Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Chapters 16 & 17
Match ’em up! Identify the following characters with action they take in Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapters 16 & 17. Write the letter of the action in the space before the character’s name. I will post Answers tomorrow with responses to discussion point posts and my own thoughts. If you disagree with my answers, please do send me an explanation about where I went wrong. Click on “Chapter Quiz” for previous quizzes and discussion points.
1. ______ Harry Potter
2. ______ Hermione Granger
3. ______ Ron Weasley
4. ______ Crookshanks
5. ______ Cornelius Fudge
6. ______ Severus Snape
7. ______ Remus Lupin
8. ______ Sirius Black
9. ______ Sybil Trelawney
10. ______ Rubeus Hagrid
A. Makes an Exam schedule with two exams set for the same time
B. Gives Final Exam on Flubberworms; Sends a note saying Buckbeak lost his appeal
C. Drags Ron into Shrieking Shack
D. Sirius Black’s only ally
E. Makes Prophecy about Dark Lord’s return
F. Scared by Boggart of Professor McGonagall
G. Revealed to be Werewolf
H. Struggles to keep Scabbers quiet and in hand
I. Does not appear in Chapters 16 & 17
J. Comes to witness Hippogriff execution
Discussion Points: Please write out your thoughts about (a) echoes and differences with the previous books, Stone and Chamber, (b) the most interesting elements in this chapter when viewed in the Deathly Hallows rear-view mirror; and (c) the importance of these Prisoner of Azkaban chapter in understanding the meaning of Prisoner and the series as a whole.
I hope after this really easy match ’em up that y’all will write out your thoughts about these antepenultimate chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban. Note the several secret-keepers in the Shrieking Shack and the layout of the scene in Hagrid’s hut, to which, of course, we’ll be returning shortly. And what about Trelawney’s second prophecy? She is almost perfect for the year, having sighted the Grim twice and predicting Hermione’s Easter departure and Harry’s demise (a la Easter?). She’s a clown — note especially her conscious response to the Prophecy she has given — but Sybill is a seer, certainly.
I look forward to your comments.
1.No match 2.A & F 3.H 4.D 5.J
6.I 7.G 8.C 9.E 10.B
This isn’t about your quiz, but has anyone else notice that the Cat, the Rat, and the Dog echo a piece of 15th C political doggerel:
“The Cat, the Rat, and Lovett the Dog
Rule over England under the Hog”
It refers to Richard III (whose emblem was a boar) and his cronies.
(a) Echoes: We have loyal friends, brilliant Hermione, and, most of all, we have the world-turned-upside-down. This is the beginning of Ms. Rowling’s biggest jaw-dropper of an ending, in which almost no one turns out to be who they seemed to be. The revelations that Sirius and Lupin are friends, that one is an animagus Grim and the other a werewolf, and that Peter Pettigrew is Scabbers… Hold on, there’s more!
The Differences? We see the back to Hermione’s new front of standing by her friends no matter what — to the point of recklessness, rule-breaking, and violence (SLAP! Take that, Draco!) — when we learn in the Shack that Lupin is a werewolf and that Hermione has known it for months. We also see that there is more to Prof. Trelawney than Hermione or even the self-important Trelawney knows. No wonder Dumbledore hired her and has kept her on staff all these years. She may not be able to see things herself, but the mysterious other that sees future, pat, and present simultaneously uses her to reveal a warning to the Chosen One. Of course, he doesn’t get it, but we can’t blame Sybill for that.
(b) Deathly Hallows rear view mirror: Count the Secret Keepers in the Shack. There’s Pettigrew the rat secret keeper that spilled to Voldemort and betrayed the Potters and has lived with that secret in his inhuman existence ever since. There is Lupin who is not only a secret werewolf but is also Black’s secret keeper, an animagus secret he keeps from Dumbledore, not out of loyalty to Black or to keep Harry safe, but just to hide his adolescent irresponsibilities. There is Black, the original Secret Keeper, whose secret now is only the sense in which he really was the Secret Keeper who failed the Potters. Hermione has been keeping Lupin’s werewolf secret. And Severus Snape is in the wings with the Invisibility Cloak, with the secret we won’t learn until ‘The Prince’s Tale.’ Why he hates Sirius Black and, like Sirius, can never forgive or forget the mistake he made in urging the Potters to trust Pettigrew as their Secret Keeper. Except for that cleverness, Lily Evans Potter might still be alive, even his (!), and alive in a more meaningful way than in the eyes of an insolent James Potter look alike.
(c) These chapters are important for the book because (1) we have the necessary setting for the big switcheroo under the Invisibility Cloak via Hermione’s Time Turner in Chapter 16 (the scene we re-visit to see with the same eyes but with a much larger and perspective courtesy of our knowledge of the “future”) and (2) we at last are beginning the great adventure of understanding the circumstances of the Godric Hollow massacre. In just a moment, Pettigrew will make his appearance, as will Severus, as will Lupin and Severus. All the secret shadow shelves and heroic/bestial second natures will be in the light of the moon. In terms of the series, these chapters set us up for those revelations and the resolution of these dualities in life and death through the remaining four books.