Juliet Capulet
4th period
March 23, 2009
Prompt: Carefully read the opening of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone. Then, in a well-organized essay, discuss how Rowling’s use of various literary
devices and strategies contribute to her intended effect.
Text: Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.
He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large
moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount
of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over
garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley
and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere (Rowling 5).
TS: Harry Potter’s Muggle relatives are stuffy souls with sour dispositions. Readers realize this from
the first moment they meet the aptly named Dursleys.
CD: For starters, Mr. Dursley works at a drill-making firm called “Grunnings.”
CM: “Grunnings” is a form of onomatopoeia; it sounds like the noise a machine might make.
Readers instantly imagine Grunnings as a boring place full of assembly lines, mechanical parts, and
profit reports.
CM: As an employee of such a company, Mr. Dursley would have to be a practical soul. His
concern would be about making money and other such prosaic matters.
CD: He’s evenly matched by his wife, who uses her abnormally long neck in “craning over garden
fences, spying on the neighbors.”
CM: This snapshot of Mrs. Dursley’s looks and activities make her sound distasteful on multiple
levels.
CM: Rowling’s choice of detail here is superb; in a single sentence, she’s already told readers that
Harry’s aunt is both physically and temperamentally unattractive.
CD: Finally, Rowling introduces us to Dudley Dursley, slyly inserting that it was “their [the parents’]
opinion” that “there was no finer boy anywhere.”
CM: This narrative aside suggests that perhaps Dudley’s parents are the only ones who find him so
“fine.”
CM: It also suggests the Dursleys’ limited capacity for affection, foreshadowing that they won’t have
any love or understanding to spare for their nephew.
CS: In just a few short sentences, Rowling conveys that Harry’s only living relatives are unpleasant
and incredibly dull. They will provide excellent contrast to the exciting, magical people Harry
encounters at Hogwarts.