Philosopher's Stone Chapter Eleven

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

PS Chapter Eleven – Quidditch

 

*Magnificent title.  In this chapter JKR tries and fails to emulate school sports as they are depicted in the British Boarding School genre.

 

*I wonder if Hagrid ate the animals whose skins he wears?

 

*Gryffindor is all set to move up to second place in the House Championship.  Just don’t ask how, JKR’s maths wouldn’t stand it.

 

*Harry is officially the secret weapon, but that should read “the only player of any significance.”

 

*Well where were those useless mattress carriers?  I ask you.  We never saw them during the game did we?

 

*Hermione is Harry’s friend as long as she does his homework for him...!  Poor girl.  Does she actually believe that Harry counts as a friend or has she realised that he is the centre of the Potterverse and is latching onto him for that reason?

 

*The A5 Quidditch Through the Ages is about Harry’s reading level, I know, I read it too.  Deathly Hallows contradicts everything it says about flying with magic.

 

*Seekers get the worst injuries, because they are the only players that the beaters need to bother about. 

 

*No no, Hermione was a stickler for other people obeying the rules, she was always relaxed about breaking them herself!

 

*Hermione lent Harry a library book because he was too lazy to take it out himself?

 

*That’s the spirit Ron!  I always liked his witty aspersions, delivered in the true Gryffindor character.

 

*Yeah why should Hermione let the boys copy her work?  She should just keep doing it for them to save them the trouble.

 

*Harry sees a horrible sight – Snape and Filch are alone and Snape has his robes pulled up.  I wouldn’t want to see Filch in that position either. 

 

*Yeah clear off Potter, this isn’t a peep show.  Snape must think he is as voyeuristic as James was about seeing Snape without his pants.

 

*So for a teacher to deduct points, the pupil has to hear them say it?

 

*Harry’s mind can only hold the one question; “what is the dog guarding.”  Without that question, his mind would be completely empty.

 

*Is Seamus trying to rub it in, or is this a compliment delivered in the Gryffindor fashion?

 

*Harry can remember who Dean is because of the association of his supporting West Ham.  Random historical fact – Rasputin’s memory was so bad that he could only remember his friends by making nicknames for them.  Should Harry have tried this more often?  Dean is “the West Ham Fan.”

 

*The banner says “Potter for President”?!  President of what?

 

*Wood’s speech is taken from a muggle context – but he is not muggleborn, since he didn’t know about Basketball.  I suppose he must have heard it from a muggleborn and thought it sounded cool. 

 

*Flint may have troll blood in him, that would explain his shortcomings – his ancestry is impure.  Are we sure JKR does not have a nationalist or neo-nazi type of mindset?

 

*”What an excellent Chaser Angelina is – and rather attractive to...” That Lee Jordan, he fails to keep the commentary impersonal as badly as Zach Smith failed at doing so.  Oh well.  IOIAGDI!

 

*Why bother commenting on the Chasers?  Their work is completely superfluous.  It’s the Seekers who matter, with their catching of the shiny object. 

 

*In this chapter the narrator jumps around a lot.  Normally it follows Harry, but now it suddenly distances itself from Harry and settles on Ron and Hermione amidst the spectators.  Oh no, Hagrid is here...

 

*Wood had a talent for stating the obvious.  All Harry needed to know was “catch the small object that moves suddenly.”  Even a cat could comprehend Harry’s role in the game.  Which sadly, is the only role that matters.

 

*The Twins had a taste for the tacky even here.  Harry sees them flashing their wristwatches ostentatiously.

 

*Does Higgs have as expensive a broom as Harry has?

 

*Flint blocks Harry from winning the game!  Really Flint, that would only be Okay If A Gryffindor Had Done It.

 

*Dean would rather be watching a football match.  Boring as they are, at least the rules are logical!

 

*Hagrid suddenly considers Quidditch too brutal now that Harry’s playing it...?  But surely he always knew that the beaters hit solid iron balls at all the other players?  Perhaps he believes the rules should only be changed so that no one should attempt to knock Harry out of the air.

 

*But then no one, not even Lee Jordan, makes aspersions about the bludger nearly hitting Harry on the head.

 

*Interfering with a broomstick is powerful Dark Magic.  No, the definition of Dark Magic will not become any clearer as the series progresses.

