The Boa Constrictor in the Zoo

The snake is a sort of mirror character for harry, in that both of them are separated from their place of origin in some way. There's even a parallel of how the dersleys treat the snake and how the dursleys treat harries. I wonder if this is the first time, literally the first time in his life, that harry is feeling a connection with any other living creature. He doesn't remember his parents. He has certainly never felt recognize. We hear about how alone he is, how he has no friends. And i love that the glass that separates them literally vanishes,. so that a intimacy of experience becomes a physical thing.