J.K. Rowling made a very interesting statement about chapter one of Half-Blood Prince:
I have come close to using a chapter very like this in Philosopher’s Stone (it was one of the discarded first chapters), Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix but here, finally, it works, so it’s staying. And that’s all I’m going to say, but when you read it, just know that it’s been about thirteen years in the brewing.
I wonder what a chapter like this might have looked like in any of the previous books? Thoughts on that?
I think it’s obvious enough that this chapter had been “brewing” for 13 years, because it’s a really clever chapter. It definitely fits best in Book 6, because the recounting of Fudge’s past visits provides both a certain level of comedy and a fast-paced review of the major events of the previous books, outside of the context of Harry’s muddled, Horcrux-holding head.
Is the “president” (“the wretched man”) the Muggle Prime Minister was expecting a call from was the President of the U.S.? She stays very generic and avoids naming either England’s or the other country’s leader, so I don’t think it’s necessary to assume that she was picking on George W. Bush. The assumption would probably be a safe one, though you’d then have to conclude that it’s Blair who’s waiting for the call, and therefore Blair calling Bush a “wretched man.” Perhaps it’s best to avoid the speculation altogether. Still, speculation on the political satire Rowling provides is certainly fair game. She doesn’t shy away from political commentary in the least, as evidenced by her recent article on Gordon Brown for TIME.
An interesting picture of the relationship between the Wizarding and Muggle worlds is presented here. While the Wizarding World is in hiding because of their having been severely persecuted by Muggles for centuries, their vast, controlling power, even over the much bigger Muggle world, is evident. The far-distant president’s memory is modified, so that he forgets to call the British Prime Minister. Kingsley Shacklebolt is placed in the PM’s office for protection. The junior minister is taken to St. Mungo’s. Memories in the west country are modified so that the Death Eater/Giant attack is believed to be a hurricane. And these are just the actions of the “good guys”! The havoc being wreaked by the Death Eaters, all while keeping their identities secret, is chilling.
Which leads to an interesting conversation that I think has come up before. Has the Wizarding World transcended its “oppressed” status? Is it more powerful than the Muggle World?
We also get, in this chapter, the first hint that this book will represent the White Stage of the alchemical process. The dementor breeding causes a chilly, wet fog in the middle of summer. The White Stage is a very wet stage (the White Stage in Deathly Hallows contains Harry’s plunge into the pool to retrieve the sword). The albedo is the stage of purification, and indeed, we will see a clear reference to Harry’s purity of soul later in the book. (In Deathly Hallows, after the white stage, Harry’s head and heart are finally clear enough to see and to follow through with Dumbledore’s plan.) [As usual, I can't recommend John Granger's books highly enough when it comes to alchemy in Harry Potter.]
Chapter One of HBP was a fascinating way to start the book. After being in Harry’s head throughout his painful experiences in Order of the Phoenix, a two-chapter break was just what we needed before getting back into his head in chapter 3.
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I would imagine the discarded chapter in PS/SS to show Fudge introducing himself to the Prime Minister (just like in the first memory he had in the first chapter here) and telling him about the Wizarding World, while possibly recounting the story about Harry Potter defeating Voldemort. This would have introduced readers to this story with a possible subplot about the Philosopher’s Stone with Fudge warning the Prime Minister that someone was trying to steal it. Of course this didn’t fit (JKR thought it more effective to take us to when Dumbledore left Harry Potter at the Dursleys) and the chapter was discarded. I’m only speculating here.
As far as POA and OOTP, the only places in these books where I could see a chapter like this would be in the beginning of POA (Fudge discussing Sirius Black’s escape from Azkaban) and the end of OOTP (Fudge revealing that Voldemort is back). Of course by then JKR probably thought it best to move this chapter from the end of OOTP to the first chapter in HBP. Like you said, it really fits best here.
