Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Discussion questions for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Looking for discussion questions about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? I just wrote some for a class project and wanted to share. The questions assume that you've read the first book, but you don't have to have read the whole series.

Spoilers
ahead
if
you
haven't
read
the
first
Harry
Potter
book.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Discussion Questions

-On the train to Hogwarts, Draco offers to be friends with Harry. Harry refuses. What do you think would have different if Harry had accepted Draco’s friendship?

-Why do you think Harry was sorted into Gryffindor? Which Gryffindor characteristics do you think Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville possess?

-If Draco Malfoy had been sorted into Gryffindor, do you think he would have eventually become friends with Harry?

-Which house would you like to be in?

-What kinds of food are described in this book? Which ones would you most like to try?

-What classes does Harry take? Which ones would you like to take?

-How do you play Quidditch? What parts of the game do you like? Would you change any aspects of the game?

-How did the Mirror of Erised get its name? What would you see if you looked into the Mirror of Erised?

-Should Harry, Ron and Hermione have snuck out of their dorm to rescue the Sorcerer’s Stone? Why did Neville try to stop them?

-How did Harry get the Sorcerer’s Stone out of the Mirror of Erised? Do you think Dumbledore expected Harry to rescue the Sorcerer’s Stone?

Dumbledore says “There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” What examples are there of this in the book?

-During the final banquet, why does Dumbledore award the last ten points to Neville instead of to Ron, Harry or Hermione?

-When this book was published in England, the original title was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Which one do you like better; the American title or the British title?


Writing these questions was harder than it looks... because my goal was to come up with questions that would only be applicable to Book One. For example, I couldn't use questions such as: "Why does Harry feel pain in his scar?" because the answer to that question keeps changing with every book in the series you read.

If you're looking for more discussion questions about this wonderful book, check out Scholastic's guide and Multnomah County Libray's questions.

For my analysis of specific chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (and clues about the other six book), see these posts. I've also written discussion questions and chapter analysis about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

As this blog demonstrates, I can't seem to stop talking about these books!

Update: There are spoilers in the comments section about the 7th book.

2 comments:

  1. -On the train to Hogwarts, Draco offers to be friends with Harry. Harry refuses. What do you think would have different if Harry had accepted Draco’s friendship?

    Would have dissolved pretty quickly as Draco’s sense of wizard entitlement clashed with Harry’s underdog values.


    -Why do you think Harry was sorted into Gryffindor? Which Gryffindor characteristics do you think Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville possess?

    Well, examine the characteristics that were favored by each of the founders – GG preferred those brave of heart (though not necessarily strong of mind, which would explain Neville and Ron’s academic performance); RR preferred the finest minds, which made Hermione’s placement in Gryffindor a little curious; SS wanted those who craved power above all else – though it seemed another requisite for being in House Slytherin was to be a towering prat. Probably why the Hat shifted Harry over to Gryffindor. One might also note that the requisite is the *desire* for power, not the ability to *be* powerful (see Crabbe and Goyle). I thought there was something about being pureblood, too, but then neither Voldemort nor Snape would have qualified to be in Slytherin. Still find it somewhat dubious that with the exception of Horace Slughorn (and the posthumously redeemed Snape) that it appears NO Slytherin ever has any positive qualities. Would have enjoyed seeing an otherwise pleasant student in that house, who wasn’t constantly sneering at others, attempting to cheat, or get Hagrid fired. Not much to say about Hufflepuff, except to say that she was fine to get the castoffs of everyone else. Frankly, I never saw Ron as being terribly heroic, and would have been perfectly appropriate to have been in Hufflepuff, considering he spent most of the series complaining about/fleeing from spiders, snakes, dark wizards, et al. Then again, there's that whole legacy thing with families staying in the same house, and one isn't (see Sirius), its a remarkable thing. Side note -- what house was Pettigrew in? I can't imagine it would have been Gryffindor, would it?

    -If Draco Malfoy had been sorted into Gryffindor, do you think he would have eventually become friends with Harry?

    Malfoy didn’t possess the strength of heart to be sorted into Gryffindor. Moot question. He was a bigot and a coward.


    -Which house would you like to be in?

    Frankly, probably Hufflepuff. They’re the only house who doesn’t seem to be carrying around some kind of chip on their shoulders.


    -What kinds of food are described in this book? Which ones would you most like to try?

