Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Philosopher's Stone/Chapter 7
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Chapter 7 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: The Sorting Hat
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Upon reaching the school, Hagrid hands the new students over to a teacher, Professor McGonagall. She leads the students to an anteroom, where they wait to be sorted into Houses. They are understandably nervous about this process, and are further unnerved by a small crowd of ghosts who pass through the anteroom on their way to the Great Hall. Shortly, Professor McGonagall returns, leads them into the Great Hall, and places them, one by one, under the Sorting Hat, which calls out the house to which they are assigned. There are four houses in Hogwarts, each with very specific characteristics. Slytherin is filled with ambitious, cunning witches and wizards. Ravenclaw is home to the most intelligent witches and wizards. Gryffindor houses only the brave, and Hufflepuff is where the most fair and honest go. The Sorting Hat suggests quietly that Harry might fit well in Slytherin, but when Harry balks at this, it places him instead in Gryffindor House.
Ron and Hermione also are Sorted into Gryffindor, along with several others. Professor Dumbledore then makes a few eccentric prefatory remarks, and the feast begins. In the course of the feast, we are introduced to Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the Gryffindor house ghost, who is nicknamed Nearly Headless Nick; and to some of the other students in Harry's year: Neville, who had almost lost his toad on the train; Seamus; and Dean, who is mentioned in the US editions of the book as being a "tall, black boy," but is not described in the British editions of the book. Harry also has an episode of pain in his scar when he is scrutinized by Professor Snape, the Potions teacher.
After the meal, there are a few start-of-term announcements, including one that catches Harry's ear: "this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." Harry asks Percy if Dumbledore is serious, and Percy replies that he must be.
Now that the meal is finished, it is time to sing the school song: "everyone pick their favorite tune", said Dumbledore, "and off we go!". Afterwards, they leave for their dormitories. Percy leads the first-year Griffindors through a very convoluted path, though all paths through Hogwarts seem convoluted; Harry is bemused by the paintings on the walls, whose occupants are aware of the passing students and comment on them. They are briefly harassed by Peeves, but eventually reach the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, which is guarded by a portrait of a fat lady. Percy gives the password ("Caput Draconis"), and everyone goes up to their dormitories and to bed. During the night, Harry has a dream, involving Quirrell's turban and Malfoy turning into Snape. Harry wakes up sweating, and goes back to sleep, and when he wakes up the next morning he doesn't even remember the dream.
[edit] Analysis
The purpose of this chapter seems to be to introduce us to the houses in Hogwarts; to give us our first taste of the character of the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and to introduce us also to the idea that Harry's scar can be a barometer, if you will, of the passing scene. We are also given another indication of Harry's fame in the Wizarding world, through the response made by the rest of the school when his name is called out for Sorting.
We are also given some ideas about how the Wizarding world differs from the Muggle world that Harry has been trapped in so far. The understanding of the operation of the Wizarding world here is not only appropriate to Harry's age level (11), but also is at about the level of detail that would be comprehended by someone of that age who was suddenly introduced to the magical world. For instance, the food of the banquet fades in on the plates; Harry doesn't stop to wonder who prepared it or how it got placed on the plates. That curiosity and the resultant understanding doesn't come about for another three years.
Harry's dream is, of course, foreshadowing of the main plot line of this book. At this point, the reader does not know enough to interpret this dream, but may understand that there is some connection between the pain Harry is feeling in his scar, and Quirrell's turban.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
[edit] Further Study
- Do you think Dumbledore is really as "barmy" as seems to be popularly believed? If not, is his behaviour an affectation, or does he have wisdom that other wizards don't understand and thus dismiss as eccentricity?
[edit] Greater Picture
In this book, we see half of a timeline contradiction. At Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, commemorating the five-hundredth anniversary of his death, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, his death is stated to have been on 1492-10-31. However, in this chapter, Nearly Headless Nick states that he has been dead for nearly 400 years. It is assumed that this is an error on the part of the author, and in fact the author has corrected this, by making Nick say that he has been dead for nearly 500 years, in later editions of this book.
As mentioned in the Greater Picture section for that Deathday Party chapter, the date of Nearly Headless Nick's death can be used to determine a timeline for the entire series, leading us to all the specific dates of the book. However, this timeline is not critical to the plot or events of the books, as it only affects the interactions between the events in the books and the Muggle world, and those interactions are very few.
The byplay between Harry and the Sorting Hat becomes more germane in the course of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and later in illustrating the difference between Harry and Voldemort. While the Hat recognizes qualities in Harry bestowed on him by the connection between him and Voldemort, it is ultimately Harry's exercising of choice and free will that leads to his assignment to Gryffindor.
Harry's dream may actually be a foreshadowing of events in the entire series, rather than in just this book. It may be that his dream is actually an unconscious attempt by Voldemort to influence Harry's actions by means of Legilimency, as he will do again in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. While this is neither confirmed nor refuted by later events, it is unlikely that it is a conscious use of Legilimency by Voldemort; Voldemort did not start deliberately using Legilimency on Harry in that book until he became aware of the existing connection at about Christmas.
We are meant to believe that the explosion of pain in Harry's scar is because Snape is looking at him. It is true that Snape is not pleased to see him; at that distance, Snape can only see the similarity between Harry and his father James. We will find out that James and Snape were in the same year at Hogwarts, and that they did not get along. In actual fact, the pain in Harry's scar is because Voldemort, then riding Quirrell, is either looking at Harry through Quirrell's turban, or is using Legilimency to observe the room, and has just detected Harry.
Harry's scar did not hurt when he first met Quirrell in the Leaky Cauldron, and Quirrell's skin did not burn when they shook hands there (see The Man with Two Faces), because he wasn't wearing the turban at the time, and hence Voldemort was not possessing him from the back of his head. Quoting from the text, at the welcoming feast, "Harry spotted Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban." (Emphasis ours.) This implies that this is the first time Harry has seen him wearing the turban.
