Insane Troll Logic
Chapter 10 -- Halloween. All (deathly) Hallows Eve. Apparently an important holiday in the Rowling mythos. Notable Halloween happenings: Voldemort attacks Harry at Godric's Hollow, the Chamber of Secrets is opened, Sirius Black attacks Ron/Scabbers in Gryffindor Tower, the Triwizard Tournament officially begins, and here, in Book One, our three main players topple a troll and become forever inseparable. Except for all those times they fight and stop speaking to each other for months on end.
The line that best expresses Harry and Ron circa first book: they “thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one.” Oh, this book is cozy; there is something to be said for hijinks with low stakes and low casualties. I get the warm fuzzies seeing Hermione seething and Neville cowering, while Ron and Harry are doing their very best impressions of Bill and Ted - party on, dudes!
But one of the consequences of Harry and Ron behaving like a pair of Quidditch-crazed, adventure-loving knuckleheads in this chapter is that they really step up their animosity towards Hermione. I like that Rowling doesn’t tip her hand here; she keeps things firmly in Harry’s perspective, and the boys and the reader remain oblivious to any suffering Hermione may be going through at the hands of Harry and Ron. She’s a know-it-all whose unsolicited advice couldn’t be more unwelcome, and that’s all there is to it. Harry and Ron are very elitist in their boyish way - there’s the two of them, there are classes, there’s grand mystery and adventure, but as far as the boys are concerned, the rest of the school may as well not exist. Harry gradually broadens his privileged circle of course, but it never goes away entirely. In the case of Hermione, not until Ron’s “nightmare” comment are we really aware how desperately - if ineptly - she’s seeking out the boys’ friendship, and how much their rejection is upsetting her.
The sequence with the troll - it’s the Trio’s origin story, so you’d expect something rather grand, but instead we get silliness and light. Ron immobilizes the troll via happy accident and Harry tries some imaginative (also accidental) wandwork - maybe that ole wand-up-the-nose move could work on Voldemort…scratch that, he doesn’t have a nose… And then there’s the odd staging in the girls’ bathroom. Why does everything important in the early books happen in a girls’ bathroom? Talk about a strange thematic trend. There’s this big scene, and then, of course, the Moaning Myrtle lavatory in Book 2 is not only the Trio’s secret hangout, it also happens to be the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. That’s because for a pre-teen boy, a girls’ bathroom is a Chamber of Secrets. There you go, that's my reading of the symbolism. I know, it is quite literally Insane Troll Logic. But really, look: In the troll scene Harry and Ron come after Hermione into the girls’ bathroom, and this crossing over into Girl-land quickly turns into their proffered hand of friendship. Hermione accepts their offer by pulling her weight, lying to McGonagall and taking the blame. I love this moment, especially the way previously frozen Ron drops his wand in shock! Hermione learns the key lesson she needs to learn in order to become Harry and Ron’s compatriot - that sometimes breaking a rule is the right thing to do. That’s a big lesson in the Potterverse, and Hermione - being rather big on the learning - gets it scarily well. I love that by Book 4, it’s Hermione who breaks the biggest rules with the most panache, thus demonstrating that all goodie-two-shoes are merely overcompensating for their inner blackmailers/revolutionaries/bank robbers/etc.
The final beat of the chapter always makes me giggle. I love that the Trio have a silent agreement to be buddies even before they are reunited back at the common room - Hermione waits up for Harry and Ron, they all grumble out their respective thank yous, and the rest is history. Extra points for the final, super-sweet line: “There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.” Awwwww, like I said, this is one cozy book.
142 days! Next up, Harry's life is in danger during his Quidditch match! Not for the last time either! Boy should just learn to stay off the pitch!
The line that best expresses Harry and Ron circa first book: they “thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one.” Oh, this book is cozy; there is something to be said for hijinks with low stakes and low casualties. I get the warm fuzzies seeing Hermione seething and Neville cowering, while Ron and Harry are doing their very best impressions of Bill and Ted - party on, dudes!
But one of the consequences of Harry and Ron behaving like a pair of Quidditch-crazed, adventure-loving knuckleheads in this chapter is that they really step up their animosity towards Hermione. I like that Rowling doesn’t tip her hand here; she keeps things firmly in Harry’s perspective, and the boys and the reader remain oblivious to any suffering Hermione may be going through at the hands of Harry and Ron. She’s a know-it-all whose unsolicited advice couldn’t be more unwelcome, and that’s all there is to it. Harry and Ron are very elitist in their boyish way - there’s the two of them, there are classes, there’s grand mystery and adventure, but as far as the boys are concerned, the rest of the school may as well not exist. Harry gradually broadens his privileged circle of course, but it never goes away entirely. In the case of Hermione, not until Ron’s “nightmare” comment are we really aware how desperately - if ineptly - she’s seeking out the boys’ friendship, and how much their rejection is upsetting her.
The sequence with the troll - it’s the Trio’s origin story, so you’d expect something rather grand, but instead we get silliness and light. Ron immobilizes the troll via happy accident and Harry tries some imaginative (also accidental) wandwork - maybe that ole wand-up-the-nose move could work on Voldemort…scratch that, he doesn’t have a nose… And then there’s the odd staging in the girls’ bathroom. Why does everything important in the early books happen in a girls’ bathroom? Talk about a strange thematic trend. There’s this big scene, and then, of course, the Moaning Myrtle lavatory in Book 2 is not only the Trio’s secret hangout, it also happens to be the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. That’s because for a pre-teen boy, a girls’ bathroom is a Chamber of Secrets. There you go, that's my reading of the symbolism. I know, it is quite literally Insane Troll Logic. But really, look: In the troll scene Harry and Ron come after Hermione into the girls’ bathroom, and this crossing over into Girl-land quickly turns into their proffered hand of friendship. Hermione accepts their offer by pulling her weight, lying to McGonagall and taking the blame. I love this moment, especially the way previously frozen Ron drops his wand in shock! Hermione learns the key lesson she needs to learn in order to become Harry and Ron’s compatriot - that sometimes breaking a rule is the right thing to do. That’s a big lesson in the Potterverse, and Hermione - being rather big on the learning - gets it scarily well. I love that by Book 4, it’s Hermione who breaks the biggest rules with the most panache, thus demonstrating that all goodie-two-shoes are merely overcompensating for their inner blackmailers/revolutionaries/bank robbers/etc.
The final beat of the chapter always makes me giggle. I love that the Trio have a silent agreement to be buddies even before they are reunited back at the common room - Hermione waits up for Harry and Ron, they all grumble out their respective thank yous, and the rest is history. Extra points for the final, super-sweet line: “There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.” Awwwww, like I said, this is one cozy book.
142 days! Next up, Harry's life is in danger during his Quidditch match! Not for the last time either! Boy should just learn to stay off the pitch!