Location: Beginning of Book 4
Pages read: 1085, 3015 to go. (need to read ~231 pages a day)
I read about 350 pages yesterday!! O_o I love this book; it was my favorite until book 6 came out. Big blog entry today.
General observations on this book:
- What is up with Halloween night at Hogwarts?? Book one – troll gets in. Book two – Chamber of Secrets message on the wall. Book 3 – Fat Lady’s painting slashed, they have to spend the night in the Great Hall. And Harry’s parents died on Halloween.
- The reason this book is so great: the day on which everything happens and they go back in time starts on page 318 and ends on page 421, and it’s really exciting the WHOLE TIME. It’s almost a fourth of the book.
- 3 key differences between this one and the first two that make it MUCH more interesting. 1st: not all is well between the trio – we see some fighting. 2nd: at the end, what happened on the climactic last day remains a secret, while in the first 2, the whole school ends up knowing about the things that happen. 3rd: Harry leaves the school in bad spirits for the first time ever. It didn’t turn out perfectly -- Peter got away and Sirius is still being chased. Those cliffhangers, combined with Trelawney’s prediction about the Dark Lord returning, gives this one has more forward momentum when it ends – it feels more like part of a series.
- FAVORITE LINE: Trelawney, starting them on crystal balls: “‘We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes’ – Ron began to snigger uncontrollably and had to stuff his fist in his mouth to stifle the noise – ” I could NOT stop laughing at this. xD
- We hear that Dumbledore isn’t particular fond of dementors, more than most people. Now we know why – he probably hears his sister’s death. Also, at Christmas, out of one of the crackers comes a “pointed witch’s hat topped with a stuffed vulture,” and Dumbles “swapped it for his wizard’s hat at once.” Those Christmas hats, giving Dumbledore away… ;)
- Dumbledore and Harry’s relationship is growing. He felt nervous around him in the last book, but now, when Harry considers telling Dumbledore about thinking he had seen his dad: “Dumbledore wouldn’t laugh – he could tell Dumbledore…” I’m going to pay particular attention to it in the 4th one, because by the 5th one, they’re so close that it really hurts Harry to be ignored by him.
- Trio dynamic is changing!! Ron and Hermione have their first fight in this one (multiple fights, in fact)! Until now, all has been well between the trio. Also...Ron and Hermione are such good friends to Harry, but he kind of ignores it. After he falls off of his broom, they “left Harry’s bedside only at night.” At one point, they stop fighting “in the face of Harry’s difficulties.” Also, the morning after finding out about Sirius supposedly betraying Harry’s parents, and trying to tell him not to go after Black: “Harry could tell they had rehearsed this conversation while he had been asleep.” I really like that. It’s too bad he picked up on it, but it just shows how much they care and are willing to go out of their way to help him. We start to see Harry’s woe-is-me, disregarding attitude toward his friends; he pretty much ignores their advice about Black and is fairly angsty about the whole thing. Ron tries to change the subject by suggesting they go to Hagrid’s, and Harry brings it back to himself and Black by saying they should ask Hagrid about it. A foretaste of the bigger issues in book 5.
- Hermione comes so far in this one. She smacks Malfoy in the face and threatens him with her wand. She also storms out of Divination. She starts to realize that she was trying to do too much, and that she was too up-tight on the rules. Also on Hermione: I feel like there’s an aspect of her that we don’t get to see in the movies – that she’s kind of a worry-wart. Hermione as I see her is often overly cautious, and shows more fear than the others. After Ron gets sucked into the Whomping Willow: “‘Oh, help, help,” Hermione whispered frantically, dancing uncertainly on the spot, ‘please…’” In the shrieking shack, she grips Harry’s arm “so tight he was losing feeling in his fingers.” I feel that Emma’s Hermione is much more confident than the one in the book.
- I also think there’s an aspect to Snape we don’t see in the movies: his intense, almost insane, RAGE. Toward the end, when Harry doesn’t get in trouble and Sirius escapes, he is SO ANGRY. “’THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!’ Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Hermione. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.” Also, if I had to pinpoint a fatal flaw for Snape, it would be that he can’t let go of the past. He’s completely unreasonable Harry because he hated James, he can’t let go of his school grudge toward Sirius and Lupin (when Lupin and Sirius try to reason with him: “But there was a mad glint in Snape’s eyes that Harry had never seen before. He seemed beyond reason.”), he still loves Lily after all those years, and he can’t forgive himself for telling Voldemort about the prophecy. He can’t move forward.
