Week 2 Discussion: Chapters 4-6

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Very sorry for the delay. There was a mix up.

Here we’ll be discussing chapters 4-6 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Feel free to offer any thoughts that you like or to use some of our suggested questions below. If someone else has said something you find interesting, you should definitely respond to them – this is a discussion, after all!

Your response should be at least 50 words long and will earn you 10 beans. You’re welcome to post as many times as you like but you’ll only earn beans for your first 3 posts (we’d also prefer it if you wait for other people to respond before posting again, rather than doing it back to back).

Optional Questions
If you’re not sure what to say, here are some discussion prompts from us to get you started
From Tarma: What was most impressive about Hagrid, when you first read of him. Was it tying the rifle into a knot? Was it telling Vernon Dursley "Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune" or was it that he gave a birthday cake to Harry? Or something else? What would your reaction be if you found out that there really ARE dragons?
From Sky: Do you remember reading the section in Diagon Alley for the first time? Which shop were you most drawn to? Are you drawn to a different one now?
From Tarma: Did you find this as funny as I did - Harry saying "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos." and Ron's astonished reply " Do they? What, they don't move at all? Weird!"
From Sky: A train (even a steam one leaving from a magically concealed platform) isn't a particularly "magical" way to travel. Why do you think it was chosen over a more mystical way of traveling? Would a more magical method have worked as well?

The deadline is 11:59 PM HOL-time on the 31st of May.

[River Fenwick]

I was most impressed with Hagrid's interaction with the Dursleys and Harry. It must have been a shock to learn that Harry knew absolutely nothing about magic or the wizarding world, but he recognized that it was something Harry needed to know and wasn't being told by the Dursleys. The burden of explaining it efficiently while having the others chime in with negative statements and recollections couldn't have been easy and certainly was not supposed to be his responsibility. Still, given the circumstances, he handed it as well as he could.

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

After Harry spent essentially his entire life being mistreated by his own relatives, Hagrid’s appearance in this story is so iconic.

Is that a storm raging? No! It’s HAGRID!
…Okay, and there’s also a storm.

The contrast of Hagrid’s size and rapid disdain for the Dursleys with what a lovable teddy bear he is (having always shown so much tenderness for Harry) is absolutely precious.

This poor boy goes from nobody bothering to treat him with much of any fondness, to suddenly having such a wonderful friend show up in the form of this enormous, grizzly man.

I remember thinking that trying to turn Dudley into a pig (rather than even Vernon, say) was a bit extreme, lol. Partially because that sounded terrifying to me as a kid if I was to suddenly sprout a curly pink tail. But honestly, still legendary and a classic Hagrid reaction to risk wielding that umbrella. He wasn’t about to let the their family walk away without leaving a lasting impression about how disgusted he was with their choices and what he was reactively thinking of them in general at that moment.

Having Hagrid be such a big part of Harry’s introduction to the wizarding world makes my heart so happy.

Chef’s kiss. 10/10.

[Luna Ravenlong]

I love Hagrid as a character, but on reflection I’m not sure he was necessarily the most responsible person to introduce Harry to the magical world. Like prof. Sindor mentioned, giving Dudley a pigs tail probably wasn’t the best idea, especially as there was a chance they could have taken it out on Harry the following summer. And it also wasn’t great that he left Harry alone in Diagon Alley on his first trip there… I do think it’s brilliant how he told Vernon off though, and he was a great friendly presence for Harry.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

The moment outside Madam Malkin's is one of those things where everything could have gone very differently if something had changed slightly. This has been explored in fanfiction very frequently - one that I enjoyed is even called "They Shook Hands" because the point of divergence was specifically Harry Potter shaking hands with Draco Malfoy outside the robe shop!

That said, it would have been *so easy* for Draco or Lucius Malfoy to win over Harry at that point and push him into an anti-Dumbledore (and anti-Muggle) direction: "who do you think left you with those brutish Muggles in the first place?" After all, Harry had been so starved of kindness over the preceding decade (even Arabella Figg was specifically told to be somewhat unpleasant to Harry so that the Dursleys would continue to send him to her place) that he was primed to be very thankful to just about any kindness and respect he received... and had Draco been just slightly more diplomatic to Harry, he could have provided influence that does not take the form of unquestioning, unconditional loyalty to Albus Dumbledore! (after all, Dumbledore didn't even bother to show up himself; he had Rubeus Hagrid do that for him! It would have been so easy to spin that into a largely correct attack on Dumbledore... if Draco simply hadn't insisted on making fun of Hagrid).

But Dumbledore was very lucky to avoid that happening...