Week 4 - Discussion: Chapters 10-12

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Here we’ll be discussing chapters 10-12 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 and a dice roll for the board game. 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 replied.).

Optional Questions
If you’re not sure what to say, here are some discussion prompts to get you started
How would you have gone about dealing with the troll if you’d been in Harry, Ron and Hermione’s position? Is there anything they could have done differently?
What did you enjoy most while reading about the first quidditch match of the season? Alternatively, why do you think Quirrell chose to target Harry in such a public way?
Why do you think the Mirror of Erised was created in the first place? Was it intentional or did someone create it while trying to create something else? Alternatively, why did Dumbledore initially store it in a disused classroom where anyone could have stumbled across it?

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

[Luna Ravenlong]

I think Dumbledore stored the Mirror of Erised in a disused classroom because he wanted Harry to find it. He gave Harry the invisibility cloak when he did so Harry would go exploring and hopefully stumble across the classroom. Dumbledore needed Harry to understand what the mirror did if he decided to go and try and get the stone-it’s the only reason I can think that he would have left it such a vulnerable place and had known Harry had already been there when he spoke to him.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Backwards writing puzzles are surprisingly fun! Although I still have remembered for Quidditch the following exact text:

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi

("I show not your face but your heart's desire" backwards with spacing rejiggered a bit)... I remember being thrown off by the 'word' "oyt" appearing twice (as part of both "not your" and "but your" written backwards). Maybe Hermione not being there would be a 'plot device' because if she were there she likely would have figured out what exactly it meant? But it was such a poignant moment for Harry because it showed just how much it meant for his family to have been taken from him (his Muggle relatives he had lived with did not exactly treat him like family... though Dudley would finally surprise everyone by coming around to do so years later!)

[River Fenwick]

I believe that the Mirror of Erised was created with good intent. Looking into a mirror and seeing yourself content with your greatest desire must be motivating and serve as a reminder why we do the things we do, which I assume was the intent behind it. However, the execution probably wasn't how the creator imagined it. Our greatest desires are often only great because they're unachievable and nothing more than a longing for something better, hence the men being driven mad by the mirror. The creator likely had a small bubble of smaller desires they thought would be shown in the mirror, like getting a promotion at work, rather than what desires were reflected to many people.