I TRIED LEAVING A COMMENT EARLIER BUT BLOGSPOT IS DUMB AND ALDJFA;LDKJFA;LKDJFA;LKDJF NO.
ReplyDeleteAnyways.
I think what's great about Hermione is that we naturally think, considering her personality, that she belongs in Ravenclaw. But she's in Gryffindor (duh). My point is, is that I think it's really interesting how Rowling created the Sorting Hat. I mean, despite Hermione being clearly frightened (when Gryffindors are supposed to be courageous and such), frazzled and a strict follower of rules and she's still in Gryffindor. I love that the Sorting Hat can see traits and qualities in the characters that the characters didn't even know they had. Hermione, in the future, proves her place in Gryffindor. Also, I like that Rowling's Hermione shows her fear, her behavior that she shows when she's under such great pressure and etc because I think it makes Hermione more relatable as a character. All of us has been under such a huge amount of strain that we begin to crack. I think it's important that Rowling shows us this through Hermione, the message being that even the best fall down. Hermione is coming to the realization that she can't do everything and it's a scary realization for her thus making her more vulnerable and interesting. It's makes the characters more 3D instead of being flat. I mean, Ron in the past has allowed his fear to get the best of him as well. I like that Rowling shows that even Gryffindors are capable of being afraid and cannot be daring or brave all the time. Which brings attention to, of all people, Neville Longbottom. A character who appears to be the perfect representation of Hufflepuff. I mean, his best subject, Herbology, happens to be taught by Sprout--head of Hufflepuff. But it's Neville's later actions that show that he does truly belong in Gryffindor and that the Sorting Hat was capable of seeing it even though Neville (or anyone else) wasn't able to see it.
HA. TWO COMMENTS. FROM THE SAME PERSON. 0.o
ReplyDeleteSEVERUS SNAPE AND SIRIUS BLACK. They are so fascinating to me. And I'm glad you did post about Snape for this book. HERE IS WHY:
Snape and I actually have something in common. We both are terrible when it comes to the act of just letting things go. It's nearly impossible to allow acts of injustice to go unnoticed because it brings into the argument the concept of what is fair and what isn't and the most evil phrase on the planet: Life isn't fair. Snape was bullied beyond what many of us (myself included) could even begin to understand and much of it was because of James and Sirius. It was cruel that James and Sirius were so well liked and popular when they were absolutely TERRIBLE to Snape. Beyond terrible. There is nothing that can erase the humiliation that Snape suffered through. But Snape and Sirius have something that is incredibly important in common: both cannot let the past go. Both are so caught up in it that they cannot move forward.
Which to me, also points out Sirius's fatal flaw. Neither can just let things stay in the past. Sirius cannot let go of a rivalry or his friend James. Sirius cannot let go the glory days of Hogwarts. Severus cannot let go of the Hell he went through. The two have so much in common that I think it's what makes them hate each other so much. And their similarities, for me at least, come out even more as the series progresses. The point is, is that Snape has every right to dislike Sirius and James. But I do think that it is SO wrong to bully James's son about it a decade later. Anyways, I think it's important to show that Sirius's weakness and Snape's are the same. Finally, to reiterate their similarities: they both live in the past, they both cannot move forward, they both cannot forget any injustice and they both have lost so much at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
On Hermione: yes! It makes her seem more real and relatable. But one thing we can see of her bravery, even while she's cautious around dangerous situations, is her willingness to stand up for what she believes in and not worry about what people think of her. I'll say a bit more about this in my next post, as there are plenty of examples in book 4...
ReplyDeleteI forgot about that aspect of Sirius -- it's been so long since I read the 5th one, haha, but you're very right. I've never thought of them being similar, but it's true -- I remember the scene where they confront at Sirius's house, and they can't let go of their grudges.
To add to what I said about Snape... Snape's "fatal flaw," as I called it, ends up being a good thing; you could argue that he grows from his weakness and that it helps him to do good in the end. While he remains an unpleasant, grudge-holding person, he doesn't allow his grudges to bring him to the dark side or turn him completely against Harry; at the same time, his inability to let go (of his love for Lily) is what leads him to do good in the end.