Chapter
One, much like the first chapter of the previous novel is a recap of the events
of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
and Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets, except this recap sprinkles in information about how Ron and Hermione
have been spending their summers which actually adds a necessity for it to be
there. Ron has been in Egypt, Hermione
in France and Harry has been a permission slip for visits to Hogsmede. Again like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets it only takes until Chapter
Two for the main plot to be revealed as on the Muggle news it is announced that
mass murderer Sirius Black is at large and dangerous. It will be revealed later that he is the
titular prisoner of Azkaban, but the plot continues in Chapter Three with Harry
running away from Privet Drive after blowing up his aunt Marge, sees a giant
back dog and catching the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron. We get to see some insight into the mystery
of Black’s connection to Harry as he was mentioned in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and in the way that Cornelius
Fudge the Minister of Magic acts around Harry.
Now Harry Potter and the Chamber
of Secrets established that if any more magic was performed at the Dursley’s,
then Harry would be expelled. Fudge
overlooks this fact quite intentionally as Hogwarts is the only safe place for
him and he doesn’t want to see him be killed by Black. Chapter Four starts with Harry meeting up
with Ron and Hermione after a few weeks of being in Diagon Alley alone which is
Harry’s only real taste of true freedom.
Ron’s rat Scabbers has been ill since they came back from Egypt and
Sirius Black escaped and Hermione buys herself a cat and it becomes a happy
meetup, but before long it is time to go back to Hogwarts.
Chapter
Five takes place entirely on the Hogwarts Express in the compartment where
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom are talking while
Professor Lupin, the replacement for Gilderoy Lockheart is sleeping and we are
introduced to the Dementors. The
Dementors are the guards of Azkaban who have been stationed at Hogwarts to
guard against Sirius Black and hopefully to catch him. They are ghost like creatures that wear black
cloaks and suck the happiness out of everyone they encounter. Rowling created them as a metaphor for
depression which is honestly a great idea especially considering how badly they
affect Harry who passes out on the train after hearing his mother’s dying screams. It is also interesting to note that Ginny was
also affected more by the Dementor as Rowling notes she is cowering in the
corner once it is gone, which can be assumed to be a reminder of what she did
in the previous book. Rowling also has
the best cure written in as to what counteracts the effects of their presence,
which is chocolate.
Chapters
Six and Seven allow for development for four of the Hogwarts professors before
continuing on to ramp up the action.
First we are introduced to the Divination Professor, Sybil Trelawney,
who claims to see the future, but cannot be taken seriously as a professor as
she predicts always the worst things.
She even predicts Harry’s death on the first day of class after seeing the
Grim, a big black dog, in his tea leaves.
The next class is Transfiguration and we see Professor McGonagall’s opinions
on Divination as a subject and she almost becomes unprofessional as a teacher
as she finds it laughable. She tells
Harry simply not to worry about it.
Hagrid’s characterization is updated next as we enter the Buckbeak
subplot as he is now teaching Care of Magical Creatures and is like a kid in a
candy shop with his enthusiasm for teaching and his heartbreak as Buckbeak
attacks Malfoy who of course was asking for it.
The fourth and final teacher who gets development is Professor Lupin who
proves to be a competent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher as his first lesson
is how to defend yourself against a boggart, a creature that takes the form of
a person’s greatest fear and is only defeated by laughter. Lupin in this lesson immediately begins a
good relationship with his students and even has Neville Longbottom demonstrate
first in front of the class. This is
really the first time that someone has actually helped Neville with his self-confidence
issues and he performs amazingly. He
also cares enough to stop Harry from facing the boggart as he believes it will
turn into Lord Voldemort.
Sirius
Black however presents his immediate threat in Chapter Eight as he enters the
castle, goes to the portrait of the Fat Lady and terrorizes her to abandon her
post. This is the first time we’ve seen
Hogwarts invaded from the outside and now we know that this is a serious threat
to Harry and the other students of Hogwarts.
The castle is searched as the students sleep in sleeping bags in the
Great Hall and Rowling gives this sense that the status quo has been shaken up
and will never be the same. Chapter Nine
is the first chapter to introduce the Quidditch subplot as we take a break from
Sirius Black and focus on the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff
where for the first time Harry does not win.