The President could be Bush and the Prime Minister Tony Blair, although the events of HBP take place in the middle 1990s so the President would be Bill Clinton and the PM John Major. Of course JKR probably meant the former because she was writing HBP mostly in 2004. I think that the description of the President as “wretched man” is not so much an actual description as it is frustration over the horrible week the PM was having and the President’s delay in contacting him only added to that, IMO. I agree that it’s safe to avoid speculation, although it is true that JKR doesn’t shy from satirizing political figures, media, government, etc. elsewhere in the series so why not here too. The chapter really is brilliant.
One assumes the “President” is of the U.S. The beginning of Book 6 is set in 1996, when Bill Clinton was president. Bill Clinton was notoriously late. George W. Bush was notoriously punctual. I don’t think she’s really commenting on the President, in any event, but on the Prime Minister’s state of mind. This chapter works well in HBP. It would have been a very dull opener to SS (in fact, I had a hard time pushing myself through the first few pages of SS as it was, the first time I read it).
Good points, both. It’s probably more likely that “the wretched man” does reflect the PM’s state of mind more than anything else.
But if not, it’s precisely the generic nature of the situation that causes me to think that if anyone in particular were on Rowling’s mind (and it’s hard to think no “president” was on her mind, even if she refrained from taking direct shots in the text itself), it would have been President Bush, given what we know of Rowling’s political outlook.
But being a textualist and all, there’s no particular in-text evidence that “the wretched man” is anyone other than, quite simple, a far-off president.
Lily Luna, I had the same difficult with the first few chapters of Book 1. My first attempt at reading Harry Potter was a false start.
I don’t think I had any problems getting through the first few chapters of Book 1. It drew me in. Gives you that whole leaving the mundane world through the looking glass or over the rainbow or through Platform 9 & 3/4′s sort of adventure & feeling. There’s also some connection to a Wardrobe too.
This chapter makes me laugh, though I always wind up feeling a bit sorry for the Prime Minister. He has very human–of course innately selfish–responses to his myriad of problems. And maybe it’s just because I’m so used to seeing my views wildly misrepresented in the media, but I felt outright empathy when he thought over his opponent’s malicious glee.
His human weaknesses, though, and the satire thereof certainly make for some hilarity. The line “‘He’s only quacking’, said the Prime Minister weakly” gets me every time.
(The same sort of wicked Austenian delight in laughing at foolishness hooked me in the opening of book 1 … Mr. Dursley’s having a perfectly good day shouting at any number of people had me rolling on the floor.) As Mr. Bennet would say, “What do we live for, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?”
I’m glad she waited the idea for this chapter till HBP. It might make sense in the other books mentioned, but its “thirteen years in the brewing” certainly haven’t hurt it and it’s hard to imagine that the scene could have been as fully developed or necessary in the other books.
I try not to think too hard about Rowling’s politics in certain places, simply because I think she and I might not agree on the best means available to certain worthwhile ends.
Just for fun: My first reading experience of Harry Potter was picking up CoS in a department store, opening it at random, and reading a scene involving Moaning Myrtle.
I chuckled a lot rereading The Other Minister, especially the PM’s dismay at the thought of the dementors spreading fear and hopelessness among “his voters.” And the teacup chewing on the corner of his next speech!
I’m not so sure Rowling wouldn’t be criticizing Bill Clinton, who by 1996 had lurched to the center and passed welfare reform . I doubt she liked that policy.
It was just the first chapter of SS that seemed slow. Once Harry woke up in his spidery broom cupboard I was hooked. The first chapter does grow on me when I reread it, though.
Up until this point in the series I was identifying with Harry and the gang, but this chapter, though very funny, was a slap in the face.
My World was until now a backdrop to the story, a nice contrast to the Wizarding World. Now My World is brought to the fore and as much as I want to identify with Harry, I realise that I’m just a Muggle. I’m in the World of Prime Ministers and Presidents, voting and inexplicable natural disasters.
