1. Opening Image (pages 1–17)
A magical community is celebrating the retreat of the evil wizard, Voldemort. One boy has shockingly survived the battle. His name is Harry Potter. He is still a baby, and the encounter with Voldemort has left him with a lightning bolt–shaped scar on his forehead.
A mysterious wizard named Dumbledore drops baby Harry off on the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive—the home of Harry’s aunt and uncle, the Dursleys.
In this chapter, we’re introduced to J. K. Rowling’s famous world of magic. We already start getting hints of what that world is like and who the key players are, but we won’t truly come to understand it until Harry, the baby, is all grown up and presented with his destiny.
2. Theme Stated (page 13)
On page 13, Dumbledore says to Professor McGonagall (who has just morphed from a black cat): “Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won’t remember! Can’t you see how much better off he’ll be, growing up away from all that until he’s ready to take it?”
Like so many Superhero stories, this first installment in the Harry Potter series is about a hero who discovers how special they really are and has to learn to live with it. As “the boy who lived,” Harry is marked as a chosen one, and this story, at its core, is about him coming to terms with that.
3. Setup (pages 18–45)
We fast-forward ten years; Harry is now eleven. He has a miserable life at the Dursleys with lots of things that need fixing. He has to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. He’s an orphan who knows very little about his real parents and never feels like he belongs. And the Dursleys treat him horribly. The stasis = death in this novel is clear: if Harry’s life doesn’t improve, he’s going to wither away.
The problem is, Harry has no idea that he’s special, or that he’s even magical! Strange things do tend to happen when he’s around, though. Like when Harry accidentally makes the glass in a snake cage vanish during a trip to the zoo, releasing the animal from its captivity.
4. Catalyst (pages 45–60)
Harry’s Act 1 world is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious letter in the post (Harry never gets mail!). His Uncle Vernon won’t let him open it and burns the letter before Harry can read it. Then another letter arrives, and another. Soon the house is inundated with mysterious letters addressed to Harry Potter. The Dursleys try to escape the post by hiding in an isolated shack. That’s when a loud knock comes at the door and a giant named Hagrid arrives to tell Harry that he’s a wizard and he’s been accepted to a wizarding school called Hogwarts.
Talk about a break in the status quo!
Harry also learns how his parents really died—at the hands of he-who-must-not-be-named—and about how he got the scar on his forehead. Hagrid wants to take Harry with him. The Dursleys protest. Who do you think wins that argument? Uncle Vernon or the giant?
Exactly.
5. Debate (pages 60–87)
The next morning Harry wakes up, thinking this has all been a dream. Until he realizes he’s still with the magical giant. The rest of this novel’s Debate is a transition from Muggle life to wizard life. Harry has to get ready for school and get ready for everything that goes with that.
Hagrid takes him to Diagon Alley—one of our first introductions to the wizarding world and its secret geography amidst the city of London.
Harry’s transition includes physical preparations (buying spell books, cauldrons, robes, and so on) as well as mental preparations (learning about his past, his fame, and his importance in the wizarding world).
Harry has never felt like he ever fit in before. Will he finally fit in here? And can he ever live up to this epic reputation as “the boy who lived”?
6. Break Into 2 (pages 88–112)
The break from Act 1 to Act 2 is very clear-cut and well-defined. When Harry boards the train for Hogwarts, he’s proactively leaving one world (the Muggle world) behind and decisively stepping into another (the upside-down wizarding world).
He’s got the clothes, he’s got the gear, he’s even got the owl (Harry’s mascot character)! The preparations are over. There’s no mistaking it: Harry is a wizard now.
7. B Story (pages 90–106)
On the train, Harry meets the two people who will become his best friends, his helpers, and his confidants. Ron and Hermione are the twin B Story characters of the novel. They will both help Harry learn the theme of accepting his true destiny as “the boy who lived” and all the responsibility that comes with that.