 

*Hermione changed her view on Snape very quickly.  I suppose she must have taken Ron’s word earlier in the chapter, that he wouldn’t put anything past Snape.  In the film we get to see Quirrell acting very nearly as suspiciously as Snape was (he was gazing at Harry and being unnaturally still). 

 

*The referee is useless.  Oh well, Flint is a cheat.  Scoring in a surreptitious manner should only be Okay If A Gryffindor Does It.  I have no doubt that everyone agrees.

 

*Hermione knocks Quirrell over by accident...! Lame.  In the film it is Snape who knocks Quirrell by giving a start when he realises he is on fire.  That looks better, although it leaves the question of why he didn’t just punch or knock Quirrell to stop him casting his hex.

 

*Really Neville isn’t acting like a Gryffindor here.  He should relish the sight of danger!  No wonder Malfoy taunted him about not being in the right house.

 

*Well since Harry was not unconscious, he won the game.  This is actually better than JKR’s original idea of Hedwig catching the Snitch for him...!  Oh for the days when the editors still did their job ;)

 

*The narrator rejoins Harry and does not leave him again during this book.

 

*Did Hagrid win Fluffy in a game of cards?

 

*Egodore giving Hagrid important information was just a way of ensuring that it would be leaked to the trio.  He would not even have needed to tell Hagrid to leak it to them, Hagrid’s incompetence is his only reliable quality.

 

 

Comments

[snapes-witch.livejournal.com]

Was Snape aware it was Quirrel casting the curse? I'm not sure where in the timeline Dumbledore's request for him to watch Quirrel comes.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Allow me to express the hope that maybe, on occasion (though not too often of course, as he is a Slytherin and Did Bad Things and Mustn't Look Too Good next to Twinkles the All-Powerful and All-Knowing), Snape might have been able to figure out a thing or two himself?

(Sorry. Dumbledore telling Snape to watch Quirrel was the last straw for me. Just when I thought his character and role couldn't be diminished any further, even his brains had to go. Ugh.)

[snapes-witch.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Sigure, for pointing out to me that Snape was intelligent. Gee.

[tevye-cat.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. Even though I would have hated it (because in my mind it would have destroyed all story structure), I would rather Snape had been evil than what we got in DH. At least then maybe he still would have been able to think for himself

[oryx_leucoryx]

Regardless of when Albus told Severus what, Severus already realized that Quirrell was after the Stone by Halloween, which was about a week before this chapter. Whether he expected Quirrell to also be after Harry is of course another question.

[cured4life.livejournal.com]

Regardless of when Albus told Severus what, Severus already realized that Quirrell was after the Stone by Halloween, which was about a week before this chapter. Whether he expected Quirrell to also be after Harry is of course another question.
I didn't like that addition in DH. I still believe Snape knew on his own regardless of JKR retrograding her failed hero.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

*Interfering with a broomstick is powerful Dark Magic. No, the definition of Dark Magic will not become any clearer as the series progresses.

It's a bit like "terrorism" in that sense - basically violence, but only when the "bad guys" do it.

[oryx_leucoryx]

I was browsing the Discworld section on wikiquote. The relevant one here is from Equal Rites:

"Hmm. Granpone the White. He's going to be Granpone the Grey if he doesn't take better care of his laundry. Aye tell you, girl, a white magician is just a black magician with a good housekeeper."

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Takes it with a wobbly lip that her Master chews her out or blames her for his own failings./

And yet frequently berates and harasses the boy that she’s supposed to be in love with to the extent of sending dangerous birds to attack him when he dares to go out with a girl who isn’t her. Yet there are people who believe that *Ron* is abusive or would be abusive to Hermione and that Harry/Hermione is the pairing where Hermione would be with her true equal?

Your comparisons are interesting, though, considering how I’ve seen people call Ginny Weasley “Harry’s personal Bellatrix.”

/She is, in short, the Potterverse Ideal Woman (no disgusting leaky eyes or wet kisses from her, but pure devotion to Harry)./

She may never give Harry ‘wet kisses,’ but Hermione does cry a lot (and for some reason, we’re not supposed to view *her* as a crybaby, unlike Cho). I think that in certain passages (can’t remember which ones), her eyes are indeed described as “leaking,” which, to be fair, repulses Harry as much as Cho’s crying does.

