Point-of-View

The first paragraph of the book tells a lot about RowlingÂ’s stylistic devices and point-of-view used:

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.”

The “were proud to say” statement tells the reader that the book was written in the past tense. The passage as a whole hints towards a third-person point of view and later statement such as “As he [Mr. Dursley] drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day” clinch that the book was written from a third-person omniscient perspective. The passage as a whole also has an informal and colloquial tone, which is continued throughout the book. Finally, the “they were the last people you’d expect...” statement foreshadows the magical events to affect the Dursleys that day and Harry’s entry into their family that night.

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