Talk:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Philosopher's Stone/Chapter 1

Synopsis
The Synopsis of this chapter seems to be the actual text, largely, of the chapter. I'm looking to write chapter summaries... is this the sort of level of detail we're looking for? Or do we want something with a lot less potential for copyright infringement? Chazz
 * We definitely want no copyright infringement or the suggestion of such a thing. Quotations of copyrighted material should be kept professional and under the terms of fair use. Please remove text dumps, especially if they're stolen from Wikipedia. Use the Half-Blood Prince summaries as a guide since those were the first written and have the general style we want here. You're doing a lot of good work here. Keep it up! -Matt 22:48, 19 July 2006 (UTC)


 * How do we make it advanced, I have SO MUCH INFO i want to add but it woiuld amke it advanced. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Purplerains06 (talk • contribs) on 23 June 2007.

Analysis
It is said that "if Harry was actually orphaned on 31 October, as suggested, the story actually opens with Vernon Dursley leaving for work on the morning of 1 November". Well, the way i see it October 31st, 1981, was a Saturday, November 1st was a Sunday (on which i don't quite think Mr. Vernon had to go to work); and on top of that, my (admittedly translated) book says the day was a "dull, gray Tuesday". These kind of inconsistencies should also be mentioned (if they can not be explained), IMO. -- Jokes Free4Me 02:01, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
 * As mentioned, despite many fan sites jumping on 31 October as the date when the Potter family was attacked, there is no evidence in the book to back that up; and as this is not a fan site, and as the date is not important to the understanding of the book, it will be removed. Chazz 04:06, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Having found that the October 31st date is in fact canon (mentioned here, thanks to Jokes Free4Me), I have re-instated it with a comment about the days of the week being wrong, and so what anyway – trivial errors like that don't detract from the book. Chazz 00:17, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

Hagrid did see GH
You mention the following: Hagrid does say, in Chapter 4, that the house was destroyed, though we don't know whether he saw it himself or whether he is repeating what Sirius told him about the destruction.

However, what Hagrid actually says (Chapter 4, page 56, SS) is that he took Harry from the ruined house himself.

It's reasonable to assume Hagrid isn't lying, so he apparently was at the location of the Potter's destroyed home. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.36.59.1 (talk • contribs) on 27 June 2007.


 * Corrected some time back now. Chazz (talk) 21:22, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Halloween?
The article says "Hallowe'en is largely a North American custom; the more widely-celebrated autumn festival in Britain is Guy Fawkes Night on 5 November." This is simply not true, and clearly was written by an American who has made an untrue assumption about Britain, where the novel is set. I have thus changed this section. 86.128.99.136 (talk) 00:42, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Guilty as charged. Chazz (talk) 18:39, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

We can also conclude that although Rowling is a good writer she like alot of her colleagues makes mistakes in further novels.

Recent questions
An editor recently asked two questions that frankly did not belong on this page... but deserve an answer anyway.


 * /i would like to ask if dursleys is such an abnormal family then why dumble dore decides to leave harry there to spend his childhood?

That is covered in significant depth later in the story. The magical protection from Voldemort that was granted to Harry by his mother's sacrifice will protect him until he reaches the age of majority, which for wizards is 17, but only so long as there is a place he calls home which is occupied by someone bearing his mother's blood -- in this case Petunia. Dumbledore is well aware of the dysfunctional nature of the Dursley family, and is worried that Harry will grow up badly distorted by that household, and in the final chapters of book 5 he finally informs us of his relief at finding Harry is unwarped by the experience. But at this point, Dumbledore feels that the risk of damage to Harry's psyche from growing up in the Dursley household is less than the risk of Voldemort's return and the chance that Harry will be murdered without the protection that he can get only from Petunia.


 * /i would also like to ask that being a magic knower he knows everything about,why not his problems and sorrows?

Not quite sure I understand this question. We don't know how much Dumbledore practices Legilimency, but I believe, at any rate, that he does not choose to wander idly through the brains of others. And whose problems and sorrows are we talking about here, exactly?

Chazz (talk) 02:43, 24 March 2013 (UTC)