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The Prisoner of Azkaban starts off in quite the same way
as The
Chamber of Secrets with Harry's birthday. Harry is 13, and like Kevin
the teenager, he seems to have transfigured into something quite unruly
overnight. Harry Potter has become an adolescent, with all its incipient
furies and lustiness (see his reaction to meeting Cho Chang for the first
time!). It's the Summer, so Harry has been imprisoned with the Dursleys
once more. If there's one thing worse than the Dursleys, it's Harry's
Aunt Madge. It's not long before Aunt Madge is blown into a bigger
balloon than Violet in Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.
Harry escapes, sure that the Ministry of Magic
will be on to him in no time, and that he will be expelled from
Hogwarts. He's picked up by the Knight Bus, and deposited at the Leaky
Cauldron, where Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, is waiting for him.
But instead of admonishing Harry, Fudge makes sure that he gets everything he
needs, and waves his misdemeanors away. This is the first sign Harry
has that something is very wrong. Still, the only obstacle Harry has
to overcome is the biting book that Hagrid has sent him for his
birthday. It's not long before Harry's meeting Ron and Hermione
in Diagon Alley. Unfortunately, Hermione chooses to buy herself a
cat as an early birthday present, and inevitably, Ron and Hermione bicker as the
cat, Crookshanks, sets about hunting Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. All Harry
has eyes for is the Firebolt: the most sophisticated broomstick ever
produced. The Wealseys seem somewhat overprotective of Harry, and then
Harry finds out why: Sirius Black is out to murder him. Sirius Black is
considered to be so dangerous that Fudge has even alerted the Muggle Prime
Minister, and the Ministry of Magic has provided the Weasleys with a fleet of
cars to transport them to King's Cross. Sirius
Black, Voldemort's faithful servant, killed thirteen people before he was
apprehended, including one wizard...
Whilst on the Hogwarts Express, Harry and friends
encounter the disheveled Professor Lupin, their new teacher of Defence against
the Dark Arts. They also have a visitation from a Dementor, one of the
sinister Azkaban guards (the wizard prison we learnt about in The Chamber of
Secrets). Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban, which no one else has
ever done before, so the fear is that he may well try to break into Hogwarts.
The Dementors, however, seem far more interested in Harry than looking for
Black. Harry fervently hopes that Gryffindor will win the Quidditch Cup,
but then the Dementors attack him during a game. Harry hears his mother's
dying words in a dream, and believes he may have even seen his father...
But what is that mysterious dog that is stalking him? Will he really die,
as Professor Trelawney believes? And why is Hermione appearing and
disappearing, and acting so strangely? Dumbledore's choice of teachers
seems suspect when a Hippogriff attacks Malfoy in Hagrid's first lesson.
However, Harry seems to have found an ally against the Dementors in the form of
Professor Lupin. But the post of Defence against Dark Arts is not one to
be taken lightly...
There are the usual encounters with the sinister
Professor Snape, and we learn a bit more about his background (surely Alan
Rickman's too old to play him?). Rowling seems to have been delving into
Thomas Bulfinch's The Age of Fable again, with her depiction of Salamanders as
fire lovers. Perhaps she's been also reading some Susan Cooper, as a
Boggart makes a handy plot device. The plot itself is as tight as usual,
with the Prisoner of Azkaban being the most thrilling and disturbing in the
series so far.
authortrek rating: 8/10
Kevin Patrick Mahoney
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K Rowling interviews, |
Life and History of Saint Wendelin -
perhaps the source of "Wendelin the Weird"? Wendelin wasn't a
witch, but heir to the throne of Scotland. He abandoned this life to
become a hermit
Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky - is doubtless the model for Cassandra Vablatsky,
author of "Unfogging the Future"
Arithmancy -
divination by numbers
Arithmancy -
more details on this prophetic art
William
Cadogan, 1st Earl - perhaps the inspiration for Sir Cadogan?
Jonathan
Trelawney, Bishop of Exeter and Winchester - "And shall Trelawney
die! And shall Harry Potter die!" is how this poem might go if
Professor Trelawney is right
Grim -
would appear to be not a large dog, but he is a giant
Evil
Spirits - the Boggart has a brief mention
Susan
Cooper on writing The Boggart - Rowling's not the only children's
writer who work has featured a Boggart. Perhaps Susan
Cooper has influenced Rowling in other ways?
Fairy
Folk - the Boggart seems to have Celtic origins
Information
on Rosmerta - the Celtic goddess who seems to have inspired Madam
Rosmerta
The
Salamander - J K Rowling seems to have been reading Thomas Bulfinch's
The Age of Fable as she describes Hagrid's fire loving salamanders
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