CAL Book club Harry Potter Week 1

[elliecat17]

Welcome to the first week of Harry Potter. Please feel free to join in with any part of the discussion at any time. Also feel free to tag friends and draw them in, or to add other questions then the ones offered. Finally do not feel like you need to answer all of the questions.


Questions for chapters 1-6!

1. What was Harry's home life like before finding out about his secret past?
2. Why do you think the magic community allowed him to live with Muggles for so long? Why not take him in themselves?
3. Why do you think the Dursleys lied about how his parents died?
4. Any one have thoughts as to why they are so scared of the magical world?
5. What are your impressions of Dudley?
6. What are the advantages to Harry not having known how special he is before he starts school? Disadvantages?
7. How would Harry be different if Dumbledore decided that he should be raised in the magical world, instead of with the Dursleys? Did Dumbledore make the right decision?

Happy Reading!!!

[muscari]

Oops, behind already! But will lurk for the time being =)

[therealbug]

I just want to say I LOVE that Sirius is mentioned in the first chapter.

JK master planned this series so well!

[cali]

Hey, I'm actually not behind on book club for once! Thanks for posting elliecat17

1. What was Harry's home life like before finding out about his secret past?

Horrible! I might be too much of a Sensitive Sally but I felt so bad for him and was so pissed at the Dursleys for how they treated him. Seemed so unnecessarily mean!

2. Why do you think the magic community allowed him to live with Muggles for so long? Why not take him in themselves?

I guess they wanted him to experience"normal life" for a while. I don't think they foresaw how badly he would be treated!

3. Why do you think the Dursleys lied about how his parents died?

Because they're assholes! Lol No, seriously because they're obsessed with hiding anything "magic" related from him.

4. Any one have thoughts as to why they are so scared of the magical world?

Honestly, no, I really don't understand it. Maybe because Mrs. Dursley is still bitter about her sister being treated better due to her abilities??

5. What are your impressions of Dudley?

Hate. Him. He's a horrendous spoiled brat and really mean on top of it.

6. What are the advantages to Harry not having known how special he is before he starts school? Disadvantages?

Advantages: probably avoided a lot of frustration because living with the Dursleys would have been a lot more unbearable if he'd known.

Disadvantages: he's pretty clueless about everything magic and now he's starting at Hogwarts.

7. How would Harry be different if Dumbledore decided that he should be raised in the magical world, instead of with the Dursleys? Did Dumbledore make the right decision?

Hmmm... maybe due to his celebrity status in the magic world he would have more of a sense of entitlement and maybe be kind of stuck up. I think growing up the way he did taught him some humility. I'm not sure it was the right decision though because he was treated so cruelly.

[skategirl128]

1. What was Harry's home life like before finding out about his secret past?
It was horrible. I think he was very mistreated by the Dursleys.

2. Why do you think the magic community allowed him to live with Muggles for so long? Why not take him in themselves?
I think they wanted Harry to be able to be "normal." Obviously that didn't happen with the Dursleys. I also think that no one in the magic community really knew what to do with young Harry- it was a tough choice for everyone. The only living relatives were the Dursleys so I think the magic community left it alone.

3. Why do you think the Dursleys lied about how his parents died?
They were obsessed about blocking anything magic from Harry. I think they were so scared of the magical world and Harry's parents were a part of that. They're also jerks to Harry in every way and this was another way they could control him and what he knew.

4. Any one have thoughts as to why they are so scared of the magical world?
I think Mrs. Dursleys experience with her sister clouded her judgement of the magical world. I also think that because it's "different" and "unexplainable" that many people would be scared of the magical world.

5. What are your impressions of Dudley?
He's a jerk and an entitled one at that. He is spoiled rotten by his parents and is terrible to Harry.

6. What are the advantages to Harry not having known how special he is before he starts school? Disadvantages?
Advantages- he has so much to learn from the right teachers. He doesn't have a sense of entitlement that he might have had he known how special he was. It's hard for a child to take in that kind of knowledge.