He actually sees a big black dog which he thinks is the Grim, falls off
his broom which is then destroyed by the Whomping Willow as hundreds of
Dementors invade the stadium, and is stuck in the hospital. The actual description of the Quidditch match
takes up about half the chapter and it is a brutal match as there is a giant
thunderstorm that drags it out for hours.
It nearly goes into the middle of the night before the Dementors show
up. This loss is not only a blow to
Harry who loses his broom, but to both Oliver Wood the captain of the Quidditch
team as it is going to be nearly impossible to win the cup and Hufflepuff
Seeker, Cedric Diggory. Diggory is an interesting
minor character here as he knows that the match was not won fairly and demands
a rematch which he does not actually get.
It says a lot about him that he wants to win fairly. Chapter Ten gets us back to the plot about
Sirius Black as Fred and George give Harry the Marauder’s Map, which allows him
to get into Hogsmede through a secret passage where he hears he backstory of
Black. Sirius Black was James Potter’s
best friend and was made Harry’s Godfather before betraying the Potter’s to
Voldemort. It had to be him as he was
the Secret Keeper, put under magical contract to know the Potter’s
location. This makes the conflict
personal and takes an extreme toll on Harry’s emotions.
Chapter
Eleven is a nice tie in between the two plots as it is now Christmas and Harry
receives a Firebolt from an anonymous source.
The Firebolt is the fastest racing broom in the world and it is to
become the envy of everyone at Hogwarts.
After a humorous Christmas dinner, Hermione actually gets the new broom
taken away because she thinks it could have been sent by Sirius Black and is
probably cursed. This creates a split
between Harry, Ron and Hermione as the Firebolt is the only chance they have of
winning the Quidditch cup. Chapter
Twelve continues the grudge as Lupin teaches Harry how to defend himself against
the Dementors with the Patronus Charm.
Now the Patronus is a charm that creates a mist that shields you from
the Dementors which is great. Harry’s
determination to learn this is seen immediately as it takes a lot out of him to
uphold the mist with the happy memory.
Chapter Thirteen is the next Quidditch match which Gryffindor wins
easily as the Firebolt is given back which helps with healing the relationship
between Hermione and the others with the only notable event being some
Slytherin’s having Harry send the Patronus at them as they dress up as
Dementors. Chapter Fourteen while there
is nothing wrong with it is only there to flesh out Professor Snape and get the
Marauder’s Map taken away so we can get to Chapter Fifteen “The Quidditch Final”. The final match is of course against
Slytherin and is just as tense as the first match against Hufflepuff as
Gryffindor must be sixty points up before Harry catches the Snitch. Rowling has you on the edge of your seat as
the score is a variable and luckily Gryffindor actually wins the Cup for the
first time in seven years.
Chapter
Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen and Twenty act as the climax for the
novel as after the party in the Common Room, Sirius Black breaks in and stands
over Ron’s bed with a knife. Professor
Trelawney makes an actual prophecy about the rise of Lord Voldemort after Hermione
storms out of her class. The appeal on
Buckbeak comes to Hogwarts and the hippogriff is slain in cold blood and
immediately afterwards the giant dog drags Scabbers, Ron’s rat, into the
Whomping Willow where the series has the big tonal shift which leads into Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We find that Sirius is innocent and it was Peter
Pettigrew, a man who was supposedly one of the murder victims of Sirius, who
betrayed the Potters. Pettigrew turns
out to be Scabbers as he, Sirius and James Potter began Anamagi to keep Lupin
company while he has transformed into a werewolf. Everything goes wrong as Pettigrew escapes,
Lupin transforms into a werewolf as it is a full moon, the Dementors show up,
Sirius is captured and Cornelius Fudge comes to Hogwarts to see the Dementor’s
Kiss administered. Everything has failed
and while Chapter Twenty-One actually manages to allow Sirius and Buckbeak to
escape as Harry and Hermione go back in time, the novel ends on a down note as
Trelawney’s prophecy seems to be coming through. The ending chapter is perfect as it leads
nicely into the dark tone and Rowling gets across the message of no turning
back now.
To
summarize, Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban is a novel that shows just how perfect Rowling is at writing
these books now. She manages so much and
is expanding her story time to make the story better. 100/100.
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