{"id":203,"date":"2011-02-17T17:23:43","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T01:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=203"},"modified":"2011-02-17T17:24:07","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T01:24:07","slug":"mark-re-reads-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-chapter-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/02\/mark-re-reads-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-chapter-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Re-Reads ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’: Chapter 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixth chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone<\/em>, Harry suffers through a month of the Dursleys in order to make his very first journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to re-read Harry Potter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

You know\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6fuck the Dursleys. Holy god, maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just taken me being away from these characters for some time now, but I completely forgot how awful they are to Harry. Hell, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153awful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is not even an appropriate word. Deplorable? Terrifying? Demonic? Whatever word I would choose wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be enough.<\/p>\n

Knowing the ending, knowing that Petunia is motivated by jealousy and that Vernon is just a plain ol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 shitbag, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still hard to read through this a second time. Giving some more thought than I did before, I think that, ultimately, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still a bit unsatisfied with the Dursleys\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 story as a whole. Dudley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part in Deathly Hallows<\/em> is nice, and the backstory on Petunia and Lily is FANTASTIC, but as a whole, I still sort of feel like this family got away with treating Harry so poorly.<\/p>\n

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THEM<\/p>\n

Rowling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prose has never been particularly heavy or flowery, but this first book is much more stark and matter-of-fact that the ones that follow it:<\/p>\n

Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic<\/em>. His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not terribly detailed, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth nothing how she is still able to place many of these images into your head regardless. Her audience was unknown at this point, but surely she expected they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be much younger than they turned out to be. Still, man\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I would have eaten this shit up when I was a kid. Seriously, how the fuck did I not read Harry Potter until I was twenty-six years old?<\/em><\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard not to read about Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey to Hogwarts for the first time without a huge smile on my face. One quick line before we get into this:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry,\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
THAT IS WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLERY THAT DUDLEY IS COMMITTED TO. He is such a little asshole that he has to be convinced to sit next to someone<\/em>. His dedication would almost be endearing if it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so irritating.<\/p>\n
Anyway, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. We first meet the Weasley family, OH GOD THE WEASLEYS! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to avoid simply posting OMG GINNY or OMG THE TWINS or OMG RON because I have to make some sort of attempt at substantive reviewing, but just know that that is pretty much all I want to do.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fred, you next,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the plump woman said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not Fred, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m George,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said the boy. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you tell<\/em> I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m George?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sorry, George, dear.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Only joking, I am Fred,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said the boy, and off he went.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh god, the twins were amazing from their very first line<\/em>. Too bad they are covered in tragedy<\/em>.<\/p>\n
This is also the first moment that Harry meets and interacts with Molly Weasley, who is not in this series nearly enough. Even from that very first moment, Mrs. Weasley steps in as a motherly, authoritative figure for Harry, who has never seen adults as anything but abusive. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if I ever gave Mrs. Weasley the credit she deserves here. We have to remember that Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entire experience with parental figures is what the Dursleys gave him. Despite that her gesture here, to help Harry get through the barrier to the Hogwarts Express, is relatively small, it feels like it means the world to Harry.<\/p>\n
If Diagon Alley represented a wondrous introduction to the world of wizards and witches and magic, I feel like this first train ride is the introduction to the human element of all this. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve talked about the concept in my Mark Watches Doctor Who<\/em> reviews, but when dealing with the fantastical, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fascinated by the ways that authors and writers deal with grounding their stories. Out of everything, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way these people interact, how they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve built their society, that I really enjoy myself. Ok, sure\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the magic is<\/em> pretty awesome. And of course, I wish I got a letter from Dumbledore. WHO DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T.<\/em> But if it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for the characters, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that this world would be all that believable, nor would I have developed any sustainable emotional feelings for it.<\/p>\n
Before Harry meets Ron (which I have MANY FEELINGS ABOUT), Harry gets another dose of celebrity treatment. At the time, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the later context for it, but a lot of the next two books, especially Chamber of Secrets<\/em>, deals with the downside to Harry being so recognizable so early into his life, having to live with the death of his parents and Voldemort\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disappearance as a constant cloud over his head. For now, though, with the exception of Snape and Draco, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more exciting than a burden.<\/p>\n
Rowling establishes so many character archetypes early on, with Ron being the shy child, the youngest brother who lives in the shadows of his goofy twin brothers and the over-achieving Percy. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fun being able to put them into context with the whole story because those character tropes gradually disappear or are made much more complicated as the books go on. And, of course, who expected that Harry would end up with Ginny Weasley when we first met her as the child who was so terribly excited just to meet<\/em> the famous Harry Potter?<\/p>\n
Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first real moments with Ron are certainly a bit awkward, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a neat subtext to why they got along so well so very quickly. Upon reading their first conversation again, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but notice both of their loneliness. As Ron describes the pressure he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s under as the sixth male Weasley to attend Hogwarts, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard not to read a desire to belong in it. (For me, that is.) And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to suggest that everyone who is lonely has a desire to belong to cancel out their loneliness. Even with me, sometimes I dearly wish to belong to certain groups or in specific situations, and sometimes I enjoy being separate. It all depends. I suppose knowing what Ron sees in the Mirror of Erised is what helps me think that Ron relates on a deeper level to seeing Harry sitting alone by himself.<\/p>\n
For Harry, though, their conversation alienates him in a way as well, as Ron discusses simple facts about the wizarding world that Harry has no experience with. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about rats and owls or Voldemort\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name being banned that there are other wizards and witches who come from non-wizarding families as well. Ron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not alone in this either, though, as he experiences a disconnect when it comes to money and class. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ask this again because I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recall another character like this, but is Harry the only character who experiences class privilege while in one place and then is poor\/marginalized when he is somewhere else? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember if we ever figured that one out.)<\/p>\n
How about a non-serious part that I will love until the end of time?<\/p>\n
Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face had disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect him to hang around all day,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Ron.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
HAHAHAHA I LOVE IT.<\/p>\n
Also: FUCKING PETER PETTIGREW IS IN RON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S LAP. Wow, that sounds so much creepier written out BUT IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S THE TRUTH.<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about Hermione. OH, HERMIONE, I LOVE YOU, WHY AREN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T YOU REAL. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great how easy it is to distill her character from the first minute or two of meeting her and even better to watch Rowling grow her into an entirely different person by the series\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 end.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do either of you know what house you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be in? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been asking around, and I hope I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be too bad\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
COULD YOU IMAGINE. OMG if Hermione was in my house then we WOULD HAVE BEEN THE BEST OF FRIENDS YAY FOREVER. Please tell me there some part of the fandom that deeply opposes Hermione being in Gryffindor so I can laugh and feel whole.<\/p>\n
Draco Malfoy. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my wildly unpopular opinion: Dude does not redeem himself anywhere nearly enough by the end of Deathly Hallows<\/em>. As I read about him insulting Ron and his family and heavily insinuating the pureblood shit that populates so much of Chamber of Secrets <\/em>and Half-Blood Prince<\/em>, I remember how truly fucked up Draco is to Harry throughout the series. I am not a fan<\/em> at all. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.seriously!<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be careful if I were you, Potter,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said slowly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a bit politer you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go the same way as your parents. They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and the Hagrid, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll rub off on you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
LITERALLY THE EARTH SHOULD HAVE OPENED UP AND EATEN HIM<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, despite all of this, chapter six ends on such a wonderful high note. Harry gets off the Hogwarts Express and the black lake spreads out before all of the students and we see the Hogwarts castle for the first time. If I say this shit is magical, is that too much of a pun? Who cares. WE ARE AT HOGWARTS!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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