Foreshadowing is when an author drops subtle hints or clues about something coming later in the story. Rowling did a lot of this, and she’s brilliant at it. And of course, there’s plenty of foreshadowing in Sorcerer’s Stone. Day 2 discussion focuses on Rowling’s use of foreshadowing in the first novel, and it’s a simple discussion starter:
Now that you’ve got the knowledge of all seven books, where do you see clever foreshadowing in Book 1? What’s your favorite foreshadowing from the first book? What things from the first book have taken on new and enhanced meaning since the release of Deathly Hallows?
One of my favorites is Sirius’s motorbike – a device which seemed so innocuous in book one, but which ended up belonging to one of the key players in the story and being the means of magical escape from Privet Drive for book 7. Think about Rowling’s parallelism here: Sirius’s bike brings Harry to 4 Privet Drive for the beginning of his 7 years there, and it takes him away at the end of his 7 years there.
Today, we begin our celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the U.S. The book was unfortunately renamed for publication in the U.S. (originally titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – sadly, this eliminated one of the first concrete alchemical references, at least in the U.S. editions). While it’s my practice here at The Hog’s Head to use the book’s original name, I’ll be using the U.S. name for just this week, since it’s a specific celebration of the U.S. release.
There will be lots of fun discussion this week, but this intro post is sort of a free-for-all discussion. Tell us about your experience with the first Harry Potter book. Favorite quotes? Favorite moments? Did you start reading it when it was released, or did you come to the series later in the game?
I was given a copy of the first book back when I was, for religious reasons which I now consider quite silly, opposed to even reading the books. Begrudgingly, I gave it a try, but I set it down after a chapter or two; I was determined not to like it. Probably a year later, I decided to watch the movie. Enough of the book’s magic had been translated onto the screen to convince me to re-read the books, and I flew through the five that were available at the time.
Update: It has come to my attention that there is an important literary week that is observed which overlaps with our Sorcerer’s Stone Week and our October Scary Story festivities: Banned Books Week. Given that we’re a Harry Potter site, we simply have to spend some time on that. As such, I’m slightly changing the dates for Sorcerer’s Stone Week. It will now begin on Sunday, September 21 and run until September 27. The last day of SS Week will overlap with the first day of Banned Books Week. We will also begin our Scary Story Month during Banned Books Week. Details to come! ~ TJP
Several important items:
- The winner of the September Hog’s Head Giveaway is Eric! Eric, send an E-Owl with a shipping address, and I’ll get your free copy of the 10th Anniversary edition of Sorcerer’s Stone out to you right away.
- If you want to be made aware of upcoming giveaways, make sure you’re subscribed to The Hog’s Head!
- The winner of the second giveaway, at The Hog’s Head Facebook page, is announced on the “Wall” there. Be sure to “become a fan” there to be alerted to future giveaways on Facebook.
- Sorcerer’s Stone Week starts on Sunday, September 21! I’ll post details of what’s forthcoming for SS Week sometime over the weekend.
- The Hog’s Head will have commentary on the subject of Banned Books during the week of September 27 – October 4.
- Stay tuned also for details about October at The Hog’s Head. It’s gonna be a blast. Contests, giveaways, scary stories, spiked pumpkin juice, and lots of literary analysis of supernatural horror in literature!
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