction the less concordance obtains between the tale’s actual morphology

and Propp’s scheme; readers will report more aesthetic satisfaction the more concordance

obtains between the tale’s actual morphology and Propp’s scheme.

Introduction

I. Propp and Potter

Vladimir Propp was one of the leading figures of the Russian formalist school of

literary theory. His seminal work, the Morphology, was published in 1928, but not

translated into English until 1958. By that time the winds of theory had shifted in other

directions in both Russia and the West. Nevertheless, since the 1960s, this work inspired a

number of studies in multiple disciplines among English-speaking scholars. Its applicability

to the folktales of other cultures, to other kinds of folk narrative and performance, to non-

folklore literature and other cultural materials, and to the learning and transmission of

1 In this paper we will use the terms ‘folktale’ and ‘fairy tale’ interchangeably to describe the same

type of literary unit, following the ambiguity inherent to the Russian skázka, the word used in

Propp’s Morphology. 2 Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale (1928), 2nd ed., trans. Laurence Scott, ed. Louis A.

Wagner (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1968).

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fairy tale structure in children has been examined.3 One such study brought to my

attention by a colleague examined the narrative schema in accounts of human evolution.4

The possibility of applying Propp’s schema to the Harry Potter series has been noted

before. The first instance found in the literature is Joan Acocella’s review of the series up to

the then-released Goblet of Fire.5 Acocello claims that Rowling was successful because of

her “utter traditionalism,” and Acocello proceeds to tick off a string of literary genres that

many other readers have identified. She then connects this literary borrowing to Propp,

whose schema of functions she deems a list of “just about every convention ever used in

fairy tales.” She then lists six of the functions and fills them in with plausible story

elements from Philosopher’s Stone. However, Acocello plays fast and loose with Propp’s

work and especially the four morphological laws (see below), treating the functions

precisely as conventions and without respect to the formal organization that is central to

Propp’s scheme. A couple of sentences later Acocello equates Propp’s functions to

archetypes, which is an unhelpful confusion of literary approaches.

In “Of Magicals and Muggles: Reversals and Revulsions at Hogwarts,”6 Jann Lacoss

applies Propp’s schema to The Philosopher’s Stone and The Goblet of Fire. After a brief

paragraph of introduction to Propp, Lacoss claims that “[t]he Harry Potter series seems to

employ these same functions, although not always in the proper order (in the Harry Potter

series, they are actually quite often in the same order as in magic tales).”7 She is quite

correct here, as our own analyses confirmed (albeit with significant variation from Lacoss’

tables, which we will discuss below in “Evaluation”). She also correctly claims that “each

book follows the sequence, and the overall plot of the series also appears to do so.” This is

quite prescient given that Lacoss was working only with the series through Goblet of Fire.

Furthermore, she speculates as we do that the language of tales “may be learned and

sublimated from childhood. Thus when the books were written, Rowling had an instinctive

3 Alan Dundes, Introduction to the 2nd ed of the Morphology (1968), xiv-xv. 4 Pace John M. Lynch, the work is Narratives of Human Evolution by Misia Landau (New Haven:

Yale University Press, 1991), x-xi; 3-16. 5 Joan Acocella, “Under the Spell; Harry Potter explained,” The New Yorker (31 July 2000): 74-5.

John Granger also noted Acocello’s article in How Harry Cast His Spell: The Meaning behind the

Mania for J. K. Rowling’s Bestselling Books (Tyndale House, 2008), 21. 6 In The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon, Ed. Lana A. Whited

(Univ of Missouri Press, 2004): 67-88. 7 Ibid, 85.

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‘road map,’ so to speak, for creating an engaging tale to which children (and adults) could

easily relate.”8 Like Lacoss, we are not arguing that Rowling followed this structure

intentionally. It is more likely that, like the Potter readers enthralled for reasons they

know not, Rowling followed unconsciously the “cultural script” of folktales in writing the

Hogwarts saga.

II. Morphology of the Folktale

Vladimir Propp finds that the magical folktales of his native Russia conform to a

schema of thirty-one functions. He derived this schema from a systematic analysis done on

a set of 100 stories in the collection of fairy tales compiled by Alexander Afanasyev. Propp

produced symbolized representations for about 50 of those to demonstrate in abstract

description the repetitive and uniform structure of these tales. These morphologies enable

the folklorist to do comparative analysis within individual tales and among multiple tales.