8. Fun and Games (pages 113–179)
Everything about this novel’s package—the cover, the description, the hook—promises us, the reader, the ultimate premise: a school for witches and wizards! Cool! And boy, does Rowling deliver on that promise.
As soon as Harry boards that train, he’s in a whole other world, and it’s a fun one. There’s a hat that sorts you into houses; staircases that move; classes called “Defense Against the Dark Arts,” “Potions,” and “Charms”; flying lessons; a whole new sport, quidditch; and even fun magic candy!
This world is completely different from the one Harry knows. He’s no longer a nobody who is ignored. Now he is famous and has friends!
But it doesn’t take long to discover that Harry has enemies too. An instant rivalry sparks between Harry and Draco Malfoy (in Slytherin house). Also, Harry is extremely suspicious of a mean professor named Snape, who seems to have it in for Harry.
But despite his enemies, Harry’s Fun and Games is definitely an upward path. He’s loving his new world, and it seems as though Harry has finally found a place where he fits in. Plus, Harry makes the quidditch team, a huge accomplishment for a first-year student.
9. Midpoint (pages 180–191)
Harry’s first quidditch match is his first public outing as his new self. He is now fully ensconced in this new world, and everyone in the stands can see it. His team wins the match (despite Harry’s difficulties controlling his broom), and Harry is celebrated as a hero.
At this point, Harry believes he’s found everything he wants: a place to belong, something he can excel at, and friends. But it’s a false victory. The stakes are raised shortly after when Hermione announces that she believes it was Professor Snape who cursed Harry’s broom during the match. It’s no longer Fun and Games. Something bigger is going on at Hogwarts, and Harry and his friends are determined to get to the bottom of it.
10. Bad Guys Close In (pages 191–261)
During tea, Hagrid accidently slips up and tells Harry, Ron, and Hermione about someone named Nicholas Flammel who has something to do with a three-headed dog that the kids recently bumped into. They know the three-headed dog is guarding something. But what?
The plot thickens!
At Christmas, Harry receives a gift from an anonymous stranger: an invisibility cloak that used to belong to his father.
Soon after, Harry finds the Mirror of Erised, a looking glass that reveals your deepest desire. When Harry looks into the mirror, he sees his parents and feels lonely despite having found his place at Hogwarts. He starts to have nightmares about his parents dying (internal bad guys).
Later, Harry, Hermione, and Ron learn that Nicholas Flammel is the inventor of the Sorcerer’s Stone, which has the power to make someone immortal. They rationalize that this must be what the three-headed dog is guarding.
Meanwhile, the external Bad Guys Close In when Harry suspects Snape of working for Voldemort, and Harry and his friends are caught sneaking around the castle after hours and get put in detention. During detention—served with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest—Harry finds a wounded unicorn and a sinister hooded figure who has been drinking the unicorn’s blood. The scar on Harry’s forehead starts to burn. Harry is certain the hooded figure was Voldemort, who had been drinking the unicorn blood to stay alive long enough to get to the Sorcerer’s Stone.
11. All Is
Lost (pages 261–266)
Thanks to another slipup by Hagrid, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that Voldemort and Snape now know how to get past the three-headed dog guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone. If nothing is done, Voldemort will soon have his hands on the stone and will become immortal (a reverse whiff of death!).
12. Dark Night of the Soul (pages 266–269)
What are they going to do?
Harry, Ron, and Hermione know they can’t let Voldemort get his hands on the stone. Suspecting Snape is behind all of this, the kids go to tell Dumbledore, but the headmaster has left the school on business. And when they try to tell Professor McGonagall that the stone is in jeopardy, she dismisses them, avowing that the stone is safe.
13. Break Into 3 (pages 269–271)
They are left with no other choice. They have to go after the stone themselves. Harry, Ron, and Hermione make a plan to sneak out of their house after hours and try to stop Professor Snape from getting the stone for Voldemort.