From the Prime Minister’s perspective, his eyes have been opened to another, ‘supernatural’ realm that exists right in/alongside his reality. Other beings with far greater powers than we have are engaging in a war that has effects in his world, but he rarely sees it and cannot influence it.
Reading this chapter reminded me of the ‘spiritual warfare’ genre of Christian fiction a la Frank Peretti where angels and demons fight a cosmic war right here among us, if only we had eyes to see.
The ‘good guys’ in this battle seem benevolent but are very quick to modify memories for our (or is it their?) good. They don’t mind interfering and it smacks of paternal condecension. The Prime Minister is treated almost like a child.
So who am I to identify with? I’m just a helpless Muggle caught up in an invsible battle between good and evil and I hope the good guys really are good, or at least effective in stopping evil. Because I have no way to influence it. The ‘angels’ in this situation are far from perfect (even incompetent?) while the ‘demons’ remain implacably evil and casual in their destructiveness. Not a great cause for hope.
Muggles are dying here and the Wizards would rather I believe that it was due to a natural disaster than a personal evil. I’d rather not have them make that decision for me.
… And thanks Travis for the link to Rowling’s article on Gordon Brown. From the themes that came up in her books, you can see why she admires him so much.
This chapter is the first I read of any Harry Potter books, probably had an effect on this being one of my favorites of the series.
Everyone has good comments, I think Rowling’s political satire makes interesting additions to the scope of the series. I really like how she has points out the prime minister brings in everyone to remove the wizarding portrait including the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I thought that was a nice hat tip to her friend Gordon Brown, who was the Chancellor when she wrote the book.
Library Lily, great quote from Austen!
Don’t know if you’re familiar with the Stephen Fry audiobooks, but he hits that “He’s only quacking” line perfectly. Always makes me laugh.
Lily Luna, good point about welfare reform; hadn’t thought of that.
Black Angus, “I’d rather not have them make that decision for me.” Well said.
Brent wrote, “I thought that was a nice hat tip to her friend Gordon Brown, who was the Chancellor when she wrote the book.”
Brilliant! For some reason, that line had never stood out to me before, but yesterday, while I was listening to it, it slapped me right in the face. “The Chancellor of the Exchequer? Why…?”
Your observation makes great sense.
My favorite part of this chapter is when the Prime Minister says, “But for heaven’s sake – you’re wizards! You can do magic!” . . . and then Fudge gently answers, “The trouble is, the other side can do magic too, Prime Minister.” It really points out how Rowling has defined magic for us through the series as a force of nature to be mastered like a form of energy as opposed to a mysterious, vague power.
I was actually a little startled by the first two chapters of this book because of the change in perspective. I was so used to seeing everything through Harry’s eyes that it was a little surprising to learn about the world from some other way.
“He’s only quacking” makes me laugh every time!
Not to be picky, but did anyone else notice the spelling error in this sentence on page 10 (hardcover): “The site, therefore, of Fudge stepping out of the fire once more, . . .”?!
Interesting comments from everyone. It seems that I’m the only person who doesn’t really like this chapter. In fact, sometimes when I re-read HBP, I skip it altogether.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate the humor or the way the information is presented – I do love the way it’s written. But when I opened my book to start reading, I found that I had written the following on the first page of “The Other Minister”:
While this chapter is a nice tie in with the book, and covers things such as a change in the Minister for Magic, the Ministry of Magic’s realization that Voldemort IS back and Sirius was innocent, it doesn’t do much more. Rowling apparently intended it [the chapter] for several different books and finally felt it belonged here.
I’m still not sure why she seems to feel it was such an important chapter, unless it is a huge foreshadowing of the eventual merging of the two worlds.
The chapter does give a lot of information about what has been happening in both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, but I remember, at the the time when I first read HBP, I kept thinking – well, OK, things are a mess everywhere and no one is safe, but let’s get on with the story.
(And, no, Lily Luna, I never caught the spelling error – amazing. That’s the sort of thing that usually jumps out at me. Nice catch.)
Pat
I find it odd that wizards can transfigure an inanimate object into a living animal (a teacup into a gerbil, a rock into a dog) or conjure birds out of thin air. By the same token, where are the animal rights groups protesting their turning hedgehogs into pincushions and vanishing kittens?!
I also think the title of this first chapter is interesting. I keep thinking of “The Other Minister” as the PM because I’ve become used when reading Harry Potter to thinking of the Minister of Magic, so the PM is the other one. Of course a close reading of the chapter shows that the PM coins the term “The Other Minister” to describe the MOM. So the chapter title emphasizes the difference in perspective. I was going to say that the two worlds are like mirrors to each other, except that there’s an inequality: while the MOM can bounce into the PM’s office anytime, the PM can’t visit the MOM.
With respect to the Black Angus’ first comment about paternalism and wiping muggles memories, I agree that it’s a violation of muggles’ free will. It also reminds me of the movie Men In Black, where they run around wiping peoples memories of encounters with aliens, recruitment visits to their facility, autopsies they’ve performed, etc. to prevent people apart from the Men In Black becoming aware of the existence of aliens in the universe and their visits to our planet.
Travis, I’m glad you liked the Austen quote! I haven’t listened to the audio books, but have heard really good things about Stephen Fry’s readings. At some point I’ll have to give them a listen.
Brent, I agree: great catch! I didn’t know Gordon Brown was a friend of Rowling’s (or that he had been Chancellor of the Exchequer) till reading that article, and totally missed that myself.
I linked to the Brown article off of HogPro the other day and went to Wikipedia to find out a little more about him. It was interesting to read that he has spoken at a Fabian Society conference, given Rowling’s many hat-tips to that organization.
Eeyore, you wrote in your book?! In the words of Mrs. Pince, “Desecrated! Befouled! Besmirched!” … just kidding. I couldn’t resist.
I thought your take on this chapter was really interesting. I’m not sure Rowling thought of the chapter as especially important, just that it fit well and was a good way to update the reader on the effects of Voldemort’s move into the open. Perhaps that could have been handled differently without too much trouble, though it might not have been as funny.
Lily Luna and Black Angus, I think you both made some great points about the balance of equality between the Muggle and Wizarding worlds. I certainly sympathized with the PM against Fudge and Scrimgeour.
In answer to Travis’s original question about whether the Wizarding World has transcended its “oppressed” status, I would say yes–inasmuch as they were oppressed, which was of course never quite as much as the Muggles intended (I presume Travis’s quotation marks are meant to make that point.) In some ways, it would seem that the wizards had the upper hand even during the time of burnings.
But they’ve also chosen the lesser of two evils in the Statute of Secrecy: They don’t have to spend all their time giving magical fixes to the Muggles’ problems or dealing with burnings of wrongly accused Muggles, but they do have quite a bit of effort involved in keeping the Muggles hoodwinked. There are all kinds of ethical issues with that, as Lily Luna and Black Angus have pointed out.
The struggle for equality in these books is fascinating on so many levels. In the Ministry of Magic’s case, as with the centaurs’ and goblins’, it seems more like a struggle for superiority.
Library Lily LOL- you should see all of my HP books. I don’t normally write in books (I’m like Madam Pince most of the time) but I kept making so many notes in all sorts of odd places that I decided it would simplify things if I just wrote in the margins and at the end of the chapters of each book as I re-read them. Actually, I got that idea after reading about Snape’s potions book.
And every time I wrote, I chuckled to myself that Madam Pince would be having a fit if she ever caught me.
I think my reaction to the first chapter might have been different if there hadn’t been so much hype over this being a chapter that Rowling had wanted to use in various other books before she found just the right place. Perhaps my disappointment is just that I was expecting something more spectacular. When I get past that, there are quite a lot of things to enjoy in the first chapter.
