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.