50 pages • 1 hour read
J. K. RowlingHarry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Marauder’s Map
The Marauder’s Map is an enchanted map that appears halfway through the novel. Created by Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs (Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter), the map shows “every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds” and “tiny ink dots moving around it” (193) with the names of everyone in the castle. The original authors of the Marauder’s Map were notorious tricksters and mischief-makers, and Fred and George Weasley found the map in a drawer of confiscated items. The map grows to represent rebellion, mischief, and a legacy of rule-breaking at Hogwarts. However, the map also becomes an unexpected tool to reveal deception.
Harry first uses the Marauder’s Map to sneak into Hogsmeade, where he uses it to spend time with Ron and Hermione. However, during this fateful journey, Harry learns the truth that has been withheld from him: “Black was the Potters’ Secret-Keeper” (205), and “Black betrayed them” (206). Although Harry used the map to have some innocent fun and break the rules by visiting Hogsmeade without permission, using the map caused Harry to stumble into an uncomfortable amount of truth about his past, his deceased parents, and Sirius Black.
Harry again uses the map to sneak into Hogsmeade, where he throws mud at Malfoy and ends up in Snape’s office. When Snape finds the map in Harry’s possession, he seems to recognize it, and he summons Lupin to take a look. Lupin then confiscates the map from Harry because it contains too much valuable information about Hogwarts, and if it fell into the wrong hands, it could be extremely dangerous. Lupin then uses the map to keep tabs on Harry and his friends, but he makes a shocking discovery. The map tells him that Harry and his friends left Hagrid’s hut “accompanied by somebody else” (347): Peter Pettigrew, whom Lupin believed to be dead. Once again, the map reveals a hidden truth: someone hiding in plain sight, pretending to be something they aren’t.
Time-Turner
Hermione’s Time-Turner, a “tiny, sparkling hourglass” (394) that she wears on a chain around her neck, is given to her at the beginning of the school year by Professor McGonagall. The hourglass, which can turn back the clock in one-hour increments and allow the wearer to travel back in time, is a highly secured magical instrument that requires special permission to use. The Time-Turner becomes a symbol of Hermione’s intense expectations for herself, but it also represents the concept of second chances.
Hermione uses the Time-Turner to get to all her classes because she is taking a particularly heavy course load, and she had to promise to “never, ever use it for anything except [her] studies” (396). Although Hermione maintains her promise to keep the Time-Turner a secret, the device takes a toll on her mental health. Hermione becomes overwhelmed by her precarious schedule and her heavy homework load, and she begins to miss classes and isolate herself. Hagrid comments that Hermione seems to have “[b]itten off more’n she can chew” (274), and at the end of the novel, Hermione declares that she “can’t stand another year like this one,” and she has returned the Time-Turner. Hermione realizes that the Time-Turner is a useful tool, but she was trying to use it in a way that seriously impacted her happiness and enabled her perfectionism in an unhealthy way.
Still, the Time-Turner is a vital tool that drives the climax of the novel. Were it not for the Time-Turner, Harry and Hermione never would have been able to save Buckbeak from execution, rescue their past selves from the dementors, and see to Sirius Black’s escape. Perhaps the Time-Turner isn’t the ideal school supply for a 13-year-old perfectionist, but it is certainly a valuable device that helps provide second chances to innocent people.
The Grim
The Grim is described as a “giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards” (107), and as Harry learns in his first Divination class, it is a well-known omen of death in the wizarding world. Harry sees the image of what he believes is the Grim throughout the novel: first on the night that he flees the Dursleys’ house, then again roaming the grounds of Hogwarts with Crookshanks, and later in the stands during a Quidditch game.
Harry may not be as superstitious as some of his classmates, but because he is prone to near-fatal accidents, he begins to wonder if the Grim is an actual omen of death and whether his life is in danger. Coupled with the understanding that Sirius Black is looking for him, Harry begins to seriously consider the legitimacy of this death omen. He wonders, “[Is] the Grim going to haunt him until he actually die[s]? [Is] he going to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder for the beast?” (184).
The connection between the Grim and Sirius Black does, however, have a real connection, although it isn’t what Harry would have guessed. Harry learns that the black dog he keeps seeing is real, and it is actually his godfather in his Animagus form. Black was not stalking Harry, but “[hoping] to get a glimpse” (433) of his godson. Black also came to watch Harry play Quidditch, not as a threatening presence but as a supportive parent would. By the end of the novel, Harry realizes that the Grim wasn’t an omen of death; it was a guardian-like presence watching over him. The Grim grows to represent how fear can be all-consuming, and how appearances can be misleading.
Dementors and Patronuses
Dementors, the terrifying guards of Azkaban, are non-human creatures that feed upon human emotions and energy. A Patronus, on the other hand, is “a guardian that acts as a shield” (237) to protect the spellcaster from the dementor. The dementors in The Prisoner of Azkaban represent darkness and depression, whereas the Patronuses represent joy and hope.
When Harry first faces a dementor on the Hogwarts Express, he has a much stronger reaction than anyone else. He faints and hears screaming in his head, and after the incident at the first Quidditch match, “Harry [feels] sick and humiliated every time he [thinks] of [the dementors]” (184). Even though everyone agrees that dementors are horrible, “no one else collapse[s] every time they [go] near them” (184). Lupin explains that dementors feed on misery and horror, and Harry has an unusually high amount of trauma in his life for the dementors to feed on. Dementors, like depression or other mental illnesses, can cause a person to fixate only on the negative or outright traumatic experiences in their lives, which can disrupt their passions and everyday life. Lupin even points out that wizards aren’t the only ones affected by dementors, but “[e]ven Muggles feel their presence, though they can’t see them. Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you” (187).
However, the anti-dementor Patronus requires the spellcaster to concentrate on a “single, very happy memory” (237). Harry, who hasn’t had much happiness in his life, struggles to come up with a happy memory. However, by the end of the novel, he is able to produce an immensely powerful Patronus. Rowling never directly states what the happy memory is that Harry uses to finally master the art of producing the Patronus, but it happens immediately after Harry realizes that he was the one he saw defeating the dementors: not his father. Perhaps Harry, who has spent so much of his life feeling helpless, finally recognizes his own power, and this revelation filled him with enough hope to conjure his Patronus. In Harry’s case, his Patronus, a stag, also represents a connection to his father. The stag is the same animal that his father could turn into as an Animagus. And as Dumbledore points out, Harry discovers that his father’s spirit never left him but was inside him all along. With the understanding that he is his father’s son, Harry is able to conquer the darkness of his past, defeat the dementors, and arm himself with hope.
Related Titles
By J. K. Rowling
