Harry Potter 1: Chapter Two

Here's another chapter analysis of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Why am I writing about Book One? Find out why in this post, and read about Chapter One here.

Even though this post is about Book One, there are spoilers in it for all seven books.

Don't

read

this

unless

you've

finished

reading

Harry

Potter

and

the

Deathly

Hallows.

Chapter Two: The Vanishing Glass

All page numbers refer to the hardcover Scholastic edition.

Connections to later books:

• Parseltounge. The fact that Harry can talk to snakes is first established in this chapter, mentioned again in Book Two and is quite important throughout the series.
• Avada Kedavra. In this chapter the only two things that Harry remembers about his parents’ death are a flash of green light and pain in his scar. In Book 4 we learn that the green light is a telltale sign of the Avada Kedavra curse. And in Book 7 we learn that Harry felt pain in his forehead because he became an accidental Horcrux almost immediately after his parents died (and that’s why he has the scar on his forehead).

Characters and places introduced in this chapter that don't appear again until later books in the series:

• Aunt Marge gives Dudley a birthday present in this chapter and is mentioned as a possible babysitter for Harry, but she doesn’t actually make an appearance until Book 3.
• Mrs. Figg is briefly mentioned but doesn’t have a speaking part until the fifth book.
• Dedalus Diggle gets another minor mention in this chapter (he's also in Chapter 1) as the tiny man in the violet top hat that bows to Harry in a shop. Both Dedalus Diggle and Harry talk about this incident when they meet in The Leaky Cauldron in Chapter 5.
• Madame Marsh. You have to pay careful attention to catch this one. On page 30, Harry mentions that: “a wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus.” Right about now you’re probably wondering who on earth Madam Marsh is. She has a walk-on part only and she is mentioned as a passenger on the Knight Bus every time Harry rides on it. She is always dressed in green. I love this mention of her in the first book, it’s so incredibly subtle.
  

Observations:

• I love the old-fashioned neglected orphan tone of this chapter. It really makes the book feel like a timeless classic. Harry living in the cupboard under the stairs, having to wear clothes too big for him, having broken eyeglasses… all these things are wonderful contrasts with the fact that Harry is incredibly famous.

Favorite quote:

• "Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel—Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig." (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Scholastic hardcover, page 21).
  

Question:

• Who on earth does Harry make the comment to about Dudley looking like a pig in a wig? It doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd say to any of the Dursleys.

Harry Potter 1: Chapter One

Welcome to the Wizards Wireless chapter by chapter discussion of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. See this post for an explanation of why I'm talking about the 1st book when the 7th book has just been published.

Even though this post is about Book One, there are spoilers in it for all seven books.

Don't

read

this

unless

you've

read

Harry

Potter

and

the

Deathly

Hallows.

Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived
(All quotes refer to the Scholastic hardcover edition).

Things that we learn in this chapter:

• Professor McGonagall can transform from a cat to a human. This introduces the concept of animagi, which is very significant in Book 3.
  
• The deluminator, which is important in Book 7 is mentioned here when Dumbledore extinguishes the streetlights in Privet Drive.
• Dumbledore’s nose is described as crooked and broken. In the 7^th book, we learn that Albus’ nose has in fact been broken by his brother Aberforth.
• Dumbledore says that he wouldn’t remove Harry’s scar even if he could, because “scars can come in handy.” (Scholastic hardcover, page 15). Harry’s scar is important in every book and does come in extremely handy.
  
• When Dumbledore leaves Privet Drive, he turns on his heel and vanishes with a swish of his cloak. This is exactly the way apparition is described in later books.

Characters and places introduced that aren’t important until later:

• Dedalus Diggle. Professor McGonagall comments that Diggle is probably responsible for the display of shooting stars that appeared on the Muggle news. Diggle also appears in Book 5 but doesn’t have a real speaking part until Book 7.
• Godric’s Hollow is mentioned as the place where the Potters were living. This is significant because it demonstrates that Rowling had already decided that the village would be named after Godric Gryffindor.
• Sirius Black. This always amazes me. Here we are, on page 14 of the book, and a crucial character is mentioned in passing, although he doesn’t appear again until the 3^rd book. Why is this so interesting? Three reasons:
  

Rowling has already named him Sirius Black, and his name essentially means “Black Dog.” This shows that she has already planned out a very important part of the plot of Book 3... before Book 1 was published.

Sirius’ motorbike is mentioned and doesn’t reappear until the seventh book when it factors into a crucial scene.

We get a glimpse of Sirius right before he’s framed for murder, and it sets the stage (and the time) of his battle in the street with Pettigrew.

Observations:

I think that the first sentences of books are extremely important… and I have always been surprised by the first sentence of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” (Scholastic hardcover, page 1).

