CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 1: Owl Post

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189385




Zara:
> Questions for Discussion:
> 
> 1) Ron bought Harry a Sneakoscope, Hermione bought him instructions and products for broom care, and Hagrid bought him  the book "Monster Book of Monsters".  What did you think of these gifts? What do they tell us about the senders and their relationships with Harry?

Pippin:
Hermione's gift seems the most thoughtful: she bought Harry something  he'd like but she wouldn't have considered for herself.  Ron's gift reminds me of Neville's Remembrall; it sounds like a really cool idea, but turns out to be almost useless in practice. As for the biting book, I find myself in agreement with Draco: why would you even think that was funny? 


Zara: 
> With his gift of the Sneakoscope, Ron also sends a story about it: how it kept going off and Percy thought it was broken, but Ron knew the Twins were putting beetles in Percy's soup. 
> 
> 2) This story shows us several of the Weasleys interacting. What does it tell us about the actors? What do you like/dislike about the characters in this scene and how they are written?

Pippin:
They seem like a fun family to be around, not ground down by their poverty and able to enjoy good fortune when it comes. They're certainly happier than the much better off Dursleys. 

We can see that Fred and George are equal opportunity pranksters and don't pick selectively on Percy. 

It's funny that Percy is so proud of his Head Boy badge that he's wearing it outside of school. 

There's the idea that Ginny needs special protection, not being allowed to go into the more gruesome tombs, which reinforces our mistaken idea that she's not very strong emotionally or magically, 


Zara:
> 3) This story is also our first clue to the big Scabbers/Peter surprise in the climactic scenes of the novel. What do you think of it in this context?

Pippin:
I noted this time that Ron "tall and gangling" had Scabbers on his shoulder and  his arm around Ginny's waist in the photo, which echoes Peter sitting between Lily and James in Moody's picture of the Order and also the photo of Peter with the other Marauders that Harry found in Sirius's old room. Peter, says Sirius, always wanted to have big friends who would protect him. 

Zara:
> 4) This chapter includes information relevant to the relationship between the Muggle and Wizard worlds, including Harry's History essay on witch burnings and Ron's ignorance of the proper use of a telephone. What light do these details shed on your understanding of this relationship?

Pippin:
I read an article recently comparing YA dystopias with those created for adults. It pointed out that  the purpose of the adult dystopia is to  provoke action before it is too late, but the YA reader doesn't have much power to change society. The themes are therefore not social but emotional: it's not about what to do to keep the world from being broken, it's about how it feels to find out that the world  you thought was safe and lovely is becoming (or in actuality always was)  an ugly and dangerous place. 

For that reason, the consistency of the world-building is less important than it is in science fiction. Ron's difficulties with the telephone aren't about the technical problems  of wizards trying to communicate with Muggles, but about the emotional distance those difficulties create. It will culminate in the tragic separation between Lily and her sister, but right now, it's being played for laughs. 

 Rowling here is still building the idea that the wizarding world is safe. It's unimaginable to Harry at this point that someone like Umbridge exists, or that open war between wizards and Muggles is any real danger. We get the impression that serious problems between wizards and Muggles belong to the distant past and were never that bad in the first place, and if the Dursleys don't like wizards, its because they, the Dursleys, are bad people. 

Zara: 
> In this as the third book of her series, Rowling devoted time in the first chapter to recapping events an persons of significance.
> 
> 5) What do you think of her choice to do this in PoA and other books of the series? It is appropriate or unnecessary?
> 
> 6) Do you like how she did it? Do you agree on her choice of things to re-introduce? Did you find reading these bits pleasant, annoying, repetitive, etc.?

Pippin:
I like it. I notice things that seem more significant now than when I first read them, for example how subtly JKR points out that the rebounding spell which was meant to kill Harry didn't kill Voldemort either. 


Zara: 
> 7) Why do you think Dumbledore selected Percy to be Head Boy? Do you agree or disagree with this decision? The other Head Boys/Girls identified in canon are Tom Riddle, Bill Weasley, James Potter, and Lily Evans. From this evidence, what do you think is involved in choosing Hogwarts Head Boys/Girls?

Pippin:
We don't know who else Dumbledore could have picked. But the Head Boy and Girl seem to be responsible along with the prefects for the students' conduct outside of classes. It seems like the foremost qualification is to be comfortable in a leadership role. Lupin, who lacks that quality, will be as disaster as a prefect for that reason. 

Pippin