Enchanting Nature in Kelley Armstrong’s The Calling and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets

Abstract

Fantasy is becoming vital for human survival as it serves as a vehicle to escape from reality in contemporary dog-eat-dog world. Apparently, fantasy authors create marvelous feeling through their depiction of magic, mythical creatures and by the creation of the extraordinary and the uncanny. Moreover, fantasy authors make efficacious use of nature to make the enchanting and alien appeal to the readers of the story. While folk and fairy tales depict forests as a threatening territory; fantasy novels depict them as a place for the protagonist’s survival, self-realization and sacrifice. Hence, contemporary fantasy encompasses trees and forests which provide space for trial of protagonist’s cognitive as well as physical metamorphosis. In The Calling, protagonist Maya and her companions are evacuated from their hometown due to artificially created wildfire and they seek refuge in wildwoods. While emerging from forests, they become stronger and wiser since wilderness is portrayed as a venue for growth, nourishment and transformation. In Harry Potter and Chamber of secrets, Harry and Ron sneak into the forbidden forest to ascertain the chamber monster. Eventually, they become enlightened when they come out of Forbidden forest. Hence, this research paper purports to study the role of enchanting nature in protagonist’s evolution portrayed by Kelley Armstrong in The Calling and J.K. Rowling in Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets.