{"id":89,"date":"2010-12-20T15:25:36","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T23:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=89"},"modified":"2010-12-21T13:17:16","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T21:17:16","slug":"mark-re-reads-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-chapter-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2010\/12\/mark-re-reads-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-chapter-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Re-Reads \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHarry Potter and the Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122: Chapter 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone<\/em>, Harry visits Diagon Alley for the first time and we all fall in love with Rowling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world again. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to re-read Harry Potter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This truly is some magical shit. Do you get the pun do you get it<\/strong>.<\/em> It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really hard not to have a huge smile plastered on your face while reading this chapter. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first real introduction to the magical world AND it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s littered with so much foreshadowing and character introduction by Rowling that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like a gift that simply keeps on giving. Forever.<\/p>\n

He sat up and Hgrid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.<\/p>\n
Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I definitely didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pick up on this the first time around, but this moment signifies something huge for Harry: It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first time he feels hope. Hope that he will be able to escape the world the Dursleys have given him and hope that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more to life than what he knows. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reminded of the day I woke up and realized I was moving away to college, away from all the people in my hometown who I hated and away from a city so far from where I wanted to be. It opens up a world before you and, as I said before, is a truly magical sensation.<\/p>\n
Ok, no more magical puns, I swear.<\/p>\n
Hagrid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coat seemed to be made of nothing but<\/em> pockets\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Hahahaha oh man, I love Hagrid. Also I wish I could carry tea with me at all times.<\/p>\n
If you quizzed me, I would absolutely fail at attempting to explain Wizarding money. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still rather proud of that image I used in my original \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Diagon Alley\u00e2\u20ac\u009d review of Diddy being perplexed by a one dollar bill because even in this chapter, as Knuts are introduced and later explained, I have the exact look on my face. Like, stick with the metric system, wizards. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to rebel like the United States did and create a system NO ONE ELSE USES that makes LITTLE TO NO SENSE IN MOST CONTEXTS.<\/p>\n
This chapter also serves the purpose of us living through Harry and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I ever commented on how neat it was that Rowling tackled so many different mystical creatures and tropes from the fantasy world. Goblins and witches and werewolves and vampires and basilisks and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6well, you get the picture. Obviously, she invented some of her own (OMG DEMENTORS), but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neat how she managed to stick so many of them into the series.<\/p>\n
I also didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice that Hagrid steals the Dursleys\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 boat and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ever explained how they get off that island. OH WELL, THEY DESERVE.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But what does a Ministry of Magic do<\/em>?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still witches an\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 wizards up an\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 down the country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why?<\/em> Blimey, Harry, everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be wantin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re best left alone.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Kind of an interesting reason. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so brief and I completely ignored it the first time around. Makes me wonder: Do wizards think they shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t intervene at all if there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t something to do that could save a Muggle? I wonder how far their tenets stretch in terms of how much magic is allowed in specific situations. I guess it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really matter, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of those things where I just want to know more<\/em> about the world of Harry Potter.<\/p>\n
Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there\u00c2\u00a0 in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and trains too slow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh, Hagrid. You are so very special never change<\/strong><\/em>. Also, I would have had a very public breakdown had he died in Deathly Hallows<\/em> because I love Hagrid forever.<\/p>\n
It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pointed it out, Harry wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So how does this work? Do wizards put an enchantment on the place so that only other wizards can see it? How does this work for Harry since he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never willingly done magic before? PLZ ANSWER BECAUSE YOU CAN<\/em>.<\/p>\n
The scene where the entirety of the Leaky Cauldron has a heart attack is still pretty awesome, only now I know OMG QUIRRELL WATCH OUT HARRY<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Harry grinned at Harry.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Told yeh, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t i? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ter meet yeh\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmind you, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s usually tremblin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That is probably not why he was trembling, Hagrid. JUST AN FYI.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is he always that nervous?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 trouble with a hag\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnever been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnow, where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s me umbrella?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What you mean to say is that he TOTALLY FOUND VOLDY OUT IN THE ALBANIAN FOREST. Oh shit guys<\/em>.<\/p>\n
I still maintain that the first moments we step into Diagon Alley are among the finest moments in the entire series. Rowling loves detail, but not in a manner that weighs down passages for inordinate amounts of time. She tells us enough to give us a picture in our mind, but has no problem moving on when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready.<\/p>\n