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

It was in Deathly Hallows soon after Harry's wand was broken.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Hermione is the Gryffindor Bellatrix LeStrange. She latched onto her 'Master' ("I'm just chopped liver, but You're a Great Wizard, Harry!") does everything he wants, including breaking rules, breaking the law, disfiguring a schoolchild, lead a woman to her rapists, lie, steal and cheat, all the while singing his praises. Takes it with a wobbly lip that her Master chews her out or blames her for his own failings. Abandons all she cares for or believes in (including family) to be with him and even though he doesn't appreciate her nor her devotion to him, marries one of her fellow sycophants but makes no secret of the fact that her Master is more important to her than her lover/(future) husband and/or her family. Oh, and she is a psychopath.

This is brilliant. I hadn't thought about it, but you're absolutely right.

Typical Rowling's Informed Attributes. Rowling will tell you something about a character and will then consistenly SHOW the complete opposite, and yet you can't object to that character's misbehaviour because you were TOLD how this is simply not true. Argh!

But that's typical of narcissists and their acolytes. They tell you how wonderful they are, so they are wonderful, regardless of their actual behavior, let alone how they treat others. Because others don't matter. If someone is being abused by a narcissist and/or their lackeys, they must deserve it, or the narcissist and lackeys wouldn't be abusing them. If someone opposes a narcissist and lackeys for any reason, that's also proof they're horrible people: Since the narcissist has already been defined as Ultimate Good, anyone who opposes hir must therefore be Ultimate Evil. Only if the the opponent turns out to actually be on the narcissist's side can s/he be considered good, but only because s/he has been redeemed by hir proximity to/submission to/acknowledgment of the narcissist's goodness. There. Doesn't that all make perfect sense?

*Hermione lent Harry a library book because he was too lazy to take it out himself?

Harry is just training for the day he has a personal House Elf to make him sandwiches and bring him library books.

LOL!

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Well said. It's kind of funny how I used to take Rowling at her word that Hermione was clever, compassionate and such a stickler for rules, even when that wasn't really what the text told me. The discrepancy didn't even enter my mind until years afterwards. I wonder if this is how a lot of people are still rabid fans of this series- if they don't question the narrative, it's easy to see things the way JKR wants them to. I occasionally wonder if this has ruined my ability to enjoy things now though- I'm told that I overanalyze things and ought to just sit back and enjoy. Do any of you guys get this too?

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Snape has to tread a fine line; he can't expose himself to a possible Voldemort agent as being the protector of the BWL and yet he has to protect the BWL. Who hates him and sneers at him and cheeks him and disobeys him and.../

I think that one of the most frustrating things about Snape and Harry’s relationship is that Harry never really learns anything by the end of PS/SS, to the extent that he treats Snape exactly as he did before. True, we can chalk it up to Dumbledore manipulating Harry’s feelings with his lies about Snape’s reason for saving Harry (honestly, did JKR not look back and realize that the revelation of Snape’s motivation in DH made everything that Dumbledore said in PS/SS a blatant lie?). But even if Harry believes that Snape was only trying to protect him because of the life debt (which is also proven worthless in DH), that doesn’t change the fact that Snape was trying to *save his life* and that just because Snape was an unpleasant person didn’t mean that he was the bad guy.

Yet whenever something ominous pops up again in later books, Harry’s mind always goes back to Snape. Even before Harry learns that Snape was once a Death Eater, he always thinks the worst of him. There’s not even a scene where Harry grudgingly thanks Snape for trying to save him in PS/SS and the two briefly clear up some misconceptions before mutually agreeing to keep disliking each other, to comic effect. And with the constant presence of Voldemort and Death Eaters and the corrupt Ministry and every other threat that’s much more urgent than a harsh teacher giving him detentions and making snide remarks, Harry’s stubborn, persistent urge to viscerally hate Snape and blame him for everything just makes him look really childish.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Snape has to tread a fine line; he can't expose himself to a possible Voldemort agent as being the protector of the BWL and yet he has to protect the BWL. Who hates him and sneers at him and cheeks him and disobeys him and... Poor man!

But QuirrellMort knew Severus was the one countering his curse, as he will reveal in the last chapter of this book. Severus only got away with his actions in this book because he managed to convince the returning Tom that he thought he was only acting against the unworthy Quirrell rather than his master.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

JKR didn't know at this stage that the WW had a Minister of Magic, not a President of Magic. I have to agree, Minister of Magic sounds better. Alliteration trumps all!

