Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone

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To begin with, especially in the beginning of the book, the reader must use prior knowledge and prediction techniques to fill in the various gaps in the book. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is written in the third person point of view. However, it gives the reader a surplus of information about how the characters are feeling and what they are thinking. Due to this, many of the questions the characters have, the readers have as well. There is no dramatic irony within this book, which provides the readers with plenty of opportunities to fill in the gaps with their own imaginations and guesses until the answer is revealed. The first example of filling the gaps the reader is introduced to is “ It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.” …show more content…

As the reader, we are asking what significance this cat could have and why it was introduced. Later in the day, Mr Dursley also encounter other peculiar things that do not seem to happen on the day-to-day basis such as people in cloaks and flocks of owls flying down the streets. The cat is mentioned again a few pages later “It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive.” (Rowling 12). Again, we are asking ourselves what significance could this cat possibly have to the plot of the book. As I was filling the gaps, I initially thought the cat was just an old abandoned cat surveying the neighbourhood. However, in the next few lines, I was proven very wrong. “A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you’d have thought he’d just popped out of the ground” (Rowling 12). This man who we are puzzled about is revealed to be Albus Dumbledore. He had noticed the cat and whispered to himself “I should have known.” (Rowling 12). The readers are trying to fill the gaps as

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