Well, it seems an obvious point, but one of the clear
themes of this novel, and indeed of all the series, is magic. If you want to think about
setting, then there are ample descriptions for you to choose from that clearly show that
we are plunged, like Harry is, into a new, exciting, mysterious and, above all, magical
world where nothing is as we think it is and everything that we had taken for granted is
now different. One of my favourite examples of this is a description we are given of
Hogwarts:
There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at
Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different
on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump.
Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in
exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls
just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all
seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit
each other and Harry was sure the coats of armour could
walk.
Here we see the theme
of magic clearly established through the moving portraits and coats of armour and the
wide variety of different doors that Harry is overwhelmed with as he seeks to find his
way around his new school.
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