14. Finale (pages 271–309)
POINT 1: GATHERING THE TEAM. In preparation of storming a real castle (the Hogwarts castle!), Harry, Ron, and Hermione meet in the common room after everyone has gone to sleep. They have to get past Peeves (the poultergeist) and Neville Longbottom, who tries to stop them from sneaking out and getting the house in trouble.
POINT 2: EXECUTING THE PLAN. The kids reach the third-floor corridor to find the three-headed dog has already been lulled to sleep and the trap door is open. Which means Snape has already been there and they might be too late! The kids head down the trap door after him, encountering a devil’s snare, a wizard’s chess, and a potion test. With each challenge, a member of Harry’s team makes a B Story sacrifice (Ron with the wizard’s chess and Hermione with the potion), so that Harry, the hero, can get to the end and face whatever is waiting there—alone.
POINT 3: HIGH TOWER SURPRISE. Expecting to find Professor Snape in the final room, Harry is shocked to find another professor, Professor Quirrel—whom no one suspected! It turns out he is the one working for Voldemort and plotting to get the stone. Quirrell binds Harry with magic rope, and Harry has no idea what to do! How will he defend himself against Quirrell?
POINT 4: DIG DEEP DOWN. The Mirror of Erised is in the room, and Quirrell makes him look in it, hoping Harry will help him find the stone. This time, when Harry looks into the mirror, he sees himself hiding the stone in his own pocket. He lies and tells Quirrell that all he sees is his own success at school.
A creepy voice calls Harry a liar and asks to speak to Harry directly. That’s when Quirrell unravels the turban on his head and reveals that Voldemort is part of Quirrell. They have been sharing a body. When Quirrell/Voldemort reaches for Harry and touches him, Harry’s scar burns in pain. But Voldemort also cries out. That’s when Harry realizes what’s going on: as “the boy who lived,” he already has the ability to defend himself against Voldemort. Right inside of him.
POINT 5: THE EXECUTION OF THE NEW PLAN. Voldemort commands Quirrell to kill Harry. But Harry, now understanding his own power, reaches out and grabs Quirrell’s face, which causes blinding pain to shoot through Harry’s body. He passes out and wakes up in the school’s infirmary. Dumbledore tells him that Quirrell is dead, Voldemort’s location is unknown (but he’ll surely be back), and the stone has been destroyed. When Harry asks how he was able to get the stone in the first place, Dumbledore explains that he spelled the stone so that only the one who wanted it for selfless purposes could find it. He also explains that Harry was able to protect himself against Voldemort because of the love his mother gave to him (when she died for him); Voldemort couldn’t penetrate that.
Later, after Harry is released from the infirmary, Gryffindor is announced the winner of the house cup, and Harry celebrates with his friends.
15. Final Image (pages 307–309)
Harry, Hermione, and Ron board the Hogwarts express train back to London. At the train station, Harry is met by Uncle Vernon, who is as unpleasant as always. However, Harry is a completely different person now. He’s not the shy, insecure orphan he was before. He’s confident. He has friends. He no longer feels alone.
Harry says goodbye to his friends and tells them that he will use magic over the summer to get back at his cousin, Dudley, confirming that the tides have finally changed for Harry and he is a mirror image of the boy we first met.
WHY IS THIS A SUPERHERO?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone contains all three elements of a successful Superhero story:
A POWER: Harry is not only a wizard, but also destined to be one of the greatest wizards of all time. He is the boy who lived, the boy who defeated Voldemort, marking him as something greater than the rest of his kind.
A NEMESIS: Harry has two primary nemeses: Malfoy (his peer nemesis) and Voldemort (his ultimate nemesis). Both are self-made.
A CURSE: Being marked as “the boy who lived” from such a young age definitely has its drawbacks. As Dumbledore says in the Theme Stated beat, Harry was famous before he could even walk. That’s a lot for a child to live up to.
Cat’s Eye View
For quick reference, here’s a brief overview of this novel’s beat sheet.