It’s a pretty bland descriptive sentence, wouldn’t you say? It doesn’t leap out and grab you (as first sentences should) and it doesn’t become more significant as you learn more about the characters. I've always found this odd.

Another observation:

Speaking of the opening of the book, I’ve recently noticed an enormous amount of repetition in the first few pages. The word Dursley appears over and over a surprising number of times. Obviously Mr. and Mrs. Dursley are being introduced and it’s important to give background information on them… but their last name is mentioned 14 times in the first four paragraphs. It feels a bit excessive. The word Dursley also is among the first words of nearly every sentence in the first part of the chapter. Take a look at the opening sentences of the first four paragraphs and you’ll see what I mean:

• Paragraph One: “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive…”
• Paragraph Two: “Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings…”
• Paragraph Three: “The Dursleys had everything they wanted…”
• Paragraph Four: “When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday…”

Maybe this is over analysis because I frequently listen to the audio book (where it is quite noticeable) but I wonder if this is a stylistic choice or accidental.

Question:

• Dumbledore mentions that he must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on his way to Privet Drive. Then how did he get there? If he had apparated, he wouldn’t have been able to see anything other than his departure and destination points.

Things that are never explained (that I wish were):

• How did Dumbledore acquire a scar above his left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground?

Favorite quote:

• Professor McGonagall: “There will be books written about Harry- every child in our world will know his name!” (Scholastic hardcover, page 13).

I love this quote because J.K. Rowling, a fledgling author who was thrilled just to get her first book published, could never have known how prophetic this statement would be.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

If you're a regular reader of Wizards Wireless, you're probably aware that I've been posting about each chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. That series is still is progress (I'm still working on it and there is more to come) but I'm also starting another project.

There have been numerous polls conducted about which books in the Harry Potter series are readers' favorites. The Prisoner of Azkaban typically wins, usually closely followed by Goblet of Fire, Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. Few people seem to care for Chamber of Secrets or Order of the Phoenix. And Sorcerer's Stone... well, I've never heard anyone describe it as their favorite.

But I think Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is brilliant. Why? Because it lays out the whole series and sets the stage for everything that follows. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but there are a few important things to keep in mind when thinking about Book One.

• When Joanne Rowling started writing about Harry Potter in 1990, she was an unpublished writer. She had no agent, no publisher and no track record. There was absolutely no guarantee that anything she wrote would ever make it into print.
• It took six years from when she started writing in 1990 until the first book was accepted for publication in 1996. Since Book One contains clues for all the books in the series, this means that Rowling outlined all seven books before the first was even published.

It's very impressive (not to mention extremely gutsy) that Rowling put so much time and energy into fully fleshing out a series that might never have seen the light of day or garnered enough reaction to warrant all seven books being published.

I think Rowling's solid construction of Sorcerer's Stone is what makes the series so successful. It also forced her to think about future plot lines in advance. The structure of the book is wonderful because the author knows where she's going from the very first page. The rest of the series relies heavily on the foundation she built in the very beginning.

Now that Deathly Hallows has been published, readers can finally look at the series as a whole and examine the clues Rowling spread through the previous books. Nowhere are these clues more apparent or important than Book One. So, I've decided to post about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone chapter by chapter in order to point out characters and plot development that Rowling placed in the very first Harry Potter book.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the first Harry Potter book I read and fell in love with.
(Spoiler ahead if you haven't read Book One.)



I'll never forget the moment when I found out that Quirrell was the one chasing the Sorcerer's Stone. Rowing had baited me so well... I was completely convinced that it was Snape, and then she pulled the rug out from under me. I couldn't wait to see what other tricks Rowling had in store. It also made me want to reread the book immediately, and I was impressed to find so many hidden clues and wonderful dialogue that could be interpreted several ways.

The other reason that I want to write about Book One is that it's the book I know the best and the one I've analyzed the most. And I think it's fascinating to re-examine it now that we finally know the ending of the saga. Also, of course, it's the shortest book, there are only 17 chapters... far easier than Book 7. =)

Here are the elements that I'm examining in Book One:

• Connections to other books in the series
• Characters and places introduced in the first book that aren’t important until later
• Observations about the chapter in general
• Things that are never explained in the books (that I wish were)
• Questions that I have
  
• Favorite quotes

Although the analysis is about Book One, the posts will contain spoilers for all seven books. Please comment on them... I'm curious to hear what you think about my new series.

Without further ado, here's my analysis of Chapter One.

Note: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was originally published in England as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but since I'll be referring to page numbers from the American edition, I'm also using the American title.

Additional note: My posts aren't chapter summaries. If you're looking for those, the best place to find them is at the Harry Potter Lexicon.