Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: J.K. Rowling’s Turning Point for Harry
After another dreadful summer with the Dursleys, Harry is about to begin his fourth year at Hogwarts, the famous school of witchcraft and wizardry. At fourteen, Harry would like to be a young wizard like any other: learning new spells, meeting up with his friends Ron and Hermione and going with them to the Quidditch World Cup.
Author: J.K. Rowling
Title: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), book 4 of 7
Format: English paperback (Bloomsbury Children’s Books), 640 pages
Scope: The middle book of the series, where the story turns darker
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/1408855682 (ASIN 1408855682)
A Surprise at Hogwarts
When he arrives at school, however, a huge surprise awaits him, one that will force him to face the most fearsome challenges of his life. Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament, a contest between three schools of magic, and the Goblet of Fire unexpectedly chooses Harry as a fourth champion, although he is too young to compete and never entered his name.
No Longer a Child
If he manages to overcome the tasks, dragons, a lake full of merpeople and a maze full of dangers, he will have shown that he is no longer a child and that he is ready for the new and exciting experiences the future holds. But the tournament is also a trap, and its ending changes the whole series.
The World Beyond Hogwarts
The book opens wider than the earlier ones. Before term begins, Harry and the Weasleys attend the Quidditch World Cup, which ends in chaos when Voldemort’s former followers, the Death Eaters, march through the campsite and the Dark Mark appears in the sky. At school, students from two foreign academies arrive: the elegant Beauxbatons, with their champion Fleur Delacour, and the grim Durmstrang, whose champion is the famous Quidditch player Viktor Krum. Hogwarts’s own champion is the popular Cedric Diggory.
Friendship Under Strain
Much of the middle of the book is about the friendships rather than the tasks. Ron refuses to believe that Harry did not enter himself in the tournament, and their quarrel is painful precisely because it is so ordinary. The Yule Ball brings the first awkward romances, Hermione appears with Krum to Ron’s fury, and the gossip journalist Rita Skeeter shows how easily the press can twist a young person’s life. Hermione’s campaign for the rights of house-elves, S.P.E.W., adds a thread about injustice that the series will return to.
The Graveyard
Without giving away details, the final task leads Harry to a graveyard far from Hogwarts, where the series changes for ever. A death, a ritual and a duel make it clear that the stakes are now life and death, and the closing chapters show the wizarding world splitting between those who believe Harry and those who do not. The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, the scarred Auror Mad-Eye Moody, turns out to be one of Rowling’s cleverest pieces of misdirection.
Recognition
Goblet of Fire won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2001, and Mike Newell’s film followed in 2005. It is the longest of the first four books, and many fans consider it the turning point of the whole series.
Reading Tip
Younger readers may find the ending upsetting; it is worth reading together, or at least being available to talk about it afterwards.
Why It Matters
Goblet of Fire is the point where the books grow up: longer, more complex and more frightening than the first three, with a final chapter that sets up the war of the last books. It is many readers’ favourite, and a good moment to notice how carefully Rowling has been planting clues from the start.
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