Propp notes that a simple tale can be analyzed by differentiating between elements

that are constant and those that are variable. “The names of dramatis personae change (as

well as the attributes of each), but neither their actions nor functions change. From this we

can draw the inference that a tale often attributes identical actions to various personages.”9

These “functions of the dramatis personae” are the tales’ constants according to Propp.10

His study of tales requires that what the dramatis personae do is the first order

phenomenon in a tale, while who does the action and how it is done are matters for

secondary study. The functions, then, are the atomic elements in Propp’s periodic table of

tales. “Function is understood as an act of a character, defined from the point of view of its

significance for the course of the action.” Functions are the constants in all tales,

“independent of how and by whom they fulfilled.”11 Furthermore, the number of functions is

small compared to the number of characters. This, according to Propp, accounts for two

contrasting features of tales: their uniformity and repetition (thanks to the very limited

number and constancy of functions as set forth formally in the first two morphological laws)

8 85. 9 Propp, 20. 10 He refers to four “theses” (pp 20-3) of which this is the first. It is clear within the pages of the

Morphology that these “theses” function as invariant laws of structure. We therefore refer to them as

Propp’s four morphological laws. 11 Ibid, 21.

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and their “amazing multiformity, picturesqueness, and color”12 (thanks to the settings,

characters, objects, and other variables of infinite variety).

Propp argues that two further structural laws follow from his morphological study of

tales: (3) that the sequence of functions is always identical and (4) that all fairy tales are of

one type in regard to their structure.13 Since the sequential progression of functions is

always the same, there develops a single narrative axis in all fairy tales. The position for a

given function is always the same in every tale, though a particular function need not be

present at all. These two morphological laws are central to our study and assessment of the

Harry Potter series of books.

III. The Big Idea

[Commentary on (a) sequential structural analysis vs. Levi-Strauss’ paradigmatic

structural analysis which organizes stories according to a matrix of paradigmatic thematic

units, typically expressed in a set of oppositions; (b) Propp’s approach is isolated from the

tale’s social and cultural contexts; (c) the approach is a way to begin to answer the question

of HP’s popularity; (d) this approach is helpful because its methods are empirical and

inductive, and the results here are reproducible by a similarly trained analyst; (e)

archetypal analysis, Marxist criticism, feminist criticism, reader-response criticism, and

other semantic-focused theories leap too quickly into genre analysis, authorial intent, and

the social construction of the text without giving due consideration to the historical and

sociological facts of the common cultural patterns that obtain in the narrative structure of

folklore materials of all kinds in both Indo-European and non-Indo-European societies.

Children all over the world hear many fairy tales; most like to hear them repeatedly. By the

time they become readers the narrative sequence of familiar stories has been mapped onto

their minds. Tales “go” a certain way. Specific actions should be present for it to “work” for

the listener or reader. Irrespective of whether we determine the Harry Potter series of

books as a fairy tale according to non-structuralist criteria and methods of analysis, we

should not be surprised that they are structured like other popular stories in bestseller

fiction, comics, graphic novels, movies, and so on. If the Harry Potter series of books does

12 21. 13 22-3.

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not harmonize with Propp’s schema, then we would have to look for others reasons that

readers are so easily and effectively drawn into the story (…)]

Methods

I. Aesthetic Satisfaction of Harry Potter Readers

An online survey was prepared and administered.14 We distributed the survey to

students who had completed our Harry Potter course and to colleagues hosting Harry

Potter-related academic and fan sites. Respondents first answered whether or not they had

read all of the books in the series. Those responding “No” were discarded from the data set.

Next, respondents were asked the number of times they had read through the entire series.

This indicates the probable familiarity the reader has with the story details of the series.

These levels of familiarity are denoted as follows:

A Novice has read the series only once.

An Amateur has read the series more than once but fewer than five times.

An Aficionado has read the series more than five times but fewer than ten.

A Savant has read the series more than ten times.

Respondents then selected the rank order of the books in the series from least aesthetically

satisfying (1) to most aesthetically satisfying (7).

II. Morphological Analysis of the Harry Potter Books and Series

According to Propp, “a tale may be termed any development proceeding from

Villainy [A] or lack [a], through intermediary functions to marriage [W], or to other

functions employed as a dénouement.”15 The analyst tabulates all of the functions in the

tale and then summarizes the results in a symbolic string using Propp’s notation for the

individual functions.

The 31 functions of the dramatis personae are organized in family units. Propp

suggests his taxonomy of group-to-function can be likened to the biological relation of

genus-to-species. Extending the biological metaphor, most functions have varieties which

Propp denotes with numeric superscripts. The function with the largest number of varieties

is Villainy [A] with 19. For the purposes of this study varieties of functions were not

14 Appendix. 15 Propp, 92.

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identified. The six genera of the functions are shown below with the corresponding species

of functions that belong to each genus:

Preparation Complication Transference Conflict Return Recognition

β γ δ ε ζ η θ A(a) B C ↑ D E F G H J I K ↓ Pr Rs o L M N Q Ex T U W

There is an Initial Situation [α] that is not counted as a function; it enumerates the family

members or introduces the hero by name or status. The lower case ‘a’ in the Complication

group denotes a “Lack,” which is an alternative form of Villainy [A] wherein a family

member either lacks something or desires something important. The movement of the tale

depends on the presence and type(s) of [A] or [a] function, but this pair is exclusive; a single

narrative axis cannot have both an [A] and [a]. It is possible to have both an [A] and [a] if a

tale has multiple moves. A move is created by a new Villainy (or Lack). These may be

woven into the primary narrative axis either consecutively or concurrently.

