Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Prisoner of Azkaban/Chapter 2
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Chapter 2 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Aunt Marge's Big Mistake
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
At breakfast the next morning, Harry is hardly surprised when nobody wishes him a Happy Birthday. Everyone is watching the new kitchen TV, which had been installed because Dudley was complaining about the long walk from the living room TV to the fridge. The TV newscaster is reporting on an escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, saying he is armed and dangerous; Aunt Petunia immediately goes to the window to see if he might be outside. Uncle Vernon prepares to leave for the train station to collect Aunt Marge, Vernon's sister and Harry's least favorite relative. Harry has unhappy memories of Marge's past visits when she tortured him, and he is unhappy that she is staying for a whole week. Uncle Vernon warns Harry to keep a civil tongue and that there will not be any funny stuff (presumably meaning magic). He reminds Harry that Marge believes he attends St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. As Uncle Vernon is leaving, Harry corners him with a counter proposal: if he behaves during Marge's visit, Uncle Vernon will sign his Hogsmeade permission slip. Uncle Vernon, reminded about how easy it would be for Harry to slip up and say something about his magical connections, and how little he has to lose by doing so, angrily agrees, and slams off to the station as Harry, resigned to acting like a Muggle for the week, sadly puts away all his magical stuff and sends Hedwig and Errol to Ron for the week.
The visit begins poorly, with Marge giving Dudley a big hug and a kiss and £20, while treating Harry as a porter. Throughout the week, Marge repeatedly insults Harry, at one point commenting about how problems in the parents usually appear in the offspring. When her wine glass suddenly shatters, she passes it off as her having such strong hands, unsuspecting that it could have been Harry who caused it to break – Harry is angry enough to have done it, but is unsure whether he did. On her last day, Aunt Marge goes into a diatribe about Harry's "good-for-nothing parents". Harry's anger causes her to start swelling, eventually inflating like a balloon and bobbing around on the ceiling. Harry knows he is probably in trouble for twice violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Under-Age Sorcery, an action that could result in having his wand snapped in two and/or being expelled from Hogwarts. Harry hurriedly packs his belongings, and dragging his trunk behind him, runs into the night.
[edit] Analysis
It would have seemed that no one could be more unpleasant to Harry than Uncle Vernon, but Aunt Marge is equally hateful toward him. Her derogatory comment, "If there is something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup," is meant as an aspersion at Harry by targeting his mother's character, but it might also be a thinly disguised insult against Aunt Petunia, who Marge may consider inferior and tainted by her blood relationship to Harry. This animosity does not extend to Dudley, despite his blood connection to Harry and Petunia. Marge dotes on her young nephew.
Harry's interactions, both with Vernon and with Marge, show how he has matured and grown in self-confidence. He is here able to bargain, almost as an equal, with Vernon; he is aware of the strength he holds, and is not afraid to use it to get what he wants. With Marge, he is able to restrain himself for almost the full week, only losing control of himself when she starts insulting his parents. It is perhaps worthy of note that we see Vernon attempting to defuse the situation. Vernon surely knows that Harry is being pushed to his limits, and is afraid of what might happen if Harry is pushed beyond those limits. This does illustrate the changing dynamic of their relationship; even one year earlier, Vernon would not have worried about Harry in a similar situation.
Harry shows how he has become more sophisticated and adept at manipulating and interacting with people. Knowing that Vernon fears Aunt Marge might learn he is a wizard, Harry barters with his uncle, offering good behavior and agreeing to act like a Muggle in exchange for having his Hogsmeade permission slip signed. However, when Harry is unable to control his anger with the obnoxious Aunt Marge, he loses this opportunity. Although his uncontrolled reaction lost him his chance to visit Hogsmeade, it also shows just how powerful Harry's magical abilities have become. Without realizing it, Harry has twice or three times demonstrated "wandless magic," a nearly impossible feat for most wizards. While Harry himself is unsure whether he caused Aunt Marge's wine glass to shatter, it is certain that both his blowing up of Aunt Marge, and the lock of the cupboard opening when he retrieves his trunk, are magic, and as Harry's wand is locked in the cupboard at that point, Harry is doing this magic without its assistance.
Despite the changed relationship between Harry and Uncle Vernon, Harry is still a child, and his reactions are still quite childish. Having gotten into trouble in Vernon's house, and presuming himself in trouble with the law, Harry's impulse is to run away. He has no clear idea of where he will go, or what he will do when he gets there; he simply decides that he must become a fugitive, believing that he can gather his money from Gringotts and go into hiding. For one as famous as Harry, this is clearly wishful thinking at its worst; there is no way that Harry would be able to remain hidden. This actually is an interesting contract to Harry's behaviour in his first year, where, knowing that he was headed into possibly mortal danger, Harry pressed ahead anyway. It likely would prove interesting to examine this event, and Harry's earlier excursion Through the Trap Door, to see how Harry's character is motivated in each case.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why does Harry run away?
- How does Harry plan to have Uncle Vernon sign his Hogsmeade permission slip? What does this say about Harry's character?
[edit] Further Study
- How is Harry able to unintentionally and without his wand perform magic?
[edit] Greater Picture
We do not realize until the next chapter that Sirius Black is actually a wizard fugitive, but dangerous enough for the Muggles to know about him. The method by which Muggles are alerted about the Wizarding world is shown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Though, for the most part, the Wizarding world is kept secret and separate from Muggles, in some situations it becomes necessary to break the silence.
