Week 6 - Discussion: Chapters 16 and 17

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Here we’ll be discussing chapters 16 and 17 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, unless you’ve been waiting a few days and nobody else has responded).

Optional Questions
If you’re not sure what to say, here are some discussion prompts to get you started

Would you have gone down the trap door if you were Harry? Or would you have tried to find another way to get the adults to listen?
Why do you think the teachers went for ways of protecting the stone that could be beaten with skill and cleverness, rather than spells that were more defensive or combative?
Do you remember whether you were shocked by the Quirrell reveal when you first read it?
Do you remember how you felt about the ending of the story when you first read it? How do you feel about it now?

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

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

[OUT OF CHARACTER]
The first time I read the logic puzzle... led to the second time I visited the HOL castle! Back in 2007 when I was finally catching up on the books (see my student or professor profile for some details), I was looking at the potions logic puzzle and stopped my speed read to try to solve the puzzle. Ten minutes later, I realized I had to be missing something, so I did a Google search and landed on the original Rowena Ravenclaw's Tests of Logic (can you believe they're *still* up?)! Clearly it was a captivating puzzle, and an interesting change of pace (how many other people also tried unsuccessfully to solve in real time?)

I learned that my instincts were right; the puzzle didn't have enough information to be solved without looking at what the bottles looked like physically... and then continued on with my reading to see what happened next. That flung me into the fandom, but it would be another six years before I would enrol into the school myself...

[Luna Ravenlong]

I think the reason the traps were less defensive is because Dumbledore wanted to slow the thief down, and then trap them with the mirror (as they would never be able to get the stone) rather than actually harm them. He also wanted Harry to get to the end. I think there was always the idea that Dumbledore wanted Harry to confront Voldemort, and on constant rereads, I find it hard to get away from the idea that the whole thing was planned. There were so many clues dropped to him throughout the year-Hagrid taking him to the gringotts vault, the mirror of erised etc. And the traps did suit the trios skill sets a little too well…

[River Fenwick]

I was sorted into Slytherin for a reason, and I venture that the reason is that I would have never gone down that trapdoor if I were in Harry's shoes. My sense of self-preservation would never allow me to go into uncharted territory, so I'd have to tap into that cunning quality so deeply rooted in me to get someone else to check it out first, though not necessarily a Professor. In fact, I'd unlikely choose a Professor because I'd ultimately want to see it for myself if it were safe or interesting, and enlisting a Professor to go down first would ruin any chance of that.