Results

I. Aesthetic Satisfaction of Harry Potter Readers

Table 1 shows the response by mean score (on a scale of 1, representing least

aesthetic satisfaction, to 7, representing greatest aesthetic satisfaction):

Reader Familiarity

with the Series PS CS PA GF OP HBP DH

Novice 3.8 3.2 4.6 4.0 3.7 4.3 4.9

Amateur 3.6 2.9 4.7 4.0 3.7 4.3 5.0

Aficionado 3.5 2.5 4.9 4.0 3.6 4.2 5.4

Savant 3.8 2.5 4.7 3.6 3.9 4.1 5.5

All 3.6 2.8 4.6 4.0 3.7 4.3 5.2

Rank in Aesthetic

Satisfaction (all

readers) 2 1 6 4 3 5 7

Table 1:

Summary of survey results showing the mean scores for aesthetic satisfaction

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Table 2 shows the extremities of readers’ aesthetic satisfaction with the books in the series

based on the mean scores provided in Table 1.

Reader Familiarity

with the Series

Number of

Respondents

(N)

Book chosen as most

aesthetically satisfying

Book chosen as least

aesthetically satisfying

Novice 67 Deathly Hallows Chamber of Secrets

Amateur 251 “ “ “ “

Aficionado 118 “ “ “ “

Savant 90 “ “ “ “

All 526 Deathly Hallows Chamber of Secrets

Table 2: Summary of survey results showing least and most aesthetic satisfaction with

individual books in the Harry Potter series

Table 3 shows the response by mode, which shows the score most frequently assigned by

respondents to the given text. That is, a mode of ‘1’ indicates that ‘1’ was the most

frequently assigned value out of all possible values ‘1’ through ‘7’.

Reader Familiarity

with the Series PS CS PA GF OP HBP DH

Novice 5 2 7 4 4 6 7

Amateur 2 1 7 5 1 6 7

Aficionado 3 1 7 5 1 6 7

Savant 4 2 7 4 1 6 7

All 3 1 7 4 1 6 7 Table 3: Summary of survey results showing the mode for aesthetic satisfaction

The findings in Table 3 bear some further comment. We are interested in the extremities of

the data. At the upper end of the range, the value indicating highest aesthetic satisfaction,

both Prisoner of Azkaban and Deathly Hallows were chosen more frequently and

consistently by readers as the most aesthetically satisfying tales in the series. At the low

end of the range, the value indicating least aesthetic satisfaction, both Chamber of Secrets

and Order of the Phoenix were chosen more frequently—though not consistently—as the

least aesthetically satisfying tales in the series. For Novice readers, none of the books in the

series achieved a mode of ‘1’; ‘2’ was the lowest mode and it was assigned to Chamber of

Secrets. Aesthetic judgment hardens in the Amateur and Aficionado readers; two books

indicate a mode of ‘1’ and two books indicate a mode of ‘7’. Two modes do not appear in their

rankings (‘3’ and ‘4’ for the Amateur; ‘2’ and ‘4’ for the Aficionado). For the Savant, aesthetic

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judgment softens for Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets. Only Order of the Phoenix

retains a mode of ‘1’ for the Savant whilst Prisoner of Azkaban and Deathly Hallows retain

their modes of ‘7’. Lastly, it should be pointed out that all readers consistently ranked Half-

Blood Prince as ‘6’ more frequently than other scores.

II. Morphological Analysis of the Harry Potter Books and Series

We analyzed each book in the Harry Potter series to determine its concordance with

Propp’s folktale structure. The narratives in each book were decomposed into their basic

elements and these functions of the dramatis personae were identified and tabulated. After

these tables were completed, the entire Harry Potter series was treated as one story to

determine its folktale structure. All of the moves internal to the series were reduced so that

the essential narrative axis could be determined and evaluated. The complete tabulated

results of these analyses with narrative descriptions for each function are given in the

Appendix. The symbolized representation of each book in the series and the series as a

whole are given below. The basic components are arranged sequentially from left to right in

their respective symbolized schemes. An asterisk denotes an out-of-sequence function or

group of functions. The dénouement for all but Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows ends

with Harry’s return to 4 Privet Drive. We designate this with the italicized W.

