Reading Journal Post #4

Question: Is there a message or a main theme emerging in the book? How is it shown?

    The book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is teaching the readers the importance of loyalty and friendship. J.K. Rowling is telling the readers that being loyal to your friends is one of the most important things in life. After all, family and friends are the only ones whom one can rely upon, and the different houses (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw) are like a family at Hogwarts. But unfortunately, because Harry lost his parents while fighting Voldemort, and he does not have any other relatives left (except for his aunt, uncle, and his cousin who do not care about him), Ron and Hermione are like a brother and sister to him. This message is shown very clearly in the book. For example, the reason why Harry felt such hatred towards Sirius Black was because he thought Sirius betrayed his best friend and Harry's father, James Potter. Harry could have never imagined anyone's best friend betraying him/her even in his worst nightmares. But when he met Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew in person for the first time ever in the Whomping Willow, Harry thought that Peter was the innocent man and that Sirius was the one who had betrayed his parents. As Sirius and Lupin explained how the rumors spread by the Ministry of Magic were completely wrong, Peter began to panic that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were starting to believe them instead of believing him. To avoid that, which would have lead to his own death, he gave Sirius a reason on why he had betrayed the Potters. “You don't understand! […] [Voldemort] would have killed me, Sirius!” He said that he was afraid of the circumstances if he did not obey Voldemort's order, that is, tell him where Lily and James Potter were hiding. But Harry's point of view about Sirius changed the moment he yelled, “THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED” as Sirius continued, “DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!” (Page 275, Chapter 19) Furthermore, the moral about loyalty and friendship is shown when Harry, Ron, and Hermione supported Hagrid with Buckbeak's case throughout the year even though the three of them were extremely busy and were going through a lot. Also, when Ron and Harry were angry at Hermione for giving in Harry's new Firebolt to Professor McGonagall to make sure it was not jinxed, and for not admitting that her cat was the one who had almost killed Scabbers (Ron's pet rat), Hagrid disagreed. He gave them an advice, “I thought you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats.” (Page 202, Chapter 14) This shows how Harry and Ron had not valued their best friend just because of a broomstick and a rat, even though Hermione was doing all this just to protect them from any dangers. They both realized how horrible she must have felt and went to apologize later. If I was in her place, I would have done the same just to make sure my best friends and my school were safe from a murderer who was on the lose.

    These quotes were important to the novel because the main moral, “We should always value our friends and always stay loyal to them no matter what happens” was emerged in these. When Sirius claimed that Peter should have died instead, it showed how much how much Remus and Sirius valued James, unlike Peter. If Remus, Sirius, and James were ready to die for each other but Peter was not, it told us that Peter was never a part of their group and he was not a true friend who was willing to support them. Even when James had trusted Peter more than anyone else (except Lupin and Black), he still betrayed him, not realizing that he would have died one day anyway, so why not die an honorable way by being their secret-keeper and being honest, instead of betraying his best friend and being Voldemort's best servant for only a temporary period of time? These quotes were significant to me as well. For example, the time when Hagrid explained how it was very wrong of them to not value their best friend who had supported them through their ups and downs and had always forgiven them, it showed me how much Hagrid valued friendship. Although Harry and Ron had made a mistake, they soon realized it and apologized to her, which lead to their reunion once again.

Reading Journal Post #3

Question: Explain how a character in the book changed or is starting to change in the section you are responding to.

    In chapter 19, when Harry Potter, Ron Weasly, Hermione Granger, Professor Lupin, and Sirius Black are in the Shrieking Shack, trying to kill Peter Pettigrew, who was disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers, Harry realized that Sirius Black was, in fact, innocent and he was not the one responsible for his parents' death. The betrayer was actually Peter Pettigrew who had revealed Lily's and Jame's confidential hiding place to Lord Voldemort. When Professor Snape unexpectedly entered the Shrieking Shack with Harry's invisibility cloak and was about to harm Sirius and Lupin, Harry changed his mind in a split second. The main reason why Snape wanted to injure them was because they made a fool of Snape as kids. Also, he believed Sirius to be a murderer, which gave him an even better reason to injure him and send him back to Azkaban. However, as Harry was with Sirius now, before Professor Snape could take even one step towards him, he raised his wand and yelled, “Expelliarmus!”. Surprisingly, his wasn't the only one that shouted. Both Ron and Hermione had tried to disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. (Pg. 265, Chapter 19) Sirius and Lupin told Harry that it was Peter, not Sirius, who turned Harry's parents in to Voldemort. Even when Peter knew that James and Lily had trusted him over anyone else, he still did not give up on his idea to give away Jame's and Lily's hiding place to Voldemort so he could become one of his best spies, which would result in Pettigrew's increased fame.

