Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1997

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-17

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Themes

The Importance of Home and Belonging

As an orphan, Harry Potter’s search for home and belonging is paramount to his development as a character. Unlike Dudley, Harry is raised by people who do not care for him. The Dursleys actively despise Harry, keeping him locked in a cupboard under the stairs. The concept of family is thus entirely foreign to Harry. When Harry arrives at Hogwarts, he soon realizes the importance of home and belonging. This theme appears throughout the entire series as Harry grapples with the circumstances of his birth and struggles to find a place where he truly belongs. Harry’s loneliness is most apparent during mail delivery every morning. Unlike other students, “Hedwig hadn’t brought Harry anything so far,” as he has no family to send him gifts or letters (108). Despite that, Hedwig still visits to “nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery […].” (108). Hedwig offers the love and affection that Harry lacked in his early childhood. She is the first birthday present he ever received and his first pet, and Hedwig visits him for no reason other than to spend time with him.

Harry’s loneliness is especially evident when he finds the Mirror of Erised. Unlike Ron, who can shake off the hold that the mirror has on him, Harry cannot think of anything else: “Harry couldn’t eat. He had seen his parents and would be seeing them again tonight. He had almost forgotten about Flamel. It didn’t seem very important anymore. Who cared what the three headed dog was guarding? What did it matter if Snape stole it, really?” (167). Even though Harry is unable to touch, hug, or even speak to his parents, the sight of them sustains him and consumes him. He thinks to himself, “There was nothing to stop him from staying here all night with his family. Nothing at all” (170). Without Dumbledore’s warnings, Harry would have wasted away in front of the Mirror. Had he stayed preoccupied with the mirror, he would have failed to see the friends and found family he was slowly amassing.

In some way, Harry slowly gets his family back, first through the mirror and then through the book of photographs that Hagrid gives him: “a handsome, leather-covered book […] full of wizard photographs” of his mother and father “smiling and waving at him from every page” (245). This gesture gives him a glimpse of his lost family that no one else had thought to offer him.

At the end of the novel, Harry finds home and belonging in his friends. He is surprised when Ron and Hermione insist on going with him to confront Quirrell. Harry asks, “All—all three of us?” and Ron says, “Oh, come off it, you don’t think we’d let you go alone?” (216). For perhaps the first time in his life, Harry Potter does not have to face his demons by himself. He has the full support of his friends willing to do anything for him. In trusting their friendship, Harry begins to feel part of something larger than himself. Ron and Hermione become his best friends, Gryffindor his family, and Hogwarts his home.

The Pros and Cons of Bravery

All of the protagonists in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone belong to Gryffindor: “Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart” (93). The prized traits of the novel are therefore made explicitly clear. One of the novel’s themes is that bravery can help someone overcome almost all adversity. When Harry attacks the troll to save Hermione, his actions are “both very brave and very stupid” (140). Bravery is often described as action despite fear, and as such, courage could also be described as that which is done against one’s better judgment.

The importance of bravery is repeatedly highlighted, especially within its primary protagonists. Harry, for example, repeatedly puts himself in harm’s way, even for things that may seem trivial. When the trio learns that Snape has volunteered to referee the Quidditch game, for example, Harry insists on playing, saying, “If I don’t, all the Slytherins will think I’m just too scared to face Snape. I’ll show them...it’ll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win” (176). At what point does bravery border on stupidity, and when does courage simply become pride? The lines blur for Harry in this moment. The mere thought of appearing to fear Snape is enough for Harry to risk his life. The pros and cons of bravery are thus a theme that Rowling continues to explore throughout the text.

Harry’s bravery is exemplified by his willingness to put his life on the line for others. When the trio tries to stop Quirrell from stealing the Stone, Harry is the first to jump down through the trapdoor. He does not hesitate, turning back only to tell his friends, “If anything happens to me, don’t follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?” (221). This bravery borders on recklessness, a lack of self-preservation that ceaselessly places the well-being of others before his own. Fear does not stop Harry. Even when Harry’s “knees were trembling” during the game of Wizard’s Chess, he keeps calm and wins the game for them after Ron’s knight is removed (227). Bravery—and all its pros and cons—is a theme repeatedly explored in the novel, as all actions, even ones with good intent, have consequences.

Good Versus Evil

The theme of good versus evil is common in literature, especially in children’s books. This theme makes it easier for younger audiences to decipher what traits and actions should be prized or condemned. The theme of good versus evil is most evident in Quirrell’s final standoff with Harry. He admits to Harry: “A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil” before “Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was” (234). Voldemort warps Quirrell’s traditional understanding of right and wrong, and he begins to think that “there is no good and evil, there is only power […].” (234).

Once corrupted, Quirrell is willing to do absolutely anything to accomplish Voldemort’s goals. Despite it being “a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn,” Quirrell kills numerous unicorns to drink their blood (207). He no longer has any concept of what one should or should not do. In losing his understanding of the boundary between right and wrong, Quirrell also loses himself. Firenze explains that “only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips” (207). By believing that there is no difference between good and evil, that only selfish power exists, Quirrell and Voldemort are willing to do the most terrible things, even at a significant cost to themselves.

Firmly on the side of good, Harry cannot understand how anyone might be willing to do such evil things. He asks Firenze, “If you’re going to be cursed forever, death’s better, isn’t it?” (207). The difference between good and evil is illustrated by the characters’ actions to achieve their ends. Harry represents righteous goodness, while Voldemort symbolizes everything evil in the world. When Harry and Quirrell touch, their bodies immediately react negatively to each other. While Harry’s scar begins hurting, Quirrell’s fingers “were blistering before his eyes” (237). Harry embodies the sacrificial, unending love that his parents had for him. It is that same love that protects Harry and helps him defeat Voldemort. Love triumphing over hatred is another rendition of the good versus evil theme.