Type of Document Master's Thesis Author Pond, Julia Rose URN etd-03312008-142833 Title Divine Destiny or Free Choice: Nietzsche's Strong Wills in the Harry Potter Series Degree Master of Arts Department English Advisory Committee
Advisor Name Title Dr. Pearl McHaney Committee Chair Dr. Nancy Chase Committee Member Dr. Stephen Dobranski Committee Member Keywords
- Nietzsche
- Harry Potter
- free will
- fate
- authority
- determinism
- fatalism
- J.K. Rowling
Date of Defense 2008-03-10 Availability unrestricted Abstract This paper considers the influences of fate and free will in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Current scholarship on the topic generally agrees that Rowling champions free will by allowing her characters learning opportunities through their choices. By using Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy on fate and free will and by more closely examining the Harry Potter texts, this paper demonstrates fate’s stronger presence in Rowling’s fictional world. Certain strong-willed characters rise above their peers’ fated states by embracing their personal fates and exercising their wills to create themselves within fated destinies. The paper also explores the possibility of an authority directing fate.Files
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