The most appealing part in the first two books is how Rowling manages to incorporate realism and fantasy into her books. These are two very different types of genres. Realism is the idea that situations could actually happen to the characters in the book. Fantasy tells imaginary tales to make believe lands, creatures and people, magic is often a major component in fantasy. Even though these are very different genres Rowling connects them throughout her books. For example, Harry Potter’s life as an orphan is realistic. The idea that Harry’s parents both die could actually happen in real life. The muggle world is also relatable because it is our actual world. The friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione is very real. The idea of placing students in houses can also be related to sororities and fraternities.

            On the other hand there is clearly the magical world where the fantasy comes into play. Rowling takes ordinary things or situations and turns it into magic. For example, Harry’s parents died, which is realistic but they die because of a dark wizard. She makes the muggle world look like this mysterious place that the wizarding world finds hard to understand. For example, Mr. Weasley was fascinated with how the muggles got along without magic, “Ingenious, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic” (p.43).  Also the idea of placing students into houses is realistic except for how it is done. The sorting hat comes to life to place the students into appropriate houses, “HUFFLEPUFF!” “RAVENCLAW!” (p.119). Another example of fantasy would be when Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised. It is a mirror that shows you, “…nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts” (p.213). Clearly the mirror is fantasy, but what Harry desires is realism. He never met his family, so naturally what he most desires is the chance to know his family.