CHAPTER DISCUSSION PS/SS 11, QUIDDITCH

[jelly92784]

No: HPFGUIDX 188401

CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone, Chapter Eleven, Quidditch
 
1.  Per the narrative, "Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking rules since Harry and Ron had saved her from the mountain troll, and she was much nicer for it" [US hardback, p. 181].  Please discuss the notion of being more relaxed about rule-breaking translating into being a nicer person, either in general terms or re: Hermione specifically.

Janelle:
I think that we need to look at this as being Harry and Ron's opinion of Hermione's niceness.  I don't think that JKR is saying that people who break rules are automatically nicer than people who don't.  Throughout the first part of the book, most of Hermione's interactions with Harry and Ron include her yelling at them for breaking rules.  Now that she's become friends with them, she's seen the benefits of having friends.  She's also seen that the reason behind their rule breaking and the consequences they've received aren't as drastic as she had imagined (being expelled!).  She stops yelling at them all the time and so they perceive her as being nicer.


2.  Is Harry correct that Snape made up the rule about no books outside school on the spot?  Or do you believe it truly was a Hogwarts rule?  Is this yet another example of Snape picking on Harry unfairly, or is it yet another example of the trio assuming negative things about Snape unfairly?

Janelle:
I like what someone else said about the possibility that Madam Pince would have such a rule (she does freak out about her books!), but that the teachers would never really enforce it.  So, this would be both an instance of the trio making negative assumptions and Snape unfairly picking on Harry.

 
3.  Is Snape the kind of person about whom one could rightfully say "I'd never put anything past him"? Or is he to be trusted never to go against something Dumbledore has asked of him?  Was JKR thinking that far ahead at this point??  Do Harry, Ron and/or Hermione ever change their basic opinion as expressed here at any point before the final reveal on Severus Snape?

Janelle:
I think that Snape would never go against something that Dumbledore asked him, even if he wasn't happy about it.  He, too, is Dumbledore's man through and through.  I think that JKR was thinking about that- she knew where Snape's loyalties were, but she also knew the challenges that he would face in acting on that loyalty (i.e. dealing with Harry).

I think that Harry does change his opinion about Snape:  he grows from not liking him to loathing him.  Ron and Hermione, however, seem to keep pretty consistent outlooks. 


4.  Okay, harken back.  The FIRST time you read this, did you have any inkling that the broomstick jinx *wasn't* Snape's doing, or that it *was* Quirrell's?

Sadly no.  I like to think that, if I were reading the books for the first time now, I would pick up on more of those types of things than I did the first time around (before I went to college and studied literature!)