OPENING IMAGE: Voldemort has been defeated (for now), and the baby who somehow managed to survive the attack (“the boy who lived”) is dropped off at the Dursleys’ house by Dumbledore.
THEME STATED: “Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won’t remember! Can’t you see how much better off he’ll be, growing up away from all that until he’s ready to take it?” The lesson Harry will have to learn in this novel (and the rest of the series) is how to deal with his status as “the chosen one.”
SETUP: Harry has a horrible life with the Dursleys, who bully him and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. He is shy, overlooked, and lonely.
CATALYST: Mysterious letters arrive that Harry is not allowed to open; finally a giant named Hagrid knocks on the door, informing Harry that he’s a wizard and has been accepted to Hogwarts.
DEBATE: Harry goes to Diagon Alley with Hagrid in preparation for attending Hogwarts and learns that he is famous.
BREAK INTO 2: Harry boards the train for Hogwarts, officially leaving the Muggle world (Act 1) behind and entering the wizarding world (Act 2).
B STORY: On the train, Harry meets his new best friends, Ron and Hermione (twin B stories).
FUN AND GAMES: Harry enjoys life at Hogwarts, where he takes magical classes, learns to fly, and is recruited to play quidditch.
MIDPOINT: Harry wins his first quidditch match (false victory), but soon after learns that Professor Snape was (seemingly) trying to kill him during the game (stakes are raised).
BAD GUYS CLOSE IN: Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn about the Sorcerer’s Stone (which gives eternal life) and discover that Voldemort is after it.
ALL IS LOST: Harry, Ron, and Hermione find out that Voldemort (via Snape) is about to get his hands on the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is being kept in the Hogwarts castle.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL: The kids try to go to Dumbledore for help, but he’s gone, and Professor McGonagall doesn’t seem to take their concerns seriously.
BREAK INTO 3: Harry and his friends decide to go after the stone themselves (to protect it from Voldemort).
FINALE: After passing multiple wizarding challenges, Harry discovers that Professor Quirrell (not Snape) is the one working with Voldemort. Harry defeats Voldemort (for now) by finding power within himself and touching Voldemort’s face and saves the stone.
FINAL IMAGE: At the end of the school year, Harry arrives back home a changed person. He is now more confident and less lonely and has found where he belongs.
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Dude with a Problem
Surviving the Ultimate Test
WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING BOOKS:
The Martian by Andy Weir, The Firm by John Grisham, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Misery by Stephen King
As much as we love our stories about “the chosen one” and those destined to save the world, sometimes, as readers, all we want to do is be inspired by an ordinary guy or gal who rises up to extraordinary challenges.
Enter the Dude with a Problem.
In other words, an ordinary guy or girl encounters extraordinary circumstances.
It’s hard to find a more relatable genre because we are all ordinary dudes or dudettes. And we all know that any ordinary day can become extraordinary in the blink of an eye.
Unlike in Superhero stories, these dudes are not special and not destined to save the world (at least not when the story begins!). They’re just average Joe Schmoes or Jane Schmanes, going about their daily lives, minding their own business, when BAM! Through no fault of their own, they find themselves dragged into a hot mess of trouble that they certainly did not expect nor invite.
And are they equipped to handle this world of hurt they suddenly find themselves in? Seemingly not. But that’s what makes the Dude with a Problem stories so dang good. Eventually, our dudes and dudettes will rise to the occasion and accomplish things that they (and we!) never thought possible!
“Dudes” come in all shapes, sizes, genders, races, and occupations. From Mark Watney in The Martian by Andy Weir (a regular dude astronaut) to Stanley Yelnats in Holes by Louis Sachar (a regular dude kid) to Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (a regular dudette teen living in Panem) to Mitch McDeere in The Firm by John Grisham (a regular dude lawyer). Even Buck in Call of the Wild by Jack London is a regular dude dog!
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Page 17