Identifying the Put-Outer

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 85711

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, SnapesSlytherin at a... wrote:
> I don't think this question has been asked of OoP yet, but there's
always the possibility it was.  If it had, I'll iron my hands.
> 
> <Quote>
> OoP, Chapter Three: page 58 (American):
>
> ....edited...
> 
> "Borrowed it from Dumbledore," growled Moody, pocketing the Put-Outer.
> </Quote>
> 
> My question is this: how did Harry know it was the Put-Outer?  We
usually learn about things like that from Harry's POV and nowhere in
that area did anyone mention the Put-Outers name.  Are we just
supposed to assume Harry just *knew* the name?  
> 
> Oryomai


bboy_mn:

Brighter minds than mine will correct me if I'm wrong, but Harry is
not the narrator. 

A third persons narrates the story from Harry's point of view. 

That's not quit the same thing as Harry narrating it. Stated another
way, the story is narrated from Harry's point of view, but it's not
narrated by Harry. The narration doesn't use references like 'I',
'me', or 'we' as it narrates, 'I went here', 'We did that'; it
identifies Harry by a name, 'Harry felt this', 'Harry heard that',
'They went there', etc....

And (again deferring to brighter minds), it is narrated in past tense.
The narrative doesn't say, 'Harry is going down the stairs' as if it
were happening in realtime; it says, 'Harry went down the stairs'.
That may not be the ideal example, but it still illustrates the point.

So, Harry may not have known it was the 'Put-Outer', but the narrator
did because that same third party narrator, narrated the beginning of
the book where Dumbledore used it.

Alternately, Harry may have some dream awareness of it. He says on the
way to the Zoo that he dreamt about a flying motorcycle, which implies
that he has dream of the events of the night Hagrid brought him to the
Dursleys. In a sense, the first chapter might have been the 'third
party' narrating Harry's dream.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn