“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” works as an introduction to the world of magic. The story plays from the perspective of Harry Potter, who is also just discovering magic. Therefore, the reader, like Harry Potter, is introduced to the nuances and establishments of the magical world in this book.
Like the main character Harry Potter, as the reader advances in the book, they are tackled with a vast history of magic, magical beings, items of magical significance, and cultural nuances that are very interesting to read. Furthermore, the story also has a tight-knit plot which sometimes digresses to describe the world of magic but eventually falls back and moves forward without effort.
This is the first novel in the seven-book series narrating the conflict between good and evil in the wizarding world. So, this book serves as an introduction to this world and its characters. Furthermore, the threat of Lord Voldemort merely looms over Harry Potter in this book, as Voldemort is still a spirit possessing Professor Quirrell and cannot perform any magic directly like he used to when he was in his human form.
The introduction to “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J. K. Rowling starts with an unusual day for Mr. Vernon Dursley from Privet Drive, who sees a lot of strange things like people in weird cloaks and a cat reading maps and signboards. Eventually, it is revealed that these people are all wizards or witches and are celebrating a great historical event – that of the vanquishing of the Dark Lord Voldemort.
Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, orders Hagrid to safely get Harry Potter from the wreckage of his house and then leaves him at the doorstep of the Dursleys, who are Harry’s only blood relatives.
The introduction to this novel is an example of building some suspense by giving context to the world you, as a reader, are supposed to be introduced to. J. K. Rowling chose to describe the scene of Harry being brought to the Dursleys before he was adopted by them. Only later is Harry’s life with the Dursleys shown, establishing not only pity for the Dursleys’ treatment of Harry but also an interest in what is going to happen to Harry.
The beginning of the rising action for this novel occurs when a lot of letters from Hogwarts, addressed to Harry are delivered by owls to Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon takes his wife Petunia, his son Dudley, and his nephew Harry Potter far away, hoping to prevent these letters from coming. However, Hagrid finds the place, delivers Harry’s letter despite protests from Uncle Vernon, and conveys to Harry that he is, in fact, a wizard.
The next day, Hagrid and Harry travel to London to purchase his school items. They visit several places, including the Gringotts bank, where Harry gets his money to buy things. Hagrid also visits a vault and collects a small package from there and claims that it’s ‘top secret’ when Harry asks him about it.
Harry also gets his new wand from Ollivanders and is told by Mr. Ollivander that his wand is related to the wand of Lord Voldemort and that both their cores contain phoenix feathers from the same bird.
Harry boards the Hogwarts Express, marking Harry’s proper immersion into the wizarding world. He meets a boy named Ronald Weasley, who ends up becoming his best friend. He also meets Hermione Granger, a girl who is slightly bossy in Harry’s opinion and knows a lot more about magic even before joining Hogwarts. Harry also meets another boy called Draco Malfoy, whom he doesn’t like much.
The rising action in this novel takes a drawn-out role due to the climax of the novel being short and immediate. Since this is the first book in the series, it is understandable that a lot of it has been spent on establishing the story world, the backstory, and the characters. Interestingly, the narratives of later books do not have such a long establishment for rising action, signifying how important the drawn-out rising action of this book is to establish later books.
In Hogwarts, Harry is sorted into the Gryffindor house along with Ron and Hermione. During their flying lessons, Draco Malfoy, who has bullied a boy named Neville before, snatches his ‘Remembrall’ and challenges Harry Potter to fly and catch it. Harry does so with great ease, and Professor McGonagall is impressed with his flying abilities.
Harry Potter is recruited into the Gryffindor Quidditch team and becomes the youngest Quidditch player in a century, and helps his team win the first game.
Eventually, Harry, Ron, and Hermione end up encountering a dangerous huge three-headed dog when they get lost in the third-floor corridor, which is out of bounds for students. They make a narrow escape, and are surprised by the presence of this dog in the school premises.
After Ron makes fun of Hermione for being an “insufferable-know-it-all”, she skips dinner and cries in the bathroom. However, a troll enters the castle and heads to the bathroom that Hermione is in. Harry and Ron face the choice of saving their lives by running away or saving Hermione by fighting the troll. They choose the latter.
They fight off the troll with Ron eventually making the troll drop its club on itself. The encounter with the troll cements the friendship of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and the three spend most of their time together after this.
I believe that friendship, in a way, is about making a choice and sticking to it, no matter what happens. The instance of friendship made by Harry with Ron and of the duo with Hermione is a very good example of this opinion of a friendship’s inception. It is their commitment to stick to this friendship throughout this book, and in later books, that makes them almost solely, the three most important characters of this book. Together, they are probably the most powerful characters in this book and series.
