Francesca, You Have Just Been Out-Pottered!

[Editor's Note:  I am re-blogging a post from three years ago, when I was basically Harry Potter ignorant, to demonstrate that The Odyssey is relevant to literature, the literature you read today.  The Odyssey is about the human experience.  Odysseus's experience just so happens to have occurred three thousand years ago, if you believe Homer and his scholars!  This student's impassioned response is re-posted below this one.  Wish you all could have been there.]

Well, maybe just when it comes to The Odyssey. Thanks to the Harry Potter movies and the Internet, I remembered and then confirmed that Harry has a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Guess who else has a scar that is important to his story? That's right - Odysseus!

Book XIX, Lines 449-451
" . . The boar, too quick, attacked;
he charged aslant, his tusk tore one long gash
above the knee, but left the bone intact."

This scar is how Eurycleia, Odysseus' nurse during his youth, recognizes him when he returns to Ithaca. The tale of receiving the scar is presented in more detail, but its importance is unmistakable.

Also, are there not omens or signs of prophecies and fate that occur in the Harry Potter series? Anyone use a disguise in the series, as Odysseus and Athena do? Ha!

I discovered this because I was flipping through The Odyssey again, looking at all of the passages I had underlined and the comments scribbled by me in the margins. This is an excellent practice to adopt for all books you read (assuming that the book is yours). As proof, I offer this post. Thank you, thank you!