SPOILER ALERT! I'm assuming if you're reading this blog, then you've read the entire Harry Potter series. But just om case you haven't and you don't like spoilers, I would suggest you not read this post.
Also, please note that page numbers are from the American paperback version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Chapter 2, entitled "The Vanishing Glass," opens about 10 years after the first chapter of the book. There is no sign whatsoever that Harry is living in the house. Yet there is one child who is absolutely spoiled, and over the next few pages, we learn just how spoiled. On page 19, Petunia Dursley says that she wants "everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Dudley is also disappointed on page 21 when he realizes that his 36 presents are two less than he had last year.
Harry is happy on page 22 when he learns that he won't have to go to Mrs. Figg's house and look at pictures of her cats. This may be unlikely but cats seem to point to involvement in the magical world. Over time, we see more and more cat connections: McGonagall is a cat in Animagus form; Filch has a cat named Mrs. Norris; Hermione gets a pet cat named Crookshanks; Umbridge is obsessed with the creatures. Could these possibly foreshadow Mrs. Figg's connection to the magical world later (with the exception of Umbridge, who is introduced after we learn more about Mrs. Figg)?
There is more foreshadowing on pages 24 and 25 to Harry's magical abilities. His hair grows unnaturally fast, an ugly sweater shrinks so it won't fit him, and Harry is transported to the roof of his school after being bullied. At this point we are certain that there is something unusual about Harry Potter.
The family heads to the zoo for Dudley's birthday, and it turns out to be somewhat fun for Harry. He gets to have a lemon ice pop and even is allowed to finish the knickerbocker glory Dudley is unhappy with (23). (By the way, a knickerbocker glory is a sort of ice cream sundae for those who don't know.)
Then, pages 27-28 are when we first see signs of Harry's Parseltongue abilities (though we don't yet know the name). He is able to talk to snakes, a quality we later learn is also possessed by Tom Riddle/Voldemort.
And speaking of the Dark Lord himself, a question speculated by many Potterheads arises here. Is this snake the same snake that would later be Nagini? Some say yes, others no. You decide.
Harry sets the snake free on accident and is punished, of course, by the Dursleys. He laments the ten long years he's spent with the Dursleys after his parents died in a car crash - or so he thinks. He remembers something strange about that night: a "flash of green light" (29). This is, as we now know, the light from the Avada Kedavra curse.
The chapter closes with Harry remembering odd people who have seemed to recognize him, but that normally, he has nobody.
And that finishes my chapter 2 analysis. Stay tuned for chapter 3!
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