1. Philosopher’s Stone (double-move tale)

ε ζ η θ H I K M N α β γ δ [D E F]*

ε ζ η θ [D E F]*

A B C ↑ D E F G H J I K Q Ex T U W

A B C ↑ D E F G H J I K

The Reconnaissance–Complicity sequence in the upper move is Dumbledore as

victim-hero and an independent axis is maintained throughout the tale. The Dumbledore

axis terminates at a Solution [N]. The lower axis is Harry as seeker-hero. The original

villainy done to Harry and his parents is out-of-sequence in this narrative and so is omitted

in this scheme. Because the liquidation of this villainy is the primary movement driving not

only Stone but the entire Harry Potter series, and because it is not resolved until Deathly

Hallows, it will be the main villainy of the series of books taken as a single tale.

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2. Chamber of Secrets (double-move tale)

γ δ α β ε ζ η θ A B C ↑ D E F

γ δ ε ζ A B C ↑ D E F G F* H J I K ↓ L M N Q Ex T U W

ε ζ η θ

The multiple Reconnaissance-Delivery moves include the ordinary type by the

villain (top sequence) followed by two reverse types (Professor Binns is the middle

sequence; Polyjuice Potion to get information from Draco is the bottom sequence).

3. Prisoner of Azkaban (no moves, but two heroes whose axes converge briefly)

< γ δ ε ζ η θ A B C ↑ > < D E F G > Q Ex T U W

I K ↓ Pr Rs

α β γ δ ε ζ A A C G H J M N

D E F

The top narrative axis has Sirius as the victim- and seeker-hero. The bracketed

Preparation and Complication groups for Sirius are disclosed near the end of Harry’s

narrative. The bracketed Transference group < D E F G > denotes Sirius-Padfoot’s collusion

with Crookshanks out of Harry’s sight. Harry’s Preparation group is demoted below the

main axis because Sirius is the hero in Prisoner as borne out by the Q—W dénouement. The

Victory [ I ] occurs in the Shrieking Shack after Sirius is vindicated and Harry shows mercy

to Peter Pettigrew. The I—Rs sequence represents Sirius and Harry as temporary joint

heroes. The Difficult Task [M] of rescuing both Sirius and Buckbeak (and as it turns out,

Harry himself) is given to Harry and Hermione by Dumbledore. The Solution [N] includes

an endless feedback loop to the earlier [Rs] because of the use of the time-turner.

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4. Goblet of Fire (4-move tale)

α β γ δ ε ζ η θ A B C G H J I K ↓ Pr Rs L M N Q Ex T U W

A B C D E F G H J I K

a B C ↑ D E F G H I K

A D E F G H J I K

Goblet has the purest folktale structure. Its narrative scheme is the simplest

representation of the seven books in the series. Harry is both the victim- and seeker-hero

and he endures multiple villainies in four moves: three moves represent the three Tri-

Wizard tasks and the final move is the direct conflict with Voldemort in Little Hangleton

graveyard.

5. Order of the Phoenix (double-move tale with a spliced Transference sequence)

β γ δ ε ζ ( D E F G )* η θ A B C ↑ D E F G H J I K ↓ L Q Ex T U W γ δ ε ζ η θ a B C ↑ D E F

The main axis concerns the villainy done to Harry and Sirius by Voldemort. The

move below the main axis concerns the villainy of Umbridge and the Ministry. The out-of-

order sequence in the main axis concerns the events from the founding of Dumbledore’s

Army through Harry’s peering into Snape’s “worst memory” (Chs 16-28). The double-move

is neither consecutive nor concurrent; such an incongruity in the linear sequence of the tale

is a notable structural anomaly.

6. Half-Blood Prince (no moves, but two heroes whose axes converge)

A Ν Q Ex T U

M

D E F G H M N o*

D E F ε ζ η θ a B C ↑ D E F

The main axis is Dumbledore as the victim-hero; he was mortally wounded by the

villainy of the Gaunt-Slytherin ring horcrux prior to the narrative’s beginning. Harry’s

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secondary hero status in this tale is indicated by his action halting at the second Difficult

Task [M] where it joins with the Solution [N] now governed by Dumbledore’s actions. In the

context of the entire Harry Potter series, this tale is further complicated by a third victim-

and seeker-hero: Severus Snape. However, within the confines of Half-Blood Prince, his

status as such is not recognized and is therefore omitted from this scheme. An interesting

corollary study to the present one could examine Snape as the main hero in the Harry

Potter series.