But Hagrid mentions the minister earlier on.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Let's see... Harry is a great wizard because his parents were great wizards, the Malfoys are evil because they have 'evil blood'...
It's okay to look down on filthy little squibs, and you ought to feel sorry for squibs because they want nothing else in life but to have magic, like You, but really, who could feel sorry for such mean, filthy jellus types?!
It's okay to look down on filthy Muggles, and you ought to feel sorry for people who are too unfortunate to be born with Magic, but really, who could feel sorry for such mean, small-minded JELLUS group of idiots?
The baddies are clannish, will only marry within their own group, they have too much (ill-gained) money, will leave you in the lurch during a war and will wheedle and deal with the Enemy to save their own skins (back-stabbers, the lot!).
They are Cunning and far too smart and intellectual (not like Us, the redblooded, redcheeked, cleanlimbed, heroic ones!) but they are also backward, with filthy backwards habits and habitats...
They are rich and think they are better than Us AND they are poor parasites who Lust After Our Pure White Wimmen! They have oily hair, hooked noses and lurk in dark, damp alleys. They hold strange rituals in which they sacrifice Christian children... They denounced Harry Potter and rejected His Salvation!!

But remember! It's the Slytherins who are Bad because they are Racist!

I think that you just summed up my reasons for no longer being a fan of these books. They are seriously creepy in a way that most fans apparently don't recognize.

Also, good catch on all the anti-Semetic undertones. And I thought it just applied to the goblins. ;-)

[sigune.livejournal.com]

The banner says “Potter for President”?! President of what?

President of the UK? Since nothing remotely useful is taught at Hogwarts, and Gryffindor is the most anti-intellectual of all the Houses, I wouldn't be surprised if the Gryffindors don't know they live in a monarchy.

[oryx_leucoryx]

But Dean attended a Muggle school until recently. Surely he would know?

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's hoping to get Harry to relocate to the US or something.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Note that until the climax of this book, this scene is the only known attempt Quirrell makes on Harry's life. The entire school year. And he does it in front of the entire school. Can't bother catching Harry in some corridor?

Unless, of course, the main intent was something other than killing Harry. (Not that Quirrellmort would have objected to Harry's death.) Terri proposed he was trying to smoke out Albus' assigned protector. Or perhaps - shortly after realizing Severus was attempting to block his way to the Stone, Tom wanted to know if Severus would protect Harry as well. It was some kind of test/trap for Severus.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I can't remember who, but I'm pretty sure that somebody had the theory that both the troll incident and this attack on Harry were cries of help from Quirrell. In a sane universe, those incidents would have been investigated, Quirrell would have been questioned as a suspect, and Voldemort would have been discovered to be riding around on the back of his head.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"*Yeah clear off Potter, this isn’t a peep show."

A clear sign that this isn't fanfic we're talking about...

"Flint may have troll blood in him, that would explain his shortcomings – his ancestry is impure. Are we sure JKR does not have a nationalist or neo-nazi type of mindset?"

Of course, suggesting that Hagrid's ancestry may be partly due to his ancestry is a big no-no, even though giants seem similarly sub-human.

This inconsistency could actually have been quite reaslistic, had JKR recognised it. You do find people who are prejudiced against one racial group but not another, or who get all worked up about racial group X but still have friends from that group. As it is, though, this just looks really un-self-reflective of JKR.

"*”What an excellent Chaser Angelina is – and rather attractive to...” That Lee Jordan, he fails to keep the commentary impersonal as badly as Zach Smith failed at doing so."

I wonder if any of the female players have ever complained about this. If they have, it doesn't seem to have made much difference.

"Does Higgs have as expensive a broom as Harry has?"

Who cares? He's a Slytherin. Slytherins need to be kept in their place, below the Gryffindors. (That's why McGonagall buying Harry a broom in PS is fine, but Mr. Malfoy buying the Slytherins brooms in COS is evil and unfair. The first is simply a reinforcement of the natural hierarchy; the second, an attempt to overturn it.)

"That looks better, although it leaves the question of why he didn’t just punch or knock Quirrell to stop him casting his hex."

Maybe he was worried about breaking his cover as a double agent, and felt confident about his ability to protect Harry using less obvious means.

"No wonder Malfoy taunted him about not being in the right house."

Given what we see of the true Gryffindors, I think most right-thinking people would see this as a compliment.

"The narrator rejoins Harry and does not leave him again during this book."

Beats me why it does that. Who'd want to hang around with Harry for seven books?