Blog Post #1: Expect the Unexpected

                                                      Expect the Unexpected 

        In the first two Harry Potter books, The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets, the reader is led to believe many things that are untrue. In The Sorcerer’s Stone the reader expects that Snape is responsible for trying to steal the stone and for letting the troll in. The reader is led to believe that Snape is the antagonist. On page 192 in The Sorcerer’s Stone Harry is talking to Hagrid and says “He tried to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he is trying to steal whatever it is guarding”. In the book the reader usually expects what the author wants them to expect. The expectation that Snape is the antagonist is unfilled in some ways and fulfilled in others. He was not trying to steal the stone; he was trying to protect it. In other ways however he is a bad guy. He does not make any attempt to hide his loathing for Harry, who is an eleven year old boy the first time he meets him. He picks on Harry and his friends relentlessly and it could be argued that the expectation that he is a bad guy is fulfilled in that sense. The reader also expected Voldemort to be defeated, but he lived once again.

            In the second book The Chamber of Secrets the reader expects that the heir of Slytherin is Malfoy. He has no trouble expressing his hatred other students. The reader sees this when Malfoy calls Hermione a “mudblood” on page 112. However, Malfoy is not the heir. Tom Riddle, Voldemort’s sixteen year old self, turns out to be behind the attacks. It is important for the author to give readers false expectations because it would not be fun to read a book in which the ending was easily guessed. It keeps the reader engaged in the text and makes them want to continue reading to discover what happens. Essentially it keeps the readers on their toes.