7. Deathly Hallows (7-move tale)

γ δ

α β a D a B C ↑ G H J ↓

γ δ C ↑ D E F G H J I K ↓ ↑ E F G A B C ↑ D E F G

00 ↑ D E F G H J I K ↓

a B C ↑ D E F G H J I K ↓ Pr Rs

B C ↑ D E F G

B C D E F G H J I K ↓

B C ↑ D E F G 00

D E F G H J I K ↓ Pr Rs o L M N Q Ex T W

β

Although Deathly Hallows is arguably the most complicated tale in the series, none

of its functions is out of sequence. Classifying its multiple moves is complicated by the

carryover of the discovery of Voldemort’s horcrux creations and Dumbledore’s dispatch of

the trio from Half-Blood Prince. Moves considered on the basis of Villainy [A] or Lack [a]

internal to the Hallows narrative alone, there are four; considering the sequence of multiple

Mediations [B] as moves, there are seven. Since these Mediation-moves lead to additional

receipts of magical agents [DEF] for the purpose of completing the liquidation of all the

preceding villainies, it is appropriate to consider these as moves in Deathly Hallows.

There are several notable sequences in Hallows. The first Complication includes the

efforts to retrieve the real locket horcrux from Umbridge. Dumbledore’s bequest includes

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the donation of three magical agents to aid each member of the trio of heroes which are put

to use at later points in the narrative. The next notable sequence is the combination of

three interwoven sequences representing the efforts to acquire the means to destroy the

retrieved locket horcrux, the sword of Gryffindor. The remaining horcrux-artifacts are

retrieved and destroyed with less complication as exhibited by the consecutive single axes

for each. The final sequence in the story, [D – W], occurs in the Forbidden Forest and the

Battle of Hogwarts. The Epilogue ends with Albus Severus Potter absenting himself from

home and the next chapter in the Hogwarts saga begins.

Scheme for the Series Treated as a Single Tale

α β γ δ ε ζ η θ H I K T W

A B C ↑ D E F G H I K ↓ Pr Rs o L M N Q Ex

The Preparation group is the backstory developed and revealed in Prisoner of

Azkaban, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows. The Mediation [B], the misfortune made

known to Harry, is gradually unfolded in the first six books of the series, and Dumbledore

gradually dispatches Harry to defeat Voldemort. The Counteraction [C] occurs in Deathly

Hallows: it is initiated at the beginning of the school year and it is confirmed conclusively

by Harry at Dobby’s grave. Harry’s final test is in the Forbidden Forest with the Snitch, the

magical agent donated to him by Dumbledore. Harry is revealed to have survived the

killing curse in a reverse Exposure (Exrev). The return to the main axis is to complete the

struggle with Voldemort and defeat him.

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Evaluation

We now desire to assess the results of our analyses and come to some conclusions

regarding our leading question.

Comparison to the Lacoss Schemes (2004)

First, we return to the tables for Philosopher’s Stone and Goblet of Fire prepared by

Jann Lacoss.16 If we translate her table for Philosopher’s Stone into its symbolic notation,

we get:

β γ δ A a B C D ↑ E F G H J L M N Q Ex T U

A couple of critical notes are in order. First, Lacoss has the D and ↑ functions out of order in

her table. Second, she identifies both a Villainy [A] and a Lack [a], but these are alternative

types of one function and cannot appear in the same narrative axis. Third, an initial

Villainy [A] or Lack [a] is always liquidated [K], but Lacoss omits this essential function.

Lastly, some of the assignations are dubious. For example, she has Branding [J] as “People

notice [Harry’s] scar,” but the Branding function should be a consequence of the preceding

combat between the hero and the villain [H]. Harry receives his scar in the prequel to the

narrative and, at least in Stone, cannot be located at this point in the narrative. Lacoss’

complete list of descriptions is shown in an adjacent column to ours in the tabulated results

in the Appendix. We believe the double-villainy directed at Harry within the narrative

sequence of Stone is essential to describe correctly this story’s formal organization.

If we translate Lacoss’ table for Goblet of Fire into its symbolic notation, we get the

following scheme:

β γ δ ε ζ a B C D ↑ E F G H J H J (I K ↓)* Pr Rs o L Ex W

C D ↑ E F G H J

C D ↑ E F G H J

C D ↑ E F G H J

Structurally, this is very similar to our reconstruction of this story (II.4). It is noteworthy

that Lacoss’ moves occur on the Beginning Counteraction [C] move rather than on a

Villainy [A] or a Lack [a]. However, if her assignment of the Villainy on the main axis were

16 Lacoss, 86.

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corrected (it should be an ‘A’ rather than a Lack [a]), picking up the axis at the struggle

with Voldemort in the Little Hangleton graveyard completes that pairing at the Liquidation

[K] function. The sequence (I K ↓) is misassigned to elements preceding the Struggle [H] in

the graveyard. Lastly, the Unfounded Claims [L] function is misapplied; Lacoss simply

names the false hero dramatis persona, but this does not fulfill the requirement for the

narrative constant. Again, her complete list of descriptions is shown in an adjacent column

to ours in the tabulated results in the Appendix. We conclude that Lacoss has correctly

identified the general structure of Goblet, but has incorrectly analyzed some of the key

sequences of functions in the primary axis of the story.

