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

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"The good guys don't look worse to me. (And I am NOT a Dumbledore fan, let me add.)"

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you there. :)

First of all, we've got Harry, who essentially goes from a bland but basically likeable boy in the first three or four books to a spoiled brat who worries about nobody but himself (in HBP, for example, he sectumsempras Draco, and then spends the rest of the chapter worrying about Snape giving him detention rather than whether Malfoy's OK) and tortures people for such petty things as spitting at a teacher. Then we've got Hermione, who starts off as a nice if slightly bossy girl, before turning into a callous, manipulative Lady-Macbeth-in-training who seemingly thinks nothing of blackmailing Rita Skeeter, permanently disfiguring a fellow-student and mind-wiping her parents. Then we've got Ron, who's probably just as bad, although TBH he's so boring and annoying by the last few books that I've forgotten what he does. So yeah, I'd argue that there is a bit of a gulf between how JKR sees the trio and how the trio actually behave.

[pearlette.livejournal.com]

If you're telling me that the Trio have huge, stonking great flaws, then we are in agreement. :)

If you're telling me that those flaws make the Trio the moral equivalent of a racist, genocidal cult, I'd have to say ... NO.

(Harry's 'Crucio' in DH was a careless move on the part of the author, IMO. Either the Unforgivables are unforgivable or they aren't. The Potterverse is not the most consistent secondary world I've ever come across.)

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

The trio aren't as bad as Voldemort, no, but I'd argue that they are worse than some of the minor villains, such as Draco Malfoy or Pansy Parkinson.

That about sums it up.

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

For instance, Voldemort is the only important character who has an even more messed up relationship with his parents than Hermione has with hers.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say their flaws make them worse than any of the villains I can think of--but I do sometimes think they're flaws are worse because they're being presented as good. Though of course people do argue that a lot of the villains are good too. I don't think that's a good idea. I think the villains are usually if not always far worse. But that can sometimes be a distraction when it shouldn't be imo.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Um - yeah. I don't have a problem with flawed heroes; I have a problem with flawed heroes who never feel bad about what they do, apologize, try to rectify anything, etc.

That, in one sentence, is why I love Snape more than almost anyone else in these books. He did all of the above, however imperfectly.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, I think the kind of flaws Harry and Hermione display and the fact that they are never seriously criticized by anyone they respect but instead are praised or rewarded for that behavior makes them people with the potential of becoming despots of one kind or another. They will be cult-leaders without even realizing that's what they are becoming (because the wizarding world is a cult, and it will become the cult of Harry Potter soon enough). They are the pigs in Animal Farm.