Stylistic Study of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Analysis on the first chapter “The Boy Who Lived”

富亦韬

Since the birth of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone， J. K. Rowlings fantasy series Harry Potter has been the excitement of many a childhood， the thrills of many a teenager， and the romance and remedy of many an adulthood. The adventures and the magic intertwined in the story seem to flow out from the fiction and enter into the real life each time we read， weaving nice little spices into our tired boring lives. Aside from J. K. Rowlings flair for inventing stories that are both entertaining and deep， her originality in narrating the story is equally accountable for the success of Harry Potter. With regard to this latter factor， we will now examine the style of the narration of this fantasy thriller， so that we might be aware of the specific stylistic features that contributed to the general effect.

For the convenience of stylistic examination， the first 200 consecutive sentences of the chapter “The Boy Who Lived” are chosen as a sample， because as the starter of the narration， it sets the basic tone for the story， and （as I consider it） is the most revealing of J. K. Rowlings general style of narration.

Paragraphs

Throughout this section which I chose to study， as well as the whole book （when you take a brief glance）， relative short paragraphs can be seen as a prevailing characteristic. The average length of the 56 paragraphs is approximately 4 sentences per paragraph， and 50 words per paragraph. The longest paragraph is 11sentences and the shortest one is only 1 sentence long.

This brevity of paragraphs is in fact not uncommon in a story intended for young readers， which presents succession of events and descriptions of situations most of the time， except for quotations of dialogues. Unlike paragraphs of serious essays， in which comparatively longer unit of paragraphs are always needed to elaborate ideas， it is part of the classical narrative devices to develop story in succession of shorter paragraphs so that readers （in this case， mostly children） can grasp in the information least painstakingly.

Sentence： Length

Coming to the smaller unit of narration， we notice that J. K. Rowling mostly used short sentences （with the average of 14 words per sentence） to present her story. Two extremes of sentence length are represented by sentence of 39 words and the sentence of 3 words， not including the elliptical sentences containing merely 1 word. Also， the length of sentences in this section does not show much variety， if we consider the fact that， of the 200 sentences， only 29 sentences （14 per cent） are 10 or more words above the average， while the sentences containing 5 or more words below the average length totaled 76， occupying higher percentage of 38 per cent. The relatively high proportion of short sentences matches the short paragraphs， and is in accord with the over-all brevity and crispness of the narrating style.

Sentence： Grammatical Types

The high percentage of short sentences might naturally indicate a relatively greater amount of simple and compound sentences. After investigating the proportion of grammatical types， we find that this is more or less the case. 76 sentences out of the 200 sentences （38 percent） are simple; but unlike the expectation， the number of compound sentences is 32 （only 16 percent）， while there are 43 complex sentences constituting 22 percent of the total， which is higher than the percentage of compound sentences. The compound complex sentences， totaled 28， occupy the smallest proportion of only14 percent. J. K. Rowlings preference of simple and complex type of sentences shows that while she does not strive for complicated expression （perhaps out of the consideration for her young readers， or because such is her natural style of writing）， she does not fall victim to monotony either.

Figures of Speech

Having examined the style of this part of the story in terms of paragraphing， and the sentence length and types， lets look into some figures of speech employed in the section.

8.Asyndeton （deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series ） He dashed back across the road， hurried up to his office， snapped at his secretary not to disturb him， seized his telephone and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind.

The effects of the above examined figures of speech are easily felt. For instance， the alliteration in “big beefy man” sounds both vivid and humorous. The use of onomatopoeic diction like “click， clutch， flick， and swoop” contributed additional spice to the tone of the story. The employment of asyndeton produces a hurried rhythm， indicating the flow and continuity of actions.

Here， we might note at the same time that， figures of speech are used quite sparingly， and the examples found for each figure of speech are far from being abundant. This is presumably resulted from the primary concern of telling story in the language that flows and informs. Therefore， when figures of speech are not needed for performing any informative function， and are not present as the carrier of meaning， it becomes merely unnecessary unwelcome ornamentation that ought to be put out of the way.

This， however， doesnt mean that as a fiction for children， the language for narration should be devoid of color and taste. Well next observe some other rhetorical techniques employed throughout the first chapter that helped enrich the over-all texture and enliven the language.

Rhetorical Arrangements

1. There are a few occasions of shift from third person narrative to the thought or the speech of the characters， as if suddenly， the characters were allowed to jump out from the scene to address readers directly. The effect it produced is sometimes comical， as in the first paragraph： “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley， of number four， Privet Drive， were proud to say that they were perfectly normal， thank you very much.”

In “It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive--- no， looking at the sign; cats couldnt read maps or signs”， the shift is realized by means of a dash， indicating Mr. Dursleys correction of his thought. We can almost picture Mr. Dursley sitting in his car， trying to shake off （with a quiver） the insane idea that the cats reading a map.

In the following example， which is marked by exclamations， the shift is in fact not as obvious， but we cant miss the change that it is Mr. Dursley who is experiencing shock. “Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them werent young at all; why， that man had to be older than he was， and wearing an emerald-green cloak！The nerve of him！”

2. Another interesting feature is the frequent use of dashes for various purposes. The ideas are conveyed more effectively than it would have been， had J. K. Rowling used actual words in place of them， and such uses of dashes contributed to the general crispness and clarity of her style.