Assessment of Concordance Between Propp’s Scheme and the Harry Potter Series

We now turn to a comparison of our findings of the aesthetic satisfaction with the

individual tales in the Harry Potter series and the results of our own complete narrative

analyses. Propp’s approach is a data-driven investigation and description of folktale

morphology; therefore, it is difficult to answer normative questions about whether a given

story represents a “good” instance of the folktale structure or not. What are the criteria for

making a meaningful judgment with the data a Proppian analysis yield? We can exclude

some measures. It would not be meaningful to count the number of functions present in a

Harry Potter story and use the full slate of 31 functions as a benchmark. For example, if

Philosopher’s Stone (say) had 23 functions, it would not make any sense to infer that its

concordance with folktale structure was therefore 75%. This is because tales often do not

involve all of the functions (in fact almost none do), nor are they required to. Concordance

with folktale structure does not depend on the maximal use of all the available functions in

Propp’s schema.

One possible basis for a measurement of concordance is out-of-sequence functions.

Recall that Propp’s third and fourth morphological laws require that the sequence of

functions is always identical and that all fairy tales are of one type in regard to their

structure. A possible means of determining concordance with folktale structure, then, is to

examine the number of out-of-sequence functions and the extent of their displacement from

their “correct” position. We thus define a measure of incongruity by multiplying the two

quantities. That is,

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Incongruity = No. of nonsequential functions × Displacement of nonsequential functions

If we tally the nonsequential functions and compute the Incongruity for each of the Harry

Potter stories, we get the following results:

PS CS PA GF OP HBP DH

Number of

nonsequential functions 6 1 -- -- 4 1 --

Total displacement of

nonsequential functions 4 2 -- -- 8 3 --

Incongruity 24 2 0 0 32 3 0

Table 4: Summary of Incongruities in the Harry Potter stories

Obviously, the value of Incongruity is relative; there is no scale or units of measure against

which to interpret this quantity. So we must limit our interpretation to the most basic

kinds of comparison. We see that Order of the Phoenix has the greatest Incongruity

measured against the linear sequence of folktale structure. Philosopher’s Stone has the next

greatest Incongruity. We recall that Order is also one of the Harry Potter stories that

readers reported had the lowest aesthetic satisfaction, returning a mode of ‘1’ from all but

Novice readers. We also recall that Stone was the second least aesthetically satisfying story

according to its mean score. If we examine the other end of the spectrum, we see that

Prisoner, Goblet, and Hallows had no Incongruity from folktale structure. We recall that

Prisoner and Hallows both returned a mode of ‘7’ from all readers, and that they were the

top two aesthetically satisfying books in the Harry Potter series according to their rank by

mean score. We arrive at a general—and provisional—deduction: If a folktale has a high

degree of Incongruity, the aesthetic satisfaction of the reader will be low. We cannot,

however, deduce the contrary, for Chamber has a low Incongruity yet it is viewed as the

least aesthetically satisfying story in the series. These are interesting results, but there are

other measures for assessing the Harry Potter stories.

In the discussion which follows the presentation of the 31 functions of the dramatis

personae in the Morphology,17 Propp makes several general “deductions” about the observed

patterns which emerge from an examination of individual folktales “at close range.” He

17 Propp, 64ff.

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asks, “What does the given scheme represent in relation to the tales?” and answers thusly:

“The scheme is a measuring unit for individual tales. Just as cloth can be measured with a

yardstick to determine its length, tales may be measured by the scheme and thereby

defined.”18 If Propp is correct, then we have confidence that in the current study we may

therefore “define” the tales in the Harry Potter series and the series as a whole. We extract

the following five propositions about folktale schemes that Propp identifies and discusses in

the remainder of the Morphology. We will present them in the order they appear in his text.

Common Pair Arrangements

Proposition 1: “we observe that [the following functions] are arranged in pairs:”19

• Prohibition—Violation [γ δ]

• Reconnaissance—Delivery [ε ζ]

• Struggle—Victory [H I]

• Pursuit—Rescue [Pr Rs]

When we examine the schemes for the Harry Potter books, we find these notable results

concerning their common pair arrangements:

• Only Chamber has a Reconnaissance—Delivery [ε ζ] pair on its main axis that does

not target Harry (it targets Ginny Weasley)

• Only Goblet and Hallows have all of the pairs

There are notable results for other books in the series, especially Half-Blood Prince, but we

will limit our assessment to the books identified earlier at the extremities of readers’

aesthetic satisfaction.

