From: Beth Wright <bethlibrarian>
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 09:12:21 -0800 (PST)

Ginny asked about which moments we remembered as funniest, and which as most profound, from the Harry Potter books. The Howler episode in Chamber of Secrets (p. 69 in the British edition) is one of the funniest scenes I have ever read in a children's book.
 The concept of a yelling missive, full of your mother's voice and determined to embarrass you in front of your classmates, is very funny in a squirming-in-your-chair kind of way. Details like the red paper of the envelope, the smoke seeping out, and Mrs. Weasley's message appearing as one unbroken shouted sentence (in all capital letters) heighten the effect. But the cleverest, most subtle bit of the scene comes back to Rowling's skill as a writer. Instead of relating the Howler's entire tirade in one paragraph, Rowling breaks it up with snapshots, from Harry's point of view, of the Hogwarts students reacting to the noise. When she then interjects the Howler's next words, she indicates with an ellipsis that some parts of the message have been left out
-tuned out by Harry the way kids can tune out even their parents' most aggrieved lectures. This oh-so-real detail makes the magical situation even more humorous.

I agree with Ginny that the most profound moments of the series to date relate to "life, love, and death," particularly moments involving Harry's parents. The scene that has moved me the most happens at the end of
_Prisoner of Azkaban_, when Harry creates a Patronus to protect himself and his friends from the Dementors
(p. 30001 in British edition). As a reader I realized a second before Harry that the Patronus took the shape of a stag because that was how his father appeared as an Animagus, and I was wishing desperately along with Harry that his father was really there. And along with Harry I felt the great loss of being reminded, once again, that the dead we have loved are gone.

"'Prongs,' he whispered. But as his trembling fingertips stretched towards the creature, it vanished."

Once Harry has felt this shattering reminder, he is ready to hear Dumbledore's questions,

"'You think that the dead we have loved ever truly leave us??Your father is alive in you?How else could you produce that particular Patronus?'" (p. 312 in British edition)

Harry is ready to realize that the magic of memory and love is far greater than the magic of charms and spells. Sako Ikegami pointed out the distinction between these two types of magic in a post to this list on November 10, and I see it running more clearly through this third installment of the series than in either of the two previous books. I would bet that subsequent episodes of the series, and most of all its ending, will require more of this profound kind of magic (and less of the Hogwarts kind) from Harry. The signs are all there.

Beth Wright Dorothy Alling Memorial Library Williston, Vermont




====P.S. I can't check this account regularly -- if you need to reach me it's best to call. Thanks.
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Received on Sun 28 Nov 1999 11:12:21 AM CST