Opening of Book 6 - Theories, Anyone?

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 114511


Susana wote:
<snip>
The first chapter has the purpose of the book. In PS introduces Harry,
in CoS...
is missing, in PoA informs about the escaped prisoner (Sirius), in GoF
foresees
the return of Voldemort, and in OotP establishes Harry as the target.

I say it's missing in CoS because the first chapter doesn't introduce the
purpose of the book; it just reintroduces Harry. That is very
consistent with a
whole plot being taken of CoS - and we know that plot has been
'transferred' to
HBP.

CoS is actually my least favourite book - I just can't see its
purpose! Maybe
that's why I reckon the introductory chapter is missing. If someone
has any idea
about the purpose of CoS in the series, do explain, please!


Neri:

Lets see if I can help. CoS is actually my favorite HP book (though
this is liable to change with the days of the week) and its purpose is
bang clear to me. This is the book that best sets the theme which is
perhaps the most important theme of HP – that good and evil are very
difficult to tell apart, and that the difference between them lies
only in free choice and responsibility for one's actions. It is CoS in
which DD says to Harry "It is our choices that show what we truly are,
far more than our abilities". It is in CoS that evil comes not in the
form of the demonic Voldemort, but in the form of the human boy Tom
Riddle. It is in CoS that we find how very similar Tom and Harry are,
so in fact the only difference between them was the road they chose.

In close connection with the above, CoS is also the book that sets the
proper time scale for the whole HP saga. This saga does not begin, as
in SS/PS, with that fateful night at Godric's Hollow when some
inexplicable evil murders Harry's parents. The roots of evil are far
deeper and more complex. It was 50 years ago when Tom chose to take
revenge of all humanity for his miserable childhood, and 1000 years
ago when Slytherin established the pureblood dogma.

The mystery of the "missing" introductory chapter of CoS is easily
solved if you consider the second chapter also as part of the true
introduction (these two chapters are so short that it will be
reasonable to join them into one unit). Introducing Dobby's character
is then a very proper way to set the tone for the book. First because
he tells Harry about a mysterious danger in Hogwarts. Secondly because
it is not clear if he is Harry's enemy or friend, setting the
ambivalence of good an evil. Thirdly because he is struggling to
maintain his free will and moral choice under an extremely powerful
inhibition. In addition, Dobby's assertion in this chapter that the
enemy in CoS is NOT Voldemort indeed proves true in the deeper sense:
it is the human boy Tom Riddle who made The Choice to become evil. So
I think JKR's decision not to complicate the plot of CoS with
additional elements was very wise. Thematically it is already the
deepest of the five books.  

Neri