The Vanishing Glass

I don't know about you guys (if, indeed, there are any people reading this), but I get hooked on things very easily. What starts out as a new pass-time can very quickly take over the majority of my time which, if you're 4 months away from your PhD deadline, is not always a good thing. I didn't initially set out to review each chapter individually, but procrastination has a tricky way of seeping into my day and let's face it, writing about one of the greatest passions in my life is SO much more interesting than reading scientific articles about nanoparticles...

Chapter 2 - The Vanishing Glass

Oh Dursleys, why you so mean to Harry? Corrie already very beautifully wrote about the suffering Harry goes through in the previous post, so I won't go into it in too much detail here. However, I must make a sidenote and say that there is an interesting theory circulating about why the Dursleys are such horrible people but I feel it is WAY too early to talk about that now. I need to make a reminder to myself to revisit this when we are discussing Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows (hint, it has to do with horcruxes).

I don't really have much to say about this chapter, to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I liked it but to me this chapter feels like a filler before things start picking up the pace in Chapter 3. We learn a little bit about how strange things happen to/because of Harry and generally, we all just hate on the Dursleys.

  

Reading in the sun

The main event in this chapter is, of course, the scene at the zoo where Harry accidentally sets a boa constrictor free. As readers, this is the first time we see Harry, albeit unknowingly, doing magic. We also see Harry communicating with the snake, an ability that will be crucial in the next book. I have to say that the line where the zoo manager offers Petunia tea to calm her down is probably my favorite from this chapter - it's just so delightfully British!

There's another theory, based on something JK Rowling apparently said in an interview, to do with the snake:

"Yes, it's rather funny, really, that next to no-one realized the snake that Harry set free in Philosopher's Stone turned out to be Voldemort's final Horcrux, Nagini."

This is a nice theory and it would be just like JK Rowling to foreshadow something so important this early on (she already introduced an object in Chapter 1 that won't be particularly important until Book 7). However, I'm pretty sure this theory, as well as JK Rowling being the originator of the quote, are untrue. As Wikipedia tells me, boa constrictors are usually a brown/grey/cream base color, whereas Nagini is described as being green. There are other reasons to doubt this theory, but again, maybe those can be discussed once we find out more about Voldemort.

So, to wrap things up, let's have a look at some of the new things introduced in this chapter.

First Appearance Of (characters)

1. Bully Dudley
2. Piers Polkiss

First Appearance Of (magical things)

1. Harry doing magic without knowing
2. The ability to talk to snakes

First Mention Of

1. Harry being famous
2. Aunt Marge
3. Mrs. Figg

Until next time,

Lucia