Blog Post #1- Expectations within Chamber of Secrets and Sorcerer's Stone

Within the first two Harry Potter novels, J.K. Rowling sets the scene of a new wonderful world of magic that this so-called "normal" boy discovers and begins to explore what this new world has to offer. Throughout these first two novels, Ms. Rowling teases readers by introducing several characters who have yet to make a second appearance, this raising expectations to some extent of the readers. Ms. Rowling further contributes to readers' expectations by introducing a world of mystery. Who really is Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived? As we delve further into the series, we see more of his home life and just wonder in awe how this child can have the heart that he does, despite a poor childhood. Furthermore, once in the magical world, this child is forced to grow up fast when his childish adventures turn into a struggle of life and death.

While I have read the entire series numerous times, I continuously have different expectations from the novels. Since I have read them so many times, I sometimes wonder what if such-and-such event took place at a different time in the series? What was J.K.Rowling's meaning behind such-and-such an event? No matter how many times you read the series, you always learn something new each time because Ms. Rowling's world is so complete and so mysterious. As a reader, I place myself in the shoes of the characters and wonder myself how I would react. (I would probably be more like Neville so far in the series) but it is quite interesting to see the characters grow, even in the first two novels. It makes readers wonder how they will progress. It was great to read the novels growing up with the series because it allowed especially my generation to feel a deeper connection with the characters since we shared a similar age to them. Some of our expectations as readers, however will never be met...sadly, I still have not gotten my Hogwarts letter....