Philosopher's Stone Chapter Three

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Well here it is everyone - a prolonged pause in the action

PS Chapter Three

 

*Dudley has flattened Ms Figg.  I bet Harry was pleased.

 

*So Harry’s longest ever imprisonment in the cupboard took from Dud’s birthday to shortly before his own?  So about a month.  But then, given JKR’s maths, it could really be any length of time.

 

*Following on from the discussion about the previous chapter, it really is the case that Harry does not have a victim’s personality.  If he really found Dudley intimidating he wouldn’t be able to answer him back like this.

 

*Hmm the cake was stale though... bet Harry wishes Dud had killed the old squib outright.

 

*Smeltings boys wear ridiculous uniforms and have sticks of wood for attacking each other which is supposed to be good training for later life.  Sound like an all boys version of Hogwarts much?

 

*I presume Harry was just being a smart alec when he goes “I didn’t realise it had to be so wet.”  Otherwise he would seem dumber than Dudley.

 

*Harry could have read the letter quickly when he was in the hall, but no – he had to ensure that this chapter is really drawn out and the plot suspended for its duration. 

 

*It is evident that the Dursleys have received no communication from the magical world since the letter that Dumblesnore dropped off with Harry on their doorstep.  Evidently they infer from McGonagall’s letter that somebody from the magical community – they don’t know who - might now have them under surveillance and it changes their whole approach towards Harry completely.  Not only do they move him into a bedroom, but they don’t even attempt to favour Dudley anymore.  So the merest hint of magical intervention is sufficient to prevent them from keeping Harry downtrodden.  It is highly likely that Dumblesnore’s first letter gave them permission, perhaps even recommended, that they keep Harry downtrodden.  If he didn’t want them to do that it would have been very easy to check up on Harry on a regular basis in a way that Vernon and Petunia would notice.  This letter’s defining feature is that it is from someone magical besides Dumbledore.

 

*Dudley’s a right little slob :p  Nothing like Harry of course.  Oh wait... *remembers later in the series* Well Dud never reads anything, unlike Harry... *remembers all the rest of the series again* I’ll stop trying to compare Harry favourably to Dudley.

 

*Animals have a harrowing time around Dudley.  But I recall agreeing with another member of deathtocapslocks who pointed out that JKR wasted an opportunity to make Harry more likeable than Dudley by making him kind to animals. 

 

*The Smeltings stick certainly gets put to good use here.

 

*It’s just as well Vernon is referring to Hagrid *although he doesn’t know it* with his ironic remark about the delivery person’s mind working in strange ways.  Hagrid really is dumber than Vernon and bizarre to say the best of it.

 

*Dudley becomes a lot sharper in this chapter, asking Harry the question which is perplexing us all; “who on Earth wants to talk to you this badly?” Compare to chapter two, when he could not count.

 

*A minimum of intervention from the magical community also prevents Dudley from being indulged or spoiled in any way.  Vernon doesn’t even put up with his unconventional packing methods anymore.

 

*A generic seedy hotel!

 

*Hagrid’s line of thinking dictates that if Harry doesn’t receive a letter by one delivery, then the solution is to send twice as many by the following delivery.  If a character with even rudimentary intelligence had been in charge of delivering the letter then this chapter would have been very short indeed.

 

*Dud is now the one supplying the spontaneous witticisms.

 

*Dud only remembers the days of the week because of TV, but Harry can’t keep track of them at all. 

 

*So nothing has progressed in the way of plot during this chapter, but the location has shifted from Privet Drive to a hut on the rock in what seems like a different genre...

 

*Again, if Dudley were a successful bully, or if Harry had a victim’s mentality, Harry would not be prepared to wake Dud up simply to annoy him.

 

*Hagrid’s here!  Brace yourselves everyone...

Comments

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

I may be mistaken but, the way she talks about, and writes about, her favorites in the series, I imagine she would be like those mothers who, despite all evidence to the contrary, insist their child would never do anything wrong so it must've been your kid who did it.

[pearlette.livejournal.com]

But I don't think you can judge much about Rowling's beliefs, political or otherwise, from these books, because what she's really done is to take lots of tropes from 19th and 20th century literature and plunk them into her story.

Got it in one, Mary. When I first read PS/SS, I thought Rowling's writing was somewhat like Roald Dahl's: the larger-than-life characters, the Dickensian morality.

As the series progressed and darkened, I enjoyed it for what it was: Enid Blyton with magic and hormones, basically. (Except that Blyton really WAS the reactionary real deal.)

See the essay on my blog, "Harry Potter and the Mores of the 19th Century", if you'd like more on this theory.

I read your essay and found it very interesting, both on 19th century literature (yes, they were definitely men and women of their time, weren't they?) and on JKR.

But - Rowling is Petunia? Brilliant. Except I think perhaps she's Lily, actually.

Rowling is Petunia???? In what sense? Longing secretly to be a wizard? Resenting her magical sister? Hating and mistreating a baby that was left on her doorstep ...??

Personally, I think Rowling is Aunt Marge. And Minerva McGonagall. And Pansy Parksinson. And Luna Lovegood's dead mother. And Mrs Norris. All rolled into one.

Since this is a sporking comm, I offer my comment in that spirit. ;)

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think Rowling is Aunt Marge. And Minerva McGonagall. And Pansy Parksinson. And Luna Lovegood's dead mother. And Mrs Norris. All rolled into one.

As the author, Rowling is every character in the books. They all came out of her head. She went a particular direction with these more motherly characters, perhaps, because she's said that this was her attempt at dealing with her own mother's death. I usually cut a lot of slack on the mothers themes in the books because of that. I know that I have mixed issues when thinking about my mother.

I liked Mary's article, too. The whole idea of someone being inherently Good based on their birth is so Dickensian - I'd thought of Oliver Twist too at times when thinking about the way Our Hero's arc went in the series. Neglected and abused yet not displaying any symptoms of this comes to mind in the same way that Oliver was able to rise above his upbringing. Personally, I'm not too big on Dickens - I've only made it all the way through A Christmas Carol. I do know the Oliver Twist story, though, at least its major components. But, the writer this brought to mind more than Dickens was Blake, with his Wise Child on a Cloud.