As we learned in class last week, J.K Rowling planned out the entire series before her even beginning the first novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The author had boxes of notes detailing the setting and the story building for the series, and she mentioned in an interview that she had always planned for the novel to be a 7 part series. With this detailed plan, it makes sense that there are several instances of foreshadowing present in the first novel that many readers do not catch until they finish the series.
One of the main instances of foreshadowing within the novel can be seen when Professor Quirrell turns out to be the main villain in the first book. In chapter 17, Harry finds out that Professor Quirrell had been the one cursing during the Quidditch match, and in fact, Professor Snape was the one trying to save him. With the short-term vision of the characters, Professor Snape is painted as the villain as he seems to hate Harry Potter throughout the novel, but that could not be any further from the truth. It is Professor Quirrell who reveals that “He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn’t you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead”(290). Professor Snape though he is portrayed as an evil character throughout the novel and the series due to some of his shady actions is one of the good characters that is trying to keep Harry safe. This is discovered later on in the series, primarily beginning in the Half-Blood Prince.
Another instance of foreshadowing I noticed while reading and that I found interesting was when Dumbledore subtly hints at his death in the future. I can say that I never even considered that my first time reading it. Dumbledore talks to Harry about the impending death of his friends when he mentions “After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”(297). Rowling imparts knowledge about the series with the implication that Dumbledore knows he will die soon in the future and he is no longer worried about trying to become immortal.
I also enjoyed watching the introduction video that showed how Rowling went about creating the series, and how she graphed out the books and how they were going to go. I thought that was a very interesting thing to do. In the introduction video, I found it stunning that she had so many boxes of ideas for all of the books. Rowling is such an imaginative person, and it can be seen through reading her books.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post on the foreshadowing events that you thought stuck out to you. I have as well read the whole series and watched all of the movies, so looking back is such a fun thing to do. In terms of how Snape is portrayed, I very much agree with you on the points that you said stick out. It is intentional that he seen as a sketchy character through the first parts of the series, but he ends up just being a different type of good guy. I think this is because Rowling wants to show some type of ambiguous character that ultimately has growth that we can see later in the series.
Thinking about the foreshadowing of Dumbledore's death, I actually did somewhat see that it was coming. I always try to read into hints that the author gives, sometimes a little too much though. He came off as a very wise old man that would eventually have to move on from this life. He always gives such great advice and it struck me that he did this a lot because he would die later in the series.
Some of these foreshadowing events are so deep to think about, and the way that Rowling went about setting this book up is even more complex.