Desserts in low fantasy

As stated in my previous entry, the Harry Potter series begins to become more high fantasy as it progresses, though early on a lot of the low fantasy elements are still incorporated. This makes no exception for the second novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The food in question I am going to be looking at in this post is none other than delicious desserts. And I’m sure when we think of cake in comparison to this novel, our attention is drawn to Aunt Petunia’s cake like desert that gets dropped on the head of the Dursley’s dinner party guests by Dobby the house elf. Prior to this scene Rowling writes how “the Dursley’s hadn’t even remembered that today happened to be Harry’s twelfth birthday” and had “never given him a proper present, let alone a cake” (9). Before the Dursley’s summon Harry off to his room for the evening, Harry notices Aunt Petunia’s pudding on top of the fridge: “a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets” (13). Us readers are all quite aware of how horrible Harry was treated by the Dursley’s throughout the series, and this scene can be seen as the icing on the cake of their complete hatred for him (pardon the pun). It’s his birthday and he doesn’t get a cake, yet the guests are allowed an indulgent pudding! Not only that, the pudding is described as a “master piece” (20) and the use of “whipped cream and sugared violets” gives the food a level of decadence, it is a special desert. Therefore, this demonstrates how Rowling is using the lack of and the presence of food here to show the relationship Harry has with the Dursley’s. The scene progresses into new territory where we see the fantastic combined with the real, after Harry and Dobby have a confrontation, as the scene states: “Aunt Petunia’s masterpiece of a pudding, the mountain of cream and sugared violets, was floating near the ceiling” (20). This turns the normal into the abnormal, reminding the reader that in this low fantasy realm, even something ordinary can be altered. I believe Rowling does this effect with objects such as food as every reader of the text can relate to it.

harrypotter.wikia.com

Following on, the use of cupcakes in a later scene used by Harry, Ron and Hermione in order to entice Crabbe and Goyle to eat them although they are laced with sleeping draft is clever. They are described as "plump chocolate cakes" (159), and the adjective "plump" really creates a fullness, as if these cake are round and thick, which is perfect for Crabbe and Goyle, who are described to be "greedy" with "large mouths" (160). Low and behold, the cakes were ultimately too enticing for the boys and they walked right into the trap. Once again, this scene demonstrates similarly what the previous scene discussed is doing. It demonstrates an incorporation of ordinary food with the un-ordinary circumstance of being within a magical world. The use of these foods that regular people can identify with is not only appealing to the novels characters yet it reminds us as readers that this is not a complete fantasy-land.

harrypotter.wikia.com

Thanks for reading

Emily

Works cited- 

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. London: Bloomsbury, 1998.