[HPFGU-Feedback] Re: Fandom, HP Fandom, HPfGU, Love, Language, and TBAY (long)

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

Del:
> <snip>
> Anyway. To explain my problem, I'll quote Pippin who wrote :
> "Consider the end of CoS. Diary!Tom, a man of letters, literally
> literal-minded and prosaic, can not be defeated by the sword of
> Gryffindor. The pen is mightier. But he underestimates the
> power of symbols, and so he is destroyed by a songbird (faith),
> a sleeping virgin(hope) and old clothes (charity)."
> Well, when I read that, my mind just went blank. I do recognize that
> she's speaking English, I know all the words here, but I don't get
> the concepts at all. I have so many questions I don't even know where
> to start ! Why would a songbird represent faith ? Why would a
> sleeping virgin represent hope, or old clothes charity ? What's the
> relationship between "a man of letters, literally literal-minded and
> prosaic" and the fact that he can't be defeated by the sword of
> Gryffindor ??
> Don't you see ? She's using a whole background of concepts and
> symbols I've never even heard of. Which is exactly the same as using
> words I don't know, as far as I am concerned.

Oh, Del, but the confusing part of what you quoted had nothing to do 
with TBAY at all.  I mean, the language might have been fancied up a 
bit to make the dialog more snappy and interesting, but I think if 
Pippin had posted her theory in the conventional way, you still would 
have been confused.  The symbolism discussed is not a product of TBAY, 
but of history, the Bible, etc.  Perhaps there was a previous post in 
which the origin of these symbols was explained (whether in TBAY or 
conventional format), perhaps not.  But your confusion stems mainly 
from the fact that Pippin assumes that the reader will have the grasp 
of conventional, Western symbolism needed to decipher what she's 
saying, not in her TBAY format.

As for the first part of the passage, it's just a fancy way of saying 
that Tom is *literally* a "man of letters" (punning, basically), 
therefore incorporeal, therefore unable to be slain in the conventional 
fashion (i.e. with a sword).  Again, your confusion is not TBAY 
related, but rather a product of Pippin (perhaps unnecessarily) 
constructing her sentences and their meaning in a v. intricate and 
complicated fashion.

Laura (jumping into the TBAY discussion with both feet, hoping no one 
eats her, and planning to write a more detailed take on the situation 
*after* her term paper is written.)


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