After a newspaper report about a break-in into the Gringotts bank piques Harry’s interest, as he had been to Gringotts with Hagrid the same day as the break-in he starts researching it with Ron and Hermione. It also occurs to him that Hagrid had cleared the contents of a vault on the same day, and the report mentions that nothing was stolen during the break-in.
Hagrid tries to tame a dragon, which he received from a stranger in a pub, names it Norbert, but is unsuccessful in taming it and is forced to send it to Ron’s brother, who works with Dragons in Romania. Also, Harry is gifted with an Invisibility Cloak for Christmas by someone who claims it was Harry’s father’s and that he is merely returning it to him.
Parts of this story where there are events like Hagrid’s interest in taming a dragon and Harry receiving the Invisibility Cloak or even Harry seeing the Mirror of Erised are cleverly intertwined into the major plot of the story. Despite their initial disconnection with the plot, they eventually become essential to the progression of the story.
Meanwhile, they suspect their potions teacher Snape as the perpetrator of all these incidents to get to the stone. They encounter several occasions where Snape tortures and questions another teacher, Professor Quirrell. Harry, Ron, and Hermione run into a lot of significant clues to deduce that several of these events must be related and that the dog is guarding something that was in the Gringotts vault.
The turning point in this novel comes with Harry learning about the Philosopher’s Stone, which happens after some research. Harry, Ron, and Hermione find out that the item in question is something called a Philosopher’s Stone, which is very valuable. It is said to transform other base metals to gold and produce the Elixir of Life, which makes its drinker immortal.
Harry and Hermione, along with Neville and Malfoy, are caught roaming in the castle at night and are sent for detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. There, they encounter a dead unicorn and a cloaked figure drinking its blood. Harry’s scar starts hurting as the figure approaches him, but he is saved by a centaur called Firenze.
Firenze tells Harry that the cloaked figure is the spirit of Lord Voldemort. He also hints that Lord Voldemort is trying to steal the Philosopher’s Stone from Hogwarts to regain his physical form.
Back in the castle, Harry, Ron, and Hermione realize that the stone is not safe and that they have to act. This marks the peak of the rising action in this novel, as they bravely cross several magical barriers laid by the teachers of Hogwarts to prevent anyone from getting to the stone.
Finally, Harry reaches the last barrier and is surprised to find Professor Quirrell there, who it turns out, was the culprit all along. Quirrell is unable to get the Stone because of the challenging hurdle in the form of the Mirror of Erised which Harry had previously discussed with Professor Dumbledore.
I personally believe that the novel “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” serves as a test battle for Harry and his friends, in that, while there are threats looming around them, their exposure to serious damage is minimal compared to the rest of the books. The progression of increasing threats as the characters grow up makes this book series a very apt immersion into the dangers of this world for children.
The climax is signified by Harry’s confrontation with Voldemort. It is revealed that Lord Voldemort possesses Professor Quirrell and Voldemort’s half-formed face had been strategically hidden under Quirrell’s turban in the back of his head. Finally, Harry thwarts this attempt to steal the Stone by touching Quirrell’s hand and realizing that it disintegrates on contact with Harry’s skin.
Finally, the falling action comes when the whole school praises Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s bravery when they realize what had happened. Furthermore, Albus Dumbledore decides to give points to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville which is enough for Gryffindor to win the House Cup.
The novel ends in Denouement of the issue, with Professor Dumbledore explaining to Harry that the owner of the Philosopher’s Stone, Nicolas Flamel has decided to destroy it and that it is safe from attempts of being stolen again.
FAQs
How many points did Albus Dumbledore give to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville at the end of Philosopher’s Stone?
He gave Hermione 50 points for her “use of logic in the face of fire”. Ron Weasley got 50 points for the “best-played game of wizard chess that Hogwarts has seen in many years”. Harry Potter received 60 points for “pure nerve and outstanding courage”. Finally, Neville Longbottom was awarded 10 points for standing up to his friends.
Why is Harry Potter 1 called the Sorcerer’s Stone?
“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was re-titled in the USA as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone because the publishers in the USA thought that the word ‘Sorcerer’ would associate more with magic than the word ‘Philosopher’. They assumed that the word ‘Philosopher’ would imply that the book is about the discipline of Philosophy which is not a popular reading category in the demographic of children or young adults.
Why does Professor Quirrell’s hand burn when he touches Harry?
Professor Quirinus Quirrell is possessed by Lord Voldemort, and when he tries to attack Harry, his skin starts flaking rapidly. This is because anything Voldemort possesses cannot touch Harry’s skin. Harry is protected by the old magic of love from his mother which was activated when Harry’s mother Lily, sacrificed herself to protect Harry.
