Fellow blogger and Harry Potter fanatic Travis Prinzi is on a roll at Sword of Gryffindor. He's taking a class in mythology and working on a paper about Harry Potter.

A couple of weeks ago, Travis asked for feedback on two paper proposals: The Meaning of the Phoenix: Love’s Victory over Death in Harry Potter and Harry as a Philosopher’s Stone: Alchemy in the Harry Potter Novels. He chose the first (which I voted for).

Love's victory over death is THE story, the ultimate theme. Because of his love for us, Christ sacrificed himself for those he came to save. As a result, we have eternal life. Physical death is the result of the Fall (sin), but when our bodies power down, our spiritual selves will live on. The power of the grave, of death, of sin, has no hold over us. This life is only the earthly phase of our eternity.

Travis also blogged about one of my favorite literary terms: narrative misdirection. He links to an article titled Why Half Blood Prince is the Best Harry Potter Novel, by our favorite HP academic, John Granger. I won't explain narrative misdirection. Read the post and Granger's article. Good stuff.

Travis also shares with us questions from his mythology class. In one post he asks, "How is the abstract theme of Good vs. Evil further developed, complicated, extended, or diversified in Goblet of Fire?" In a more recent post, he asks, "What is the biggest difference between book one Harry and book four Harry? Why is this difference significant?"

I really want to answer those questions (especially the second), but I haven't had much extra time to blog here at FFC. If you have the time, you may answer the questions here, at Travis's blog, or both.