Subjective paper on “Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.”
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a literary work that was done by J. K Rowling. The narration is full of submissive language, which is contained in the conversations that happen between it. The work is about a young boy called Harry Potter, whose freedom of choice is restricted by two worlds he is trying to fit in.
At the beginning of the book, Harry Potter is in his uncle’s private drive where he is spending his holiday summer from. His uncle is a fierce man called Mr. Vernon, and his aunt is known as Petunia. They are staying together also with their son called Dudley. The story begins with Mr. Vernon lamenting that he had been woken up in the morning by a loud noise from Harry’s room. Mr. Vernon roars to Harry and warns that if he cannot control the owl he was staying with, in his own words, “it will have to go (1).” Harry tries to defend himself that the owl was bored and she used to fly outside in school and he was wondering if he could be letting it out at night. In protest, Mr. Vernon retorts by asking if he looked stupid and argued that he knew what would happen if the owl was left to go out at night. In his words he said, “I know what will happen if the owl is let out (1).” In the first instance where says that the owl has to go he means that both Harry and the owl will be going out if the problem was not contained. This is because Harry and owl were like same creatures as Harry depended on the owl to learn his magical powers and to perform them. In the second instance where the uncle says he knows what will happen if the owl is let out, he means that he understood the damage that the owl is likely to cause when left outside at night and his family will be among the victims in case the owl decides to perform magical powers and he would not let it go out alone, he would rather let both Harry and the owl move out and they would be safe as a family.
There is an instance whereby Dudley in the kitchen and he asks Harry to pass the frying pan to him. Harry reminds him that he has forgotten the magic word. In his words he says, “You have forgotten to mention the magic word.” Harry’s words causes so much panic throughout the room and everyone scared. Dudley fall down from his chair in the kitchen, Petunia is heard screaming due to fear, and Mr. Vernon is seen gasping and he retorts back at Harry reminding him that he had warned him against using the “M” in his house. In his words he says, “What did I tell you about using the M word in my house (2)?” In his final remarks, Mr. Vernon completes by saying that, “I warned you and you will not be the mentioning of your abnormality here (2).” In the first instance where Harry reminds Dudley that he had forgotten to use the magic word, he did mean necessarily the magic that they thought he was likely to perform. As it appears, he is shocked that mentioning that word caused great panic and that is not what he wanted to communicate. Harry wanted to remind Dudley to practice courtesy when requesting for assistance. He wanted to remind Dudley to always use “please” as a show of courtesy when requesting for help from someone else. He instead referred to the word as a magic word because it is a word that would change someone’s attitude and let them help you in what you needed from them. In the second instance where Mr. Vernon asks what he had told Harry about using the “M” word, he referred to magic. He thought Harry meant magic because they were all scared about Harry performing magic powers inside the house. The fact that Harry was studying Magic in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, made them think that everything about Harry was all magic and he could perform it anywhere and anytime. In the last instance where Mr. Vernon says that he warned Harry Potter and he will not be mentioning his abnormalities inside his house, he meant that Harry’s days were numbered inside his house and it was a matter of time and he will be gone. By abnormalities he referred to the act of magical powers that Harry possessed something which they were greatly opposing.
All the happenings in the first part of the book are during the birthday of Harry Potter. Everything is cooled down and the whole family begins talking in harmony. Mr. Vernon begins by clearing his throat and saying, “As we all know, today is an important day (4).” Everyone’s attention is drawn including Harry. Harry cannot believe what he is hearing from the mouth of his uncle Mr. Vernon. He goes on to say that the day might mark one of the greatest deals in his entire career. Further he requests everyone to be in a position by eight o’clock. In his own words he says, “Everyone should be in schedule by eight o’clock (4).” He asks everyone in the room how prepared they are for the big day, Petunia confirms that she is ready to and graciously waiting to welcome their guests. Dudley on his part confirms that he would be ready at the door to pick the coats of their two guests. When Harry Potter’s time arrives, he says, “I will be in my room, pretending that am not around and making no noise (5).” In that decisive conversation, when Mr. Vernon says that the day is an important day for them as a family, what comes to the mind of Harry Potter is that the family was going to celebrate his birthday. He is astonished how Mr. Vernon was the one going to announce celebration of his birthday given that they were no seeing an eye to eye. Contrary to that, his uncle was talking about a deal he was about to seal with Mr. and Mrs. Mason. To the surprise of Harry Potter, it was not his birthday that was making that day to be considered as being very special. In the second instance, when Mr. Vernon says that everyone should be in the schedule by eight o’clock, he meant that they all should be ready by that time and everyone should understand their roles when the guests makes their own to their house. This is because the next question he asks to all of them is how prepared they were in welcoming the guests who were coming in a short while. Lastly, when Harry is asked how prepared he was, he retorted by saying that he will be at his room pretending that he was not part of the family and making no noise. By that, Harry was pointing it clear to the family that he knew he was unwanted in the family and he would do all what he could to hide himself so that the guests do not know that he existed in this house. Harry wanted it to be clear that he was not involved in the internal affairs of the family and he was an independent person who only wanted a place for shelter.
