Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Philosopher's Stone/Chapter 3
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Chapter 3 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: The Letters From No One
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Harry is finally let out of the cupboard after being punished for the boa constrictor episode. The summer holidays have started and Dudley and his friends harass Harry daily, enjoying their favorite sport, "Harry Hunting". Dudley finds he has been accepted to Uncle Vernon's old public school (US: private school), Smeltings, whereas Harry will be going to a local comprehensive (US:public school), Stonewall High.
In July, Petunia takes Dudley shopping for his school clothes. The next morning Harry finds her dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes grey, to make him a "school uniform". As everyone sits down for breakfast the mail arrives. Harry has a short fight with Dudley over who has to retrieve the mail. Harry loses. Picking up the mail, Harry sees there is a letter addressed to him:
- Mr. H. Potter
- The Cupboard under the Stairs
- 4 Privet Drive
- Little Whinging
- Surrey
Harry had never received mail before and wasn't sure who this could be from. The envelope was a thick, heavy, yellow parchment with a strange wax seal on the back. Back in the kitchen, Uncle Vernon snatches the letter from Harry as he tries to read it. Uncle Vernon is shocked at the contents of the letter and immediately sends Dudley and Harry out of the kitchen so he and Petunia can discuss it. Dudley and Harry listen to the conversation through the keyhole and the gap under the door, and overhear them decide to ignore the letter and not respond.
Uncle Vernon moves Harry up into Dudley's second room. Day after day more letters show up for Harry, but they are now addressed to him in "The Smallest Bedroom", despite Vernon's attempts to prevent their entering the house. Vernon does manage to prevent Harry from getting any of the letters. On Sunday, when Uncle Vernon is sure no post is coming, the letters come streaming out of the fireplace. Vernon decides enough is enough, packs everyone into the car and drives all day to a run-down hotel on the outskirts of some city. The next day "about a hundred letters" show up at the hotel for Harry. Next, Uncle Vernon finds a rickety old shack out on a rocky island off the coast, accessible only by boat. As they settle in for the night Harry stares at Dudley's watch, counting down the minutes to midnight and his eleventh birthday. A storm is raging outside but Harry thinks he hears something else outside the shack. Just as he counts the final second down to his birthday a huge BOOM shakes the shack. Someone is knocking on the door.
[edit] Analysis
Uncle Vernon’s attempts to shut out, and then run away from, the letters can be seen as an analogy with people's tendency to try to ignore facts. The tendency to try to avoid unpleasant truth is a common human weakness. The idea that if you refuse to admit something to yourself, then it can’t be true, may be very comforting sometimes. The problem is that, just like the letters that burst out of the fireplace, the truth has a tendency to come back and strike you in the face. Unfortunately, this is a lesson that Vernon Dursley never seems to learn, as determined denial and brutish ignorance are the key qualities of his character. This chapter has an enjoyably tense atmosphere, as it almost as if Harry's true identity and destiny is rushing toward him, and no matter how hard the Dursleys try to outrun it, with a "BOOM!" on the door it catches up, and nothing will ever be the same again.
As mentioned in Chapter 1, there are a few places in the stories where days and dates don't line up. We have already seen that this book covers events largely in 1991 and 1992. The Dursleys leave Privet Drive for the hotel on Sunday, leave the hotel and drive to the island on Monday (Dudley complains because he is missing The Great Umberto on TV), and so Harry's birthday falls on Tuesday. However, July 31, 1991 is a Wednesday. This trivial error does not truly affect the story in any way, and is included here more as a curiosity than as something for the scholar to concern himself with.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why does Uncle Dursley decide to move Harry out of the cupboard? What does Dudley think of this change?
[edit] Further Study
- How could the writer of the letters know where Harry's room/place was at any given moment?
- Who is the person that is sending these letters?
- Who is the person that comes to get Harry?
- Does Harry get to read his letter? And when?
[edit] Greater Picture
This chapter shows the great lengths that the Dursleys are willing to go to in order to appear normal to neighbors and not to draw attention to themselves. Their need to appear normal in front of others is the reason they hide Harry in his room and is also the reason they keep him at their home after the dramatic events at the beginning of Harry's fifth year.