Pat
I tried to get at what Rowling was *trying* to do with this chapter by looking at what the chapter actually ends up doing. My list of the narrative effects is:
1. It establishes the increasing seriousness of the war and the Death Eaters threat to the non-Wizarding World.
2. It replaces the highly comic figure of Cornelius Fudge with the more serious figure of Scrimegeour.
3. It establishes the competence and importance of Kingsley. This is a well-chosen bit of characterization, I think, because most of the other members of the Order have already been used for comic purposes and they need a powerful figure to maintain credibility.
4. It characterizes the Muggle Prime Minister as rather feckless and out of his depth. And “the president of a far-off land” is equally “wretched”. Since these two characters are probably the strongest Muggles imagainable, making them seem helpless and easily manipulable eliminates any hope that the Muggle World would be able to fight Voldemort. Eventually it means that Harry (and Ron and Hermione) will be on their own.
5. We are told that Dumbledore is still not co-operating with the Ministry, which begs us to ask, why not? This forshadows the revelation of what Dumbledore has been doing, a major matter in the book.
6. It also shows us that Harry is estranged from the Ministry, which forshadows the fact that he will have no help in his quest to defeat Voldemort.
So, all in all, this chapter does a lot of narrative heavy lifting in a short period of time. It is a pretty efficient expository vehicle, I think, succeeding in providing a natural seeming setting for an info dump while sweetening the exposition with a welcome dose of comedy.
Mike A, that is a great analysis. Spot on in most regards.
One thought I had on this chapter & it echoes some of Black Angus’, is looking at both the PM & Fudge, their first thoughts in regard to all these deaths & disasters is, “how does this affect my political situation?”
This is especially true in regard to the PM. His whole thoughts are taken up not with, oh, those poor people or oh, these things are awful. They are, but primarily, oh, these things are awful & look what they’re doing to my dreams of political power & credibility. His opponent shows the same glee over these things. How can I use these disasters to score points against the PM.
Even with Scrimgeour, I get the idea that he wants to know what Dumbledore is doing not so much for the benefit of Dumbledore & his plans but for the benefit of the MOM. Which, I suppose, is fair. Dumbledore works hard to get the support of the MOM, especially at the end of GOF, but would he be any more open to them than he is with Harry? I’ll let Red Rocker answer that question.
You know the answer to that, revgeorge. But I don’t think openness, trust and honesty are always beneficial qualities in the business of politics and war.
I don’t think they are either. Although I wonder about a free society, supposedly, that so very much wants to cloak everything in secrecy & hide important news from the populace.
Anyway, I’m a tad bit cynical about politicians, even ones who are supposedly working for the good. They too often end up like Fudge & the PM. Even Dumbledore, about whom it cannot be argued that he was tirelessly & single-mindedly working for the downfall of Voldemort, still has his failings. But at least he was working outside the governmental power structure & thus so were the Trio.
On a side note, I see the Caps are up 2-0.
There is one bit of textual evidence that the “far distant country” wasn’t the U.S. The P.M. was sitting up till midnight for the call, but the time difference between London and Washington just isn’t great enough to make that necessary; the POTUS would have been making the call at 8:00 in the evening! I’ve seen it suggested that the president in question was that of one of the Asian Commonwealth countries instead.
Black Angus, I too had a problem with the thought of wizards interfering so cavalierly with Muggle leaders thought processes. What’s more, the same thing bothered me in Deathly Hallows when Hermione modified her parents’ memories in such a way that they forgot they had a daughter. I can’t imagine wanting to forget that a member of your family had ever existed, not even when that person had died very young and broken your heart.
Eeyore, I too was a bit underwhelmed by this chapter. Perhaps that is because it was hyped up too much, or perhaps it just suffers in comparison with the much more interesting Chapter Two.
Lily Luna, I did feel a certain sympathy for the creatures which were temporarily Transfigured from pincushions or teacups, only to wink back out of existence within seconds!