    This quote was very significant to the novel because it showed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione understood what the truth was. This means that later, they would be using the information they had gathered from Lupin and Sirius to help prove that Sirius was an innocent and that Peter Pettigrew was the one who had betrayed Harry's parents and murdered several innocent muggles. Also, this showed that Sirius and Remus had valued Jame's friendship and were ready to die for him which Peter was not. Furthermore, this quote was highly important to me as well because it showed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were now starting to grasp what the truth was, even though it was the majority of the wizards who thought Sirius was the criminal. Because they have different viewpoints than the rest of the people, they are also becoming more independent than they were before, which would help them fight the dark lord, who is supposed to have his powers back according to Professor Trelawney's prediction.

Reading Journal Post #2

Question: Discuss the effectiveness of the writing style of your novel – for example, use of symbolism, imagery, figurative language, etc.

    J.K. Rowling used foreshadowing very efficiently in this novel. When Hermione used the time-turner, which she borrowed from Professor McGonagall to cope up with all her courses, she suddenly appeared beside her friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasly, confusing them. This happened several times in the novel. Moreover, when Hermione told Harry and Ron about how much harder her extra courses were than their regular courses, they became even more puzzled with the thought that Hermione was attending several courses at once. For instance, Ron says, “see this morning? Divination. And underneath, nine o'clock, Muggle Studies. And -” in disbelief, he continues, “look – underneath that, Arithmancy, nine o'clock. I mean, you're good Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in three classes at once?”. But Hermione argues, “Don't be silly, Of course I won't be in three classes at once.” (Page 76, Chapter 6) The author was foreshadowing the events that would happen further in the story as Hermione and Harry save Sirius Black and Buckbeak. Towards the end, before the three of them head home, Hermione told Harry her secret about the time-turner and how she had been managing all her classes that year.

    This quote not only told the readers about how Ron and Harry were noticing that something was unusual with Hermione's timetable, but also about how honest Hermione was. At the end, we got to know that Hermione had promised Professor McGonagall to keep the time-turner a secret from everyone, even her two best friends, even though Hermione knew they could be trusted with anything. Even after Ron's several tries to have Hermione tell them how she was attending three classes at once, she did not slip a word about the time-turner. Certainly, it was hard for her to not tell them about it, but she still kept it a secret so that she could keep her promise, and not lose Professor McGonagall's trust in her. I think another reason that she kept it a secret was because she was worried about Harry's and Ron's safety. She knew if Harry and Ron were given the time-turner, they probably would have been using it for unsafe and illegal purposes, just like Harry used the Marauder's Map to sneak out of the castle and out into the village of Hogsmeade, not even realizing how dangerous it could have been if Sirius Black (running lose around the country) or one of the Dementors had caught him. He was not allowed to visit Hogsmeade with the rest of the students because he did not have the permission form signed by his only living relatives, his aunt and uncle. Lastly, this quote was significant to me because it revealed some of her personality traits and reflected how loyal she had been to Professor McGonagall.

Reading Journal Post #1

Question: Write down a quote or passage that appeals to you and describe why.

    When Harry Potter told Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger about the conversation Harry overheard between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley the last night, he discussed how trouble always seemed to come to him, even though he was not looking for it. When Hermione asked Harry not to go looking for any more trouble and to be “really, really careful”, Harry replies, “I don't go looking for trouble, trouble usually finds me” (Page 60, Chapter 5) This quote, in particular, appealed to me because it was summarizing how Harry had to fight Lord Voldemort to get the philosopher's stone in the first novel; how he had to fight the huge snake, Basilik, in the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Also, it showed how Harry would have to fight till the end even if he does not chose to. I think the reason behind this was because Harry Potter was the 'chosen one', as told by Hagrid, which meant that only he possessed the power to kill the Dark Lord. This quote also relates to almost every other hero in a movie or book, because if it is not true in a story, it would not have a conflict, which is the main factor that makes a story interesting. As a result, if it does not have a conflict, it would be lacking its suspense, foreshadowing, and most of the elements of a story such as rising action, climax, resolution, etc.

    This quote was important to the novel as it was foreshadowing the events that may follow. For example, it might have been trying to tell the readers that Harry will face troubles and many problems later in this book and they will not be as easy to solve as Harry thought they would have been. This quote was significant to me because it might have been suggesting that something unexpected was going to happen later on in the book. I predicted that either Sirius Black was going to find Harry, or that Lord Voldemort would be rising again and would try to kill him. This means that he would have to be extremely careful about not wandering around in or around the school at nights or after their bedtime.

Introductory Post

Book: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Author: J.K. Rowling

Publisher: Raincoast Books

Copyright date: Copyright © J.K. Rowling 1999

Number of pages: 317

    The main reason why I chose this book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is because it is written by a well-renowned author, J.K. Rowling. Moreover, I have read the first two books and I loved them, so I decided to read the next book in the series. The first two books had a wonderful set-up and background information. Almost every character was very well-developed and the books had an exciting plot.  The Harry Potter series has been appreciated by millions of people all around the world. This book is about a wizard, Harry Potter, who unveils his secrets through his thrilling adventures. I am expecting something very exciting full of magic from this book. I am looking forward to read this book with keen interest.