General

An understanding of the context of any book you read begins with an understanding of the Author, their: background, life experiences, and beliefs. The environment of their upbringing, community and world situations, and

As she will also do in later books, Rowling used an interesting "magical" literary device in order to convey information about her books' characters. Conveniently, The Mirror or Erised will show anyone who stands in front of it their "deepest, most desparate desire of their hearts." This way she can convey to the reader a whole lifetime of experiences and emotions as sub-context when, for example, we learn that: Harry sees himself surrounded by a large family; and ron sees himself alone and more sucessful than his brothers when they look into the mirror. Dumbledore, he claims, sees himself getting a warm pair of socks.

Sorcerer's Stone