POV in the Harry Potter books

[Amy]

No: HPFGUIDX 10140

Alexandra wrote:

> How 
much 
> of our (erroneous) opinions come from the narrator's own comments? 
> Does the narrator have an "omniscient, but still not going to tell 
> you" quality, as if she stands back a bit from Harry's thoughts and 
> opinions and knowledge of events even as she relates them? Where 
does 
> the narrator allow herself to give an opinion, and is it always, 
> sometimes, or never colored by or identical to Harry's perspective 
and 
> opinion? Are we meant to trust this narrator, or believe that she is 
> sometimes fallible?
> Ideas?

Alexandra, I don't have time to give these final questions thought, 
but I just wanted to thank you for the excellent post.  I've been 
thinking a lot about POV--I don't think enough authors pay attention 
to its impact.  In my latest rereading I've paid a lot of attention to 
JKR's POV choices and I have noticed only two chapters that get into 
anyone else's head--first chapter of 1 and 4--and only a couple of 
times where we see something Harry can't:  e.g. what's going on in the 
stands during Quidditch in the first game ever (we don't know what 
anyone is thinking, though, just what they're doing).  JKR uses these 
shifts judiciously and very effectively.

Maybe one reason people find chapter 1 of GF so jarring is that it 
departs from Harry's POV.  We aren't sufficiently taught to notice 
these things in the way we're taught to read fiction IMO.  Ebony and 
Allyson will instruct the next generation, though, won't you?

Amy Z