 Drama: June 11, 2014 Issue [#6363] |
  Drama
This week: The Pleasure of Re-Reading Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  
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| I conduct Harry Potter Quizzes, and thus have the enviable task of reading the books several times. Each time, I get something more out of the reading, something that I didn't get before. Lately, I've been putting post-it notes all over the books to try and discern patterns -- and one of the insights I gained is that the inherent drama in the situation changes when you already know what is to come. |
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Dear Reader,
(Warning! Harry Potter spoilers ahead!)
Re-reading J.K. Rowling's entire Harry Potter series for the I've-lost-count-eth time, I find myself responding to the situation I'm reading itself, and also to what the situation foretells, since I'm already aware of that. I find that I'm enjoying the process hugely, since the nature of the drama involved now changes.
I'll give some examples:
In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione are visiting Mr. Weasley in hospital, and, at one point, find themselves in a ward with patients who are long-term residents of the hospital. It's Christmas time, and here is what happens at the bedside of one of the patients:
"Look, Broderick, you've been sent a pot plant ..." said the Healer, bustling along to the mumbling man, setting a rather ugly plant with long, swaying tentacles on the bedside cabinet ...
At the first reading of the book, the drama of the situation probably doesn't register, except maybe that the reader wonders why someone would consider an ugly pot plant to be a good Christmas gift for a patient. It is revealed later that the plant is in fact, a killer, and strangles Broderick before he can recover fully and divulge some vital information that the Death Eaters want kept hidden.
When I re-read, I feel the heightened tension of the Healer's dialogue, knowing what is to come. I find myself stopping at passages like these and thinking a bit ... they must be difficult to craft, these foretelling-type passages -- they have to be interesting enough in themselves, give a gentle hint about what is to come (rather ugly plant) without giving it away completely ...
Here's another one:
The street was not very busy, nobody was lingering to chat, just hurrying towards their destinations. The exceptions were two men a little ahead of them, standing just outside the (pub) Three Broomsticks. One was very tall and thin; squinting through his rain-washed glasses Harry recognised the barman who worked at the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog's Head. As Harry, Ron and Hermione drew closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms. They were barely feet from him when Harry realised who the man was. "Mundungus!"
This extract from the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sounds like it is there just to give the atmosphere of the place and to build up to a meeting with Mundungus, who, it turns out, has been stealing Harry's late godfather's possessions. The scene builds up to a confrontation between Harry and Mundungus about this. However, it is when we read the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that we stumble upon the full impact of what happens here. Mundungus is, in fact, selling stolen items to Aberforth, who owns the Hog's Head. Among the objects Aberforth buys, there is a mirror. In book seven, Aberforth uses the mirror to save Harry's life. Suddenly, we understand the real reason why Rowling described a seemingly-throwaway scene in such detail. What happens here has a huge bearing on the plot of the entire series.
And here's one from the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:
Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Harry turning back for a last look at the (Weasleys') house. He barely had time to wonder when he'd see it again when they were back: George had forgotten his box of Filibuster Fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. They had almost reached the motorway when Ginny shrieked that she'd left her diary. By the time she had clambered back into the car, they were running very late ...
A scene which leaves us chuckling at the family's antics, and perhaps shaking our heads at the familiarity of it, since most of us have experienced dashing back to the house for something when we're on a tight schedule. Quite dramatic in itself. It's only later in the book, and further into the series, that we realise the sinister bit in this passage. The diary actually contains a piece of Voldemort's soul in it -- this bit of soul possesses Ginny and gets her to attack people and animals at school during the school year. Re-reading that passage, I wonder what would've happened to the series had Ginny just left her diary behind, instead of making her father turn the car around to go back and get it.
Here's a scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the seventh book. Scene slightly edited). :
... He stood at the edge of the frozen pool, his teeth chattering horribly. He placed the pouch containing his wand and his mother's letter on the ground ... and prepared to jump.
The scene is vivid enough in itself. Harry, alone in the forest, about to jump in to a frozen pool to retrieve the sword that will help him defeat his enemy. What makes this bit even more interesting, on the re-read, what Harry doesn't remove and put on the ground when he takes off the pouch from around his neck. He leaves a locket on -- a locket that contains part of his enemy's soul. When he jumps in to the water, this locket almost strangles him. He lives only because Ron arrives in time to rescue him from its clutches. While re-reading this paragraph, I was thinking in my head -- "The locket, Harry! Remove the locket before you jump!"
And a final one from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book:
" ... Kindly wait outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her timetable, then we can go down to the feast together."
Harry went back into the corridor. He only had to wait a few minutes, then Hermione emerged looking very happy about something, followed by Professor McGonagall, and they three of them made their way back down the marble staircase to the Great Hall.
All we are told here is that it took a few minutes and made Hermione Granger very happy. Actually, Professor McGonagall was giving her a Time Turner, so that she could attend several classes at the same time. This turns out to be the most important object in the book -- it helps Harry and Hermione to save two innocent lives. Re-reading it, I admire the way Rowling has handled it. It was a 'quick word' and therefore seemed unimportant -- but Hermione was 'very happy', so obviously it was something important ... !
Re-reading has definitely helped me admire the craft of the writer, knowing what is to come means I can appreciate the lead-up to it!
Thanks for listening,
Sonali |
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My last Drama Newsletter was a while ago -- "Drama Newsletter (September 12, 2012)" ! Thank you Lunarmirror  for this response:
I wish I was a part of this class. It sounds so fun 
A question:
Which are your favourite books to re-read, and which books would you never read again? Why? |
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