Eeyore, you made me laugh! Also, as someone who didn’t start reading Harry Potter until several months after HBP came out and didn’t discover fandom till just before DH, I didn’t realize there was a lot of hype about the chapter. I had the pleasant experience of reading it with my impressions unhindered. Had I heard it built up as something major to look forward to, it would likely have colored my experience in a similar way.
The creatures that are conjured or transfigured from inanimate objects don’t disappear quite that fast. The PM gives the gerbil to his delighted niece, so it seems to stick around. We don’t know what happens to the rock Cedric transfigures into a dog; probably the dragon eats it! I was more dismayed by the kittens being vanished (I’m sure Arabella will back me up if she’s reading this!). Where do vanished objects go? Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything.
Wouldn’t the Asian Commonwealth countries have PM’s, not Presidents? Also if the PM is waiting up until midnight, it would be 7 pm in DC, not 8 pm. Seven in the evening is not too late for the president to call if it’s being squeezed in after a long day.
I think ‘wretched’ is an expression of the PM’s exasperation with the President, and just means annoying for not phoning at the time he said he would.
Like Eeyore I now find this chapter a bit of a drag to read, though it does provide a lot of information. On the bright side, the chapter calls to mind the classic TV satire from the eighties, ‘Yes, Prime Minister’, in which a harassed and anxious PM is repeatedly out-manouvred by the Civil Service. On the dark side, HBP came out just after the terrorist bombings in London, so at the time in some respects this chapter was an uncomfortable read.
It’s interesting to read people’s concerns about magic and the magical world – from the fate of transfigured kittens to the power of wizards over the muggle world. JKR’s world is a combination of the comic and the sinister that becomes decidedly disturbing if too much logic is applied to it!
Revgeorge, I think the ridiculousness of the politicians focusing on their political careers in the face of death and mayhem is part of what keeps this chapter from becoming a boring bit of exposition. This scene could easily have become the “Ministry of Backstory”—- but it does not. By this time Rowling is a good enough writer that she knows to distract her readers from the exposition by raising some emotion other than information assimilation.
In this case we feel a little bit of pity for Fudge, a little bit of superiority at the befuddlement of the Prime Minister and a little bit of fear at the spread of the dementors. I think this is a pretty good technique for undercutting the “Get on with it already!” response that exposition typically generates. Worth learning for anyone writing fanfic.
As for the “president of a far-off country”, “far-off” in not typically an adjective that a Briton would apply to the United States. I don’t know why not, since the US is further off than Syria, but it just doesn’t seem that far away due to easy air and sea travel.
Nevertheless, my first reaction—- and I think the reaction of most people—- was that JKR was talking about the POTUS. When any character makes fun of the unnamed president of an unnamed country, I think there is a comedic expectation that the country is the US. The POTUS is the only president it really makes sense for, because if it is not him, then it could be any one of fifty other presidents. And without any specific target, the satire of the unnamed man’s lateness and wretchedness falls flat.
Will read the entirety of the discussion on this chapter to see whether I can still add, but in the meantime;
Other people had an automatic association of Scrimgeour’s name with the words Grim and Sour ? I like that bit of smithy-ing on Rowling’s part.
Scrim also reminds me of scrum.
Posted too quickly – In addition to a blend of grim and sour, “Scrim” reminds me of both “scrum” and “scrimmage,” sports and battle metaphors that apply equally well to political battles or fights against dark wizards (Scrimgeour was previously head of the Auror office). And “geour” sounds like a blend of sour and goudge.
Tell you what – anyone who thinks there’s not still a ton to talk about when it comes to the books themselves should notice that this is some of the better discussion we’ve had in some time!
Excellent comments, everyone.
I’m coming in late to this discussion and don’t have much to add, but I just love the first sentence, which captures a feeling that was so familiar to me as a college student (“reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind”). And it seems especially appropriate to open with a guy complaining of extreme reader’s block in a chapter that could have gotten totally bogged down in dull exposition. Almost a wink to the readers – “Don’t worry, I won’t do this to you…”