Examples：

he noticed the first sign of something peculiar--- a cat reading a map. （Functioning as explanation）

Mr. Dursley didnt realize what he had seen--- then he jerked his head around… （Connecting sequential events.）

Dash is also used in the place of conjunction， as in “He didnt blame her--- if hed had a sister like that….” As a matter of fact， coordinating with mark “…”， it helped to develop the climax of Mr. Dursleys mental struggle， vague suspicion and the dread of a certain possibility.

Dash is also commissioned to function as parenthesis， for the purpose of quick comment： “As he pulled into the driveway of number four， the first thing he saw---and it didnt improve his mood---was the tabby cat hed spotted that morning.”

3. J. K. Rowling did a fine job in ridiculing Mr. Dursley， when depicting his image in the first chapter. We see not just a hateful uncle， but a caricature of a preposterously pompous character.

Mr. Dursley， however， had a perfectly normal， owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood…

“He yelled… He made important calls…He shouted…He was in a very good mood…” the verbs put side by side， somehow gives readers the impression that he enjoys parading what small power he had. It is one of the “important things” he does and usually put him in a “good mood.”

4. Another interesting rhetorical arrangement we see is the listing of series of questions together to indicate the climax of Mr. Dusleys bewilderment and fear：

Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain？ Owl flying by daylight？ Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place？ And a whisper， a whisper about the Potters…

5. Like dashes， theres abundant use of ellipsis mark throughout the narration. In paragraph 39， Mr. Dursley arrives at a comforting thought that even if the Potters are behind all the strange phenomena， it couldnt possibly get connected with him. “It couldnt affect them…” Here， the peculiar use of “…” somehow affected a slight suspense. And it （the suspense） was answered by the next sentence “How very wrong he was.”

In another paragraph when Mr. Dursley tries timidly to break the news to his wife， three ellipsis marks indicate Mr. Dursleys attempt of breaking down his suspicion to fragments in order to lessen the shock：

‘Funny stuff on the news， Mr. Dursley mumbled. ‘Owls…shooting stars…and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…

‘Well， I just thought…maybe…it was something to do with…you know…her lot.

In these occasions， although the frequent appearance of “…” interrupts the flow of language， it helps to develop the story and deliver the implication behind words almost effortlessly.

6. In terms of rhetorical patterns， we can also note the use of coordinating conjunction at the beginning of sentence. “But he did seem to realize he was being watched…” In fact， “But” here does not show any logical connection with the previous sentence， as it normally does. However， it certainly contributes to emphasizing Dumbledores sudden realization， as well as his acute sense.

7. In addition， though the author did not strive for variety of sentence patterns （as can be seen from the sequence of grammatical types of the 200 sentences）， she did manage to tell her story in a natural fresh language by means of varying the expression when describing similar course of actions：

He flicked it open， held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again---the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer， until…

8. Before we leave this discussion on rhetorical patterns， lets take a look at J. K. Rowlings clever way of introducing major wizards into scene. They are not simply “introduced” to readers; they “pop out” in the most extraordinary fashion. When Professor McGonagall first came to the spotlight， readers have to guess that the tabby cat aforementioned was indeed McGonagall. This， in fact， is not so much a rhetorical element as it is a story telling technique， which is most appropriate for the magical theme of Harry Potter.

Diction

In terms of choice of words and expressions， this section of Harry Potter chosen to study， is mostly written in everyday， common English， simply out of the consideration that Harry Potter is chiefly written for children， and that as the first chapter of the first book， it is proper to use simple， vivid， and vigorous dictions， to serve the purpose of beginning the story， setting the general tone and delivering essential information as distinctly and directly as possible. But it does not mean that the text should read boring， monotonous and uncultivated. Quite on the contrary， throughout the smooth and pleasant texture， it never ceases to sparkle with fire of crisp， vigorous， witty diction. Take the verbs describing Mr. and Mrs.

Concluding Remarks

We have observed various stylistic devices employed in the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone---“The Boy Who Lived”. Generally speaking， J. K. Rowling devoted less work on rhetorical devices （represented by figures of speech， variety of sentence patterns and so on） than on her witty invention of complex and thrilling fantasy story. However， with the help of a close analysis， we still managed to distinguish some stylistic features that are prevalent in J. K. Rowlings narration of the story， which， if not for some deliberate effort， would escape readers eyes undetected. These stylistic features we have observed are the best demonstrations of the function of stylistic device as another carrier of meaning， for they contribute to the clarity of the plot and enlivened the narration with its own magic， which is bound to hold readers attention and admiration beyond expectation.

參考文献

[1]Bibliography Rowling， J.K.Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. London： Bloomsbury Pub Ltd.2000.

[2]王德春，陈晨.现代修辞学.上海：上海外语教育出版社， 2010.

[3]胡曙中. 英语修辞学English Rhetoric. 上海：上海外语教育出版，2008