OK, y’all. This is the last of the Harry Plotter series. But I’ll keep sharing lots of resources and insights about bridging the worlds of ELA and computer science. Don’t worry.

For our final Plotter example, I shared the grid of charts below. I then pointed out that there were only TWO times Voldemort’s name was used with greater frequency than Harry’s. Do you see them? Can you guess what chapters (without consulting your books)?

The first instance is in Chapter 33 of Goblet of Fire. That’s the chapter where Harry finds himself transported into an evil graveyard only to witness Cedric’s incident (no spoilers here!) and Voldemort’s reincarnation. Seldom in the whole series is Harry weaker than at that moment–and Voldemort so powerful.

The second instance is Chapter 1 of Deathly Hallows. The movie captures the scene well, too. It’s where Voldemort is holding court with his Death Eaters and plotting how to capture Harry so he can kill him. It’s a gruesome scene, but sets the tone for the book–even if the frequency of Voldemort’s name doesn’t appear very much compared with Harry’s.

Notice how in both cases I as a reader was able to spot new patterns in the books because of the data. And notice that it didn’t stop with data. It’s all about the text and my attempts to make meaning of the text.

And that, too, is what Plotting Plots is all about. If you haven’t yet, take a click around. Check out my online course for ELA teachers and The Plot Shop.

This is just the beginning! -TLL