    Was curious throughout about butterbeer. Was it inebriating, or more like root/birch beer? I thought at one point or another in the series, I had reason to believe both. Don’t think I’d be that interested in most of the sweets described.


    -What classes does Harry take? Which ones would you like to take?

    Probably the practical/immediate application ones. Charms, Transformation, definitely. DADA. Those which don’t require components. Potions (aside from being taught by a sneering bully) wouldn’t help that much, unless you had regular access to a wizarding lab. Same to be said about Herbology, unless you had regular access to a magic nursery. Divination from a more “scientific” (magictific?) viewpoint might be interesting, but JKR made the subject so laughable under Trelawny that it holds little appeal. History? Meh. Astronomy? Meh. I can get those at muggle schools. Might be interesting to have learned more about Numerology.


    -How do you play Quidditch? What parts of the game do you like? Would you change any aspects of the game?

    Can’t say I am a fan. Never particularly liked the chapters describing the games, and felt the Cup match in the beginning of GoF should have been cut to make the book more streamlined. Have to admit the only thing that made Quiddich appealing for me was the movies with Sean Biggerstaff’s depiction of Oliver Wood.

    -How did the Mirror of Erised get its name? What would you see if you looked into the Mirror of Erised?

    Get its name? This a trick question, or did I actually catch something before Susan the Great? Erised = desirE … What would I see? What’s my greatest desire? Probably not printable in a blog that’s aimed at children’s lit. ;)


    -Should Harry, Ron and Hermione have snuck out of their dorm to rescue the Sorcerer’s Stone? Why did Neville try to stop them?

    From a literary standpoint, sure. It sets the frame for the next several books. Harry thinks he knows more than his teachers, refuses to communicate, get advice, or use some common sense/caution (hello, Gryffindor?) and goes out to do what he thinks is right. Neville wanted to stop them because he had a handle on sanity.


    -How did Harry get the Sorcerer’s Stone out of the Mirror of Erised? Do you think Dumbledore expected Harry to rescue the Sorcerer’s Stone?

    Wasn’t it designed to go to Harry (or someone like him) by Nicholas Flamel? And yes, it pretty well seems Dumbledore was playing Harry through the whole series like a marionette.

    -Dumbledore says “There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” What examples are there of this in the book/During the final banquet, why does Dumbledore award the last ten points to Neville instead of to Ron, Harry or Hermione?

    Combined these, cause they’re pretty clearly linked. Dumbledore gave Neville the points, cause as an otherwise fairly meek kid, it took a lot of guts to stand up to HH&R when they wanted to go off and do something stupid and dangerous.


    -When this book was published in England, the original title was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Which one do you like better; the American title or the British title?

    Would have been nice to have kept the original English version to get a better taste for british culture and vernacular. Kind of sad that the speculation was that if American kids saw the word “Philosopher” they’d stay away like it was infected with the plague.

    Whew. Anyway. Back to work. Give my best to K&D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jim-
    Wow! You actually answered all my questions! I'm very very very impressed.

    I'll post a couple of quick things here, and then I see that I really need to write another post on this topic. =)

    You're absolutely right, some of the questions (such as how to play Quidditch, how did the Mirror of Erised get its name, etc.) do have straightforward answers. The reason is that the assignment I wrote the questions for assumed that you were leading a book discussion group with 3rd and 4th graders in a public library. I put a couple of questions with easy answers in there to loosen up the kids and let them feel comfortable talking. Actually, there were a lot more of those questions in my original paper, but I cut out most of them for the blog post.

    Hermione was in fact, almost sorted into Ravenclaw (it was mentioned in the 5th book at a DA meeting).

    Pettigrew was in Gryffindor (although it's never stated directly). I'm making the assumption because Pettigrew tagged around with the other three Marauders and planned excursions with them, something that would have been very difficult if he wasn't in the same house as them.
    I think the Sorting Hat sorts on potential. Pettigrew had the potential to be a better and braver person than he turned out to be.

    I asked the question about Draco being sorted into Gryffindor mainly because of Dumbledore's comment in the 7th book about sorting too soon.

    Butterbeer seems to definitely be a non-alcoholic drink because it's what all the kids in the drink order when they're in bars and taverns. Harry has mulled mead at the beginning of the sixth book and says he's never tasted anything like it before.

    Now I have to go think about which house I'd like to be in, what I'd see in the mirror of Erised and what my favorite foods are in the book. Hmmmm. Come to think of it, these also sound like good poll questions.

    ReplyDelete