Disadvantages- he has so much to learn to "catch up" to his magic practicing peers. He also has no idea about the magical world at all which is totally new to him.

7. How would Harry be different if Dumbledore decided that he should be raised in the magical world, instead of with the Dursleys? Did Dumbledore make the right decision?
I think he would be totally different. He would have a different sense of entitlement had he grown up there. The grown ups in the magical world already have an elevated idea of Harry that it would have been hard for him to grow up without being treated as some sort of "royalty." I don't know that Dumbledore made the right decision as hindsight is 20/20 but I think that placing him with his relatives was the right thing to do at first. Keeping him there is what I disagree with once they saw how mistreated he was.

[elliecat17]

Gosh I'm loving all the posts!
1. What was Harry's home life like before finding out about his secret past?
Clearly it was miserable. I shudder to think about a child living under a staircase, and never having anything to truly call his own.

2. Why do you think the magic community allowed him to live with Muggles for so long? Why not take him in themselves?
I think that the Wizarding community was in awe, and possibly a little scared of a baby who could defeat the greatest dark lord of all time. I also don't think they thought it would hurt him, I mean there are plenty of wizards who had come from the muggle world.

3. Why do you think the Dursleys lied about how his parents died?
I think their fear of all things different, as well as their wish to squash all things magical in him.

4. Any one have thoughts as to why they are so scared of the magical world?
I think some of this comes from Petunia's experience with her sister being made much of for her magical abilities. I also think that some of it might be fear. Her sister was killed for being a witch after all.

5. What are your impressions of Dudley?
He is the worst sort of spoiled brat! But I also feel sorry for him, because he is a product of his environment.

6. What are the advantages to Harry not having known how special he is before he starts school? Disadvantages?
Harry did not have an inflated sense of ego, and I think that this will help him in the long run. I also think it's remarkable that he was not someone who felt sorry for himself.
One of the disadvantages that he faced was that he didn't know anything about the world that he was entering into. It makes it hard for some people to see him as the wizard who defeated Voldemort.

7. How would Harry be different if Dumbledore decided that he should be raised in the magical world, instead of with the Dursleys? Did Dumbledore make the right decision?
I really think that if Harry had been raised in the wizarding world that he would have been a totally different person. I don't know that he would have freed the boa constrictor, nor that he would have been as humble. I think he would have been a stuck up little prick had he been raised in the magical world, because he would have felt entitled. I think Dumbledore made the right decision at the time, because I think he hoped Harry would have a more normal childhood outside of the wizarding world

[cali]

Reading all the posts I keep thinking how sad the first few chapters are. For example, the zoo scene truly broke my heart. First the Dursleys grudgingly take him along while complaining about it in front of him the whole time then they buy the other two boys ice cream and basically ignore him until they're guilted into buying him the cheap popsicle by the ice cream woman. Then they give him Dudley's leftovers at lunch. Ugh, they're just awful, it made me so sad!!!

[rslh10]

Y'all know I'm creepin this thread!!!!

[elliecat17]

rslh10 just join! You don't have to creep. Everyone is welcome!

[cali]

Jun 28, 2016 6:20:41 GMT -5 elliecat17 said:

rslh10 just join! You don't have to creep. Everyone is welcome!

This!

[elliecat17]

Jun 28, 2016 21:49:50 GMT -5 @eliida said:

Jun 27, 2016 20:19:54 GMT -5 cali said:

Reading all the posts I keep thinking how sad the first few chapters are. For example, the zoo scene truly broke my heart. First the Dursleys grudgingly take him along while complaining about it in front of him the whole time then they buy the other two boys ice cream and basically ignore him until they're guilted into buying him the cheap popsicle by the ice cream woman. Then they give him Dudley's leftovers at lunch. Ugh, they're just awful, it made me so sad!!!

This has always broke my heart, too. It never really made sense to me why the Dursleys chose to keep him if this is how they treated him.

There is a theory among avid Potter fans that it was because Harry was a horcrux. So while the Dursleys were naturally all of these things it was augmented by the walking horcrux (Harry) living in their home.