[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Silver lining and where to find it.

[Sue Wartell]

Zanooda2 asks about silver linings...


>Then she says: "There's the silver lining I've been looking for"(pp.116 and 99 US and UK respectively) . 
> 
> Ok, I know what "silver lining" means (something good in something
bad, right?), but still, it's not very clear to me what she wants to
say. Where exactly was she looking for that silver lining :-)? Does she
mean it in general, like, you know, everything is so bad - LV is on the
loose, people are dying, Harry is going away to fight LV and he may
never come back etc., but at least he won't date Veelas :-)? Or is it
something else? 

Kemper now:
I don't think it's what Geoff suggests (concern about dating someone
else) I think the dark cloud (which has a silver lining if the sun hits
just right) is that Harry is going off to do something that could get
him dead. The silver lining in that real danger is that if he's has to
do this dangerous thing, he won't be dating or one-night-standing any
other girl. I think she is saying this sarcastically. She knows he's
not going to dating anyone. The veela comment was just a ruse to get
him into her room for whatever it was they did.

That's my read, anyway.

Kemper


Sue now:
I'm with Geoff on this one, I think, since I really don't sense any sarcasm at all in Ginny's remark.  It's much more a case of saying something funny to try to keep from crying, in my opinion - a light, funny remark about something very, very frightening.  She wants to keep the tone light, to be positive, to give Harry good memories of being with her.  In that sense, it harks back to Harry's thoughts at the end of HBP, when he thinks about her reaction to his announcement that they can't be together - she doesn't cry, or lament, or try to talk him out of his plans. 

I think Zanooda2's got it right - the dark clouds have been gathering for some time - and are a combination of all the bad things happening, topped off by Harry heading off to fight LV, or die in the attempt.  And the silver lining is the fact that at least there won't be anyone competing with her for Harry's love.

And while I wouldn't presume to guess what things JKR had going on in her head while she was writing this, I do think that the silver lining was the kind to be seen in dark clouds struck by the sun, rather than the other kinds of silver lines Miles mentioned.  The allusion is so common in English as to almost preclude any other interpretation - but of course YMMV (your mileage may vary).

My opinion only, of course, and everyone else is quite entitled to their own...

Sue


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