Task Differentiation [B, D, M]

Proposition 2 concerns what tasks the hero is given or undertakes. Propp claims that

“(…) it is always possible to be governed by the principle of defining a function according to

its consequences. (…) all tasks giving rise to a search must be considered in terms of B; all

tasks giving rise to the receipt of a magical agent are considered in terms of D. All other

tasks are considered as M, with two varieties: tasks connected with match-making and

18 65. 19 64-5.

17

marriage, and tasks not linked with matchmaking.”20 When we examine the schemes for

the Harry Potter books, we find these notable results concerning their task differentiation:

• Only Order has no M task whatsoever

• The M task in Chamber is less urgent than the M tasks in the other books

• Prisoner and Hallows have an M task that ends in a “match” or wedding

• Only Prisoner has a B task with a victim- and seeker-hero other than Harry (Sirius)

• Hallows has more than three D tasks (there are a whopping nine)

There are notable results for other books in the series, especially Stone, but we will limit

our assessment to the books identified earlier at the extremities of readers’ aesthetic

satisfaction.

Spheres of Action of the Dramatis Personae

Proposition 3: “(…) many functions join logically together into certain spheres. These

spheres in toto correspond to their respective performers. They are spheres of action.”21 The

following spheres of action are present in folktales:

• Villain [A, H, Pr]

• Donor [D, F]

• Helper [G, K, Rs, N, T]

• Princess (or sought-for person) [M, J, Ex, Q, U, W]

• Dispatcher [B]

• Hero [C, ↑, E, W]

• False Hero [C, ↑, E, L]

When we examine the schemes for the Harry Potter books, we find these notable results

concerning their spheres of action:

• Only Prisoner has a villain other than Voldemort22

• Hallows has a whopping seven Donors

• In Hallows, the seeker-hero includes the whole trio and the victim-hero includes

Snape

20 67-8. 21 79-80. 22 Although it should be noted that “Fear itself” is a reification of Voldemort’s persona.

18

• Snape is the false villain in Prisoner and Hallows

• Draco is the false villain (by narrative misdirection) in Chamber

• Only Order has a villain Donor (Umbridge)

• Only Prisoner has unique Helpers in each Helper function (Fred & George Weasley,

Dumbledore, Sirius, Harry, Hermione)

• Order and Hallows have a clearly identified Sought-for person

• Harry serves as a Dispatcher in Order and Hallows

Multiple Villainies, Interwoven and Sequential

Proposition 4: “A tale may be termed any development proceeding from villainy (A)

or a Lack (a) through intermediary functions to marriage (W), or to other functions

deployed as a denouement. Terminal functions are at times a reward (F), a gain or in

general the liquidation of misfortune (K), and escape from pursuit (Rs), etc. (…) This type of

development is termed by us a move. Each new act of villainy, each new lack, creates a new

move. (…) One move may directly follow another; but they may also interweave (…).”23 We

find these notable results concerning multiple villainies:

• There are no multiple villainies in Prisoner or Hallows

• The villainies in Chamber only indirectly affect Harry

• Only Order has an interwoven villainy

Exclusive Pairs of Functions

Proposition 5: “(…) we observe that there are two such pairs of functions which are

encountered within a single move so rarely that their exclusiveness may be considered

regular, while their combination may be considered a violation of this rule (…). The two

pairs are the Struggle with the villain and the Victory over him [H – I] and the Difficult

Task and its Solution [M – N]. In 100 tales, the first pair is encountered 41 times, the

second pair is encountered 33 times, and the two combined into one move three times

23 92.

19

[Some moves exist which develop without either of these pairs.].”24 We find these notable

results concerning exclusive:

• Only Order lacks an M—N pair

• Chamber, Goblet, and Hallows break the exclusionary rule and have both pairs

• Prisoner has a hybrid pair: the H-I pair involves Sirius on the primary narrative

axis whilst the M-N pair involves Harry on the secondary axis

If we examine these results, we can deduce two outstanding patterns, one positive

and one negative. First, we find several unusual features that become apparent when its

structure and dramatis personae are related to the other books in the series and the series

as a whole. We regard these unusual features as creative exploitations of the structural

phenomena described by the Propositions.25 Second, we can identify clear violations of the

Propositions. In the two books in the Harry Potter series that were identified as the least

aesthetically satisfying, Chamber and Order, we find that there are fewer Creative

Exploitations and more Violations than in the stories viewed as more aesthetically

satisfying.

Chamber violates Propositions 1, 2, 3, and 5:

• it has an anomalous common-pair arrangement

• it has a relatively inconsequential M-task

• the main villainy only indirectly affects the hero

• it violates the exclusive pair rule.

Order has one Creative Exploitation of Proposition 2: it has no M-task whilst all the other

stories in the Harry Potter series do. On the other hand, Order violates Propositions 3

(twice) and 4:

• it has a Donor who is also a Villain

• it has a Hero who is also a Dispatcher

• it has an anomalous villainy move.

