Chapter Three – The Letters from No One

[sun-star]

This chapter opens with the repercussions of the previous chapter’s trip to the zoo. The Dursleys punish Harry by confining him to his cupboard until the start of the summer holidays, by which time Dudley has broken his birthday presents and run over Mrs Figg. We learn that Mrs Figg broke her leg tripping over one of her cats and she’s not as fond of them any more; when Harry visits her, she lets him watch television and eat chocolate cake.

Are the Dursleys are keeping Harry away from school?

Is the picture we are given of Mrs Figg in this chapter fully consistent with her later behaviour when we know she is a member of the Order of the Phoenix, or do you feel JKR has changed the character over the course of the books?

In the summer holidays, Harry spends as much time as possible out of the house to escape Dudley and his gang. Harry has now left primary school, and is destined for the local state comprehensive, Stonewall High, while Dudley has a place at Vernon’s alma mater, Smeltings. The contrast between the two schools provides some comedy, but also indicates once more the Dursleys’ lack of concern for Harry: Aunt Petunia refuses to buy him a proper uniform, instead dyeing some of Dudley’s old clothes grey, while Dudley is bought an elaborate uniform.

Smeltings is a parody of a traditional British public school like Eton. In many ways, so is Hogwarts. Hogwarts has some traditions which are just as brutal as the sticks students hit each other with at Smeltings, such as the punishments students receive from Filch.
What does this suggest about JKR’s view of private education?
Most readers will feel Hogwarts is the more attractive-sounding of the two schools. What are the positive features of Hogwarts which distinguish it from schools like Smeltings?
Public schools like Smeltings and comprehensives like Stonewall High have very specific connotations for British readers. For other readers, however, these references may be opaque. If you did not know much about the British school system before reading this book, how did you react to this part of Chapter 3?

One morning in July, the post arrives, and includes a letter for Harry. As we are later to learn, it looks like most Hogwarts letters, being written on yellow parchment in green ink.

Was this letter delivered by owl? It arrives at the same time as the normal post, yet cannot have actually travelled through the post because it has no stamp.

When Uncle Vernon sees the letter, he snatches it from Harry, who doesn’t get to read it. Both Vernon and Petunia react very badly when they read the letter. They seem to be more afraid than angry, fearing that “they” (who does Petunia mean?) are spying on the Dursleys. Vernon decides to ignore the letter, saying “I’m not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn’t we swear when we took him in we’d stamp out that dangerous nonsense?” Vernon talks about wizards as one might talk about something non-human. He also seems to believe that magic can be “stamped out” of a person.

In your view, why does Vernon hate and fear magic so much, beyond the desire to appear normal? What do you think Vernon’s first encounter with magic was like? How did Petunia explain to him that her sister was a witch? Did Vernon ever meet James, or any other wizards?

Later that day, Vernon visits Harry in his cupboard for the first time, and tells Harry to move into Dudley’s second bedroom, where he keeps his broken toys.

What does Vernon hope to gain by doing this?

The next morning, another letter arrives, and once again Harry doesn’t get to read it. He devises a plan to wake up early the next day and meet the postman before the post is delivered to the house, but Vernon is there before him. This time three letters arrive. Vernon nails up the letter-box (with a piece of fruit-cake) to prevent the letters getting through. The next day there are twelve letters, and the day after there are twenty-four. They arrive under the doors, through windows and hidden inside eggs delivered by the milkman.

What kind of magic is operating here? Are all Hogwarts letters designed to behave like this, or is someone controlling these ones?

On Sunday morning, more letters fly in through the fireplace, and this is the last straw for Vernon. He orders the family to get ready to go away, and they drive off without any idea where they are going, changing direction several times. They go without food all day, and eventually stop in a gloomy hotel “on the outskirts of a big city”. The name Cokeworth suggests they’ve driven north to an industrial city like Manchester (cf. Dickens’ “Coketown”). More letters arrive at the hotel in the morning. After more driving, they end up by the coast. Harry realises that the next day will be his eleventh birthday, and he remembers the presents the Dursleys have given him in the past – a coat-hanger and a paur of old socks.

Why do the Dursleys give Harry birthday presents at all?

Vernon has hired a boat, and despite the rain they row to a hut on a rock out to sea. Vernon is in a good mood now, because he thinks the letters can’t reach them here; Harry agrees, but the thought doesn’t cheer him up. When the others have gone to bed, Harry is left with only a thin blanket on the floor, and can’t sleep. He watches the minutes tick away until his birthday, and hears strange noises outside, above the storm. On the stroke of midnight, someone knocks at the door.

Is there any reason, apart from narrative drama, that Hagrid arrives exactly at midnight? For example, does Harry have to remain with the Dursleys until the very minute he turns eleven, before he can learn he is a wizard?

Other points to discuss:
Is the flood of letters really the best way of telling Harry about Hogwarts? Might it have been better for Hagrid (or Dumbledore or McGonagall) to visit the Dursleys right away, rather than driving them to the point of distraction?

What do you make of the title of this chapter?