A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium\u00e2\u20ac\u201dTawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harry heard one of them say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the new Nimbus Two Thousand\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfastest ever\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleends and eels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What works so well here is the way Rowling drifts from object to object, person to person. It overwhelms us, just like it overwhelms Harry, and we too wish we had about eight more eyes.<\/p>\n
They head to Gringotts, where Rowling sets out to drop many details that would become important throughout this book and the rest of the series. Hagrid picks up the Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone in vault seven hundred and thirteen, we meet Griphook for the first time, and she makes a point to note the complexity of Gringotts, which is going to be a conflict in Deathly Hallows<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthey plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from ceiling to floor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Is it silly of me to think this might<\/em> be the dragon they deal with when they rob the Lestrange vault? I can dream, right?<\/em><\/p>\n
Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153All yours,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d smiled Hagrid.<\/p>\n
All Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit was incredible. The Dursleys couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have known about this or they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have had it from him faster than blinking. How often they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an interesting thought: when Harry lives with the Dursleys, he is poor, but when he is at Hogwarts, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think of a book that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ever dealt with that separation before. Harry clashes with Ron because Ron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a lot of money, but his suffering with the Dursleys is very, very real.<\/p>\n
Just something to think about.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stand back,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be sucked through the door and trapped in there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Griphook.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How often do you check to see if anyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inside?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harry asked.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153About once every ten years,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I LOVE THE GOBLINS. Oh, why couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we have more time inside Gringotts? It such an awesome place. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d love to know what other measures they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken to protect the vaults. (Well, we all know the TOTALLY FUCKED UP way that the Lestrange vault is protected.)<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about Draco Malfoy, shall we?<\/p>\n
Harry runs into him inside Madam Malkin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shop. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not ever told his name and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more interesting the parallel here to when Harry first meets Hermione. On first impression, Hermione and Draco both act like know-it-alls. But the key difference is that Hermione generally comes from a good place and has good intentions too.<\/p>\n
Oh, and Draco is a bigoted dumbface. That too.<\/p>\n
I think I still believe that Draco is a product of his environment, of being white and well-off and born into a pureblood family. It (sadly) makes sense why he turned out the way he did. Still, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that after all that happens to him, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all that redeemed in the end. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more a decision to be inactive on the part of his family (save Narcissa, who probably does more to attempt to redeem her family than anyone else.)<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153School houses. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 duffers, but\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I bet I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in Hufflepuff,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Harry gloomily.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Better Hufflepuff than Slythering,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Hagrid darkly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right, the only thing worse than Hufflepuff is the house full of evil bigots<\/em>. I laughed so hard at this. Even Hagrid is a Hufflepuff-hater.<\/p>\n
After Harry gets Hedwig (!!!!!!! OH GOD ALREADY SAD), they head to Ollivanders, where Rowling sows the seeds for the complicated wandlore plot in Deathly Hallows<\/em> and Goblet of Fire<\/em>. (Well, not so complicated in GoF, but you get the point.)<\/p>\n
The wand chooses the wizard, says Ollivander, so I wonder why he says this:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry to say I sold the wand that did it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said softly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6well, if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d known what that wand was going out into the world to do\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Would you have not sold it? THE WAND CHOOSES THE WIZARD, DUDE. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m kidding, but still. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing Ollivander could have done.<\/p>\n
Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wand fitting proves to be ironic, of course, because the wand that chooses him contains a phoenix feather from a bird that produced only one other feather, which went to Voldemort\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wand. We now know about the Prophecy we hear in Order of the Phoenix<\/em>, so does this mean that this is just further evidence that the Prophecy is true? What kind of wand does Neville have? Or by choosing Harry all those nights ago, did he affect what wand Harry would end up with?<\/p>\n
Just a thought.<\/p>\n
When Harry bids goodbye to Hagrid at the end of the chapter, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much sadder than usual. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, I think it might be because I know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heading back to be with those miserable people when he could be at the Burrow and enjoying himself. HATE.<\/p>\n
Onwards we go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the fifth chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stone, Harry visits Diagon Alley for the first time and we all fall in love with Rowling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world again. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to re-read Harry Potter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,8,7],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harry-potter","tag-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone","tag-jk-rowling","tag-mark-reads-harry-potter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}