If we examine the two books in the Harry Potter series that were identified as the

most aesthetically satisfying, Prisoner and Hallows, we find that there are fewer Violations

and more Creative Exploitations than in the stories viewed as less aesthetically satisfying.

24 101-2. 25 As we noted above, Order has one such artistic exploitation, but three violations.

20

Prisoner has no Violations of the Propositions. On the other hand, it has three Creative

Exploitations:

• a B-task with a hero other than Harry

• an M-task that results in a customary [W] function.26

• a villain other than Voldemort.

Hallows has one Violation: it contains the exclusive pairs H-I and M-N. On the other hand,

it has six Creative Exploitations:

• it has all of the common pair arrangements (Goblet is the only other story in the

series that has them all, too)

• it has nine D-tasks, more than twice as many as any of the other stories (Stone is

closest with four)

• an M-task that results in a customary [W] function.

• it has seven Donors (the tale with the second largest number of Donors is Prisoner

with five)

• Snape is revealed to be a false villain

• Snape is revealed to be a victim-hero (and also a seeker-hero outside the explicit

narrative of Hallows.

Conclusion

Let us summarize our assessment and conclude this study of the Harry Potter

series. We recall that Propp regards the schema of 31 functions as a “measuring unit” for

folktales. Our provisional conjecture was that one “measuring unit” for the discordance of

any given tale to the schema is the quantity we have defined as Incongruity. We then

arranged in five Propositions the “deductions” Propp derived from the formal organization

of the schema. From our analysis and interpretation of these Propositions, we derived two

additional qualitative measuring units: Violation and Creative Exploitation. We therefore

have three independent measuring units with which to assess the concordance of the Harry

Potter series of books to the fairy tale structure of the 31 functions of the dramatis

personae: Incongruity, Violation, and Creative Exploitation. The properties of Incongruity

and Violation are disconcordant; the property of Creative Exploitation is concordant. If we

gather together our assessments of these properties determined in the previous section, and

26 Harry’s family is somewhat restored by his finding and uniting with his godfather Sirius. Only

Hallows has the other customary [W] function in the series—Harry’s marriage to Ginny, and

Hermione’s marriage to Ron.

21

correlate them to the results we determined concerning the aesthetic satisfaction of

readers, we get the following results:

Least aesthetically

satisfying books

Most aesthetically

satisfying books

Measuring

Unit CS OP PA DH

Incongruity Very Low Very High Nil Nil

Violation 4 3 0 1

Creative

Exploitation 0 1 3 6

Table 5: Measures of Concordance in the Harry Potter stories

Recall that to interpret these findings correctly, the negative measures, Incongruity and

Violation, correspond to relative disconcordance with the schema, whilst the positive

measure, Creative Exploitation, corresponds to relative concordance with the schema.

Therefore, Chamber and Order have relatively disconcordant fairy tale structures whilst

Prisoner and Hallows have relatively concordant fairy tale structures. This correlates with

the respective aesthetic satisfaction reported by readers. We therefore conclude that our

hypothesis is confirmed: the aesthetic satisfaction with any particular book in the Harry

Potter series positively correlates to that book’s fairy tale structure as enumerated in

Propp’s system of 31 functions of a folktale’s dramatis personae.

The folktale structure is at least one of the keys to the success of the Harry Potter

series. We believe that critics who dismiss the artistic value and meaning of the series by

pointing out its alleged formulaic motifs, conventional mores and normative identities,

arrive at this judgment erroneously and often with limited familiarity with the story.

However, they are correct insofar as the Harry Potter series of books follows the schema of

fairy tale as outlined by Vladimir Propp. This uniform and repetitive structure congruent to

that found in the larger family of such tales accounts for its apparent formulaic character.

Moreover, we find that readers’ aesthetic satisfaction with specific tales within the series

correlates to those tales’ conformity to the fairy tale structure. If we want to answer the

question “How did Harry Potter cast his spell over so many reader?” we need to account for

the diversity of aesthetic responses to the individual tales in the series. The Harry Potter

22

series of books cast its spell over readers by closely adhering to the formal organization of

folktale structure. J. K. Rowling crafted an expansive fairy tale that has proven to be

aesthetically satisfying to readers of all ages around the world. She successfully traced an

ancient and enduring “cultural script” found in folk narratives we learn from childhood and

articulated this structure with “amazing multiformity, picturesqueness, and color” in her

settings, characters, magical objects, themes, and artistic virtues.

This investigation was undertaken with the invaluable assistance of my undergraduate research team

at Barrett Honors College, Rita McGlynn, Tracie Smith, and Saswati Soumya, without whom this

study would not have been possible. The author gratefully acknowledges their contributions to this

study through their painstaking critical analysis of the Proppian functions in each book of the Harry

Potter series and their review, corrections, and suggestions to this report.