In further conversation under the same setting, Mr. Vernon wants to know what kind of a conversation the family would be having with the guests. Petunia says that she would inform Mr. Mason about how her husband described him to be a great golfer. Petunia also confirms that she would ask Mrs. Mason about where she usually bought her dresses from. When Dudley is asked what he would tell the guests once they arrive, he says, “We were supposed to write something about or heroes in school and I wrote about you Mr. Mason (7).” Dudley’s word leaves everyone in the room with a great shock. His mother bursts in tears and he rushes to hug the boy. Harry Potter bursts into laughter but he must be careful for Mr. Vernon to see him because if the uncle noticed him laughing, it would end in tears. His turn reaches where he has to tell others what he would tell the guests and he repeats his same words by saying, “I will be in my room, pretending that am not around and making no noise (7).” Dudley’s words are subjective and that is why his mother is seen bursting into tears and Harry Potter laughing on the other side. When he says that in his work he wrote about Mr. Mason and he is the person he referred to be his hero, that simply means that Dudley does not consider both her parents to be heroes. Parents expects their children to be proud of them especially the male parent but that is not the case with Dudley and he believes that someone else is his hero. That has something to do with upbringing. Dudley seems not to enjoy how his parents bring him up. Life in the family seems so hard for Dudley to appreciate his parents. Harry Potter’s response on this particular question means that he is less involved with the conversation between him and the guests. Harry understands that everyone in the family hates him and they do not like being associated with him. He wants to ensure that exactly what the family wants is what he is going to give to them. He is ready to give the family and their visitors enough space to have their talk without him doing any interventions. Mr. Vernon highly welcomes that and he is happy that he will not have any questions to answer about who Harry Potter was.
As all other members are preparing the house to receive their guest, Harry Potter takes a leave outside the house and he is seated on the garden bench. He is staring at a given spot and he seems to have a deep thought. In the middle of the calmness, Dudley comes around and he starts a conversation by telling Harry Potter that he knew what that specific day was. Harry seems not to have heard Dudley’s words correctly and he begs for a pardon. Dudley repeats by saying, “I know what this day is.” The words are now clear to Harry Potter and he responds back by saying, “Well done since you seem to have known all days of a week.” Dudley learns that the two are not speaking from the same page. He makes it clear to Harry Potter that he knew it was his birthday. Dudley gets to Harry Potter’s space by asking why he did not have friends from his school and why he could not even receive birthday letters from them. Harry Potter is upset and he warns Dudley against mentioning his school again because his mother could hear it and that would lead trouble. Dudley notices that Harry Potter is not paying attention to him and he asks him what he is looking at from the hedge. Harry responds by saying, “I am looking at the best spell around to set it on fire.” Dudley is so much scared and he runs away to report to his parents that Harry was about to perform magic something which results to Harry Potter getting a hefty punishment from Petunia. Harry Potter has to perform the punishment given by his aunt because performing magic is prohibited in that house. The conversation between Dudley and Harry Potter is too much subjective. In the first instance of the conversation where Dudley tells Harry Potter that he knew what that day was, he meant to mock him. It was clear that he knew that it was Harry Potter’s birthday and there was no celebration in the house to mark the day. As a common norm, birthdays are associated with celebrations and joy. Dudley acts worried that Harry Potter is not celebrating during his birthday but he is happy because neither of the family members love him. This is seen where he asks Harry Potter why he had not received letters from his friends back in the school. Dudley has a feeling that everyone hates Harry Potter the same way he did. In the second instance, Harry Potter congratulates Dudley due to the fact that he could know the days of the week. Harry Potter knew that Dudley was talking about his birthday and he wanted to cut the stories short. He did not want to discuss his birthday stories with Dudley because he was disappointed by what had transpired earlier on and he knew that neither Dudley nor his parents cared about his birthday. In the last instance where Harry Potter wants to set a fire on a spell, he specifically wants to scare Dudley away. This is because he says words that everyone in the family feared to hear and he knew Dudley would fear too and run away. That was a way to stop the little boy from bothering him.
This book is full of subjective language and it helps different readers have a different interpretation of everything that transpires. The conversations are full of subjectivity and they portray the characters in different ways. For Harry it is clear his freedom is at siege and he has no right to decide what he wants. For the rest of family members, they are full of hate and they are all selfish.
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