chapter discussions, SS/PS, chapter 5, Diagon Alley

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 187874

 
> 7.  Harry develops his anti-Slytherin feelings in this chapter, based on Draco's behavior and Hagrid's line about there not being a witch or wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin.  From POA onward, we know this isn't true.  Did you believe the bad Slytherin theme at this point in the story?  Could Hagrid really not have known that people from all houses could become followers of Voldemort?  Are there any other instances of misinformation in this chapter?

Pippin:
Hagrid is generalizing, just as he'll generalize in GoF that House Elves are happy as they are. If pressed at this point, he'd have said there are always exceptions, since he certainly knew that Sirius Black was in Gryffindor. 

Hagrid says that everyone says Hufflepuff are a load of duffers, which is also an exaggeration, since not everyone says that. Professor Sprout certainly wouldn't. Other things which I thought might be exaggerations turned out not to be -- dragons at Gringotts, for example. 

At this point in the story I was prepared to accept the Slytherins as classic don't-bees, but since all the reviews I'd read said that these books were subtle I was wondering what the reviewers were talking about.


> 
> 9 At the end of the chapter, Hagrid puts Harry on a train for home.  For a child who had never been to London and probably not far from Privet drive on his own, how did he get back to the Dursleys?

Pippin:
Harry isn't confined to the house except when he's being punished. He goes to school and the barbers (once a week, if we can believe that) and he's been shopping with Petunia. Train stations are often centrally located, so if he's been to Little Whinging's shopping street, which is where the barbershop is likely to be,  he'd probably know where the train station is and how to get home from there.

Pippin