When reading the first two Harry Potter books when I was younger I definitely had a set of expectations on what was going to happen. This may have been because I was young and did not see the hidden clues Rowling had hidden but throughout the entire first book there was no doubt in my mind that Snape was after the Sorcerer’s Stone. I think Iser is completely correct in his notion that “expectations are scarcely ever fulfilled” because at the end of the first book what I had expected was completely false. Snape in fact had been trying to protect Harry and not been planning any of the attacks that had been occurring.
In the second book the same very pattern occurred. Throughout my reading I believed that it had to be Malfoy who was opening up the Chamber of Secrets. It seemed like there was no other possibility. Again, however, my expectations were wrong when Harry, Ron, and Hermione took the Polyjuice potion and discovered that it in fact was not Malfoy who was the bad guy.
I think Rowling uses these expectations to make us see the true character of some people in her novels. Even though Snape is always mean to Harry she reveals in the first book that he was attempting to save his life. This shows the reader that though Snape is so easily disliked he is clearly not a completely bad person. Another way that raising expectations and then failing to fulfill them is important is because of the curiosity it incites in the reader. By practicing this it keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, wanting to read more and more to find out what will happen at the end of each book. This definitely had a profound effect on me when I was reading the books for the first time and I’m sure it did the same for many others.
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