I
am choosing to answer the second part of our blog prompt.
I
certainly understand the point that Wolfgang Iser argues by saying that
“expectations are scarcely ever fulfilled in truly literary texts,” especially
when it comes to the first two Harry Potter books. In the first book, we are
introduced to the wizarding world, and are enchanted by their use of magic and
their history. Also in the first book, as naïve as it is, we expect all of our
questions to be answered. You expect to learn what Voldemort has been doing all
these years, why he has returned now, why he tried to kill Harry as a baby,
etc. As for the plot, the entire time we read the book, we expect that the
person trying to get the sorcerer’s stone is Professor Snape. All of these
things are either dodged or proven against our initial thoughts. We get little
to no answers about Harry and Voldemort’s past except that Harry’s mother’s
love saved him and it turns out that Snape was not the bad guy. These surprises
can be exemplified at the end of book 1, on page 298, Harry asks Dumbledore,
“why would he want to kill me in the first place?” to which Dumbledore answers,
“Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You
will know, one day…when you are ready, you will know.” This raises the
expectation that Harry will grow up and learn the reasons for the events of his
past.
In
book 2, we are once again amazed by the magic and mystery that occurs at
Hogwarts. We get more of our main characters’ qualities; Harry’s stubbornness
and tendency to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time (being spotted at
the scene of the petrifications), Hermione’s cleverness (she brews a Polyjuice
Potion successfully at the age of 12), and Ron’s stroke of bad luck (he vomits
slugs for hours after trying to defend Hermione from Malfoy.) We start to fall
in love with these people, root for them when they are down, and get excited
when something good happens to them. We expect for our initial questions to be
answered, we expect the trio to stay out of trouble for once, and we expect for
the staff to stop the attacks at Hogwarts before any one gets we know gets
hurt. None of these things actually happen. Also, throughout the plot, we
expect that Draco Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin who is opening the Chamber of
Secrets and attacking people. We learn that Ginny Weasley is being, for lack of
a better term, possessed by Tom Riddle through the use of his diary. Once
again, our hero Harry is there to fight of another form of Lord Voldemort,
gaining more clues to his past connections with him. Harry learns that Tom
Riddle turns out to be Voldemort, the heir of Slytherin, explaining why Harry
can speak Parseltongue. This also clues us in on the fact that Harry and
Volemort may have a stronger connection than we expected.
It
is important to raise and expectation and then fail to fulfill it because
otherwise, there would be no reason for us readers to keep coming back to the
story. It keeps us on our toes, widens our minds, and makes the books so much
more interesting. If we got the answer to every question we had, it would be a
very boring, dull read. This way, we are allowed to explore endless
possibilities to the plot, none of which we know are for sure true until the
end. If expectations are not met, it keeps the reader wanting more. Without the
failure to meet expectations or prerequisites, we would not be able to be on
the same level as the characters since we know what they know the majority of
the time. It would be far more difficult to get into the series if Rowling was
not one to keep her audience guessing the whole time.
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