Chapter 4 (gof spoilers) discussion...

[jenP_97]

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No: HPFGUIDX C5695
From: jenP_97
Subject: Chapter 4 (gof spoilers) discussion...
Date: 8/4/00 10:42 am  (ET)

Only a week or two left on these, right? Right? ;)

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Whew. Okay. I was reading GOF to my husband last night, and I came
across a phrase that has haunted me since then. I had dreams about it. I
meant to sleep in this morning, but it was torturing me. Of course,
I looked it up, and it's not quite as blatant as I thought - but it's
still interesting. So tell me what you think:

"Harry spent most of the afternoon in his bedroom; he couldn't stand
watching Aunt Petunia peer out through the net curtains every few seconds,
as though there had been a warning about an escaped rhinoceros."

Could this be a literary allusion to Ionesco's _Rhinoceros_? Now that
I've read a summary of the play and refreshed my memory, the main
character in the play is more *anti-conformist* than anything - I won't
go into all the Nazi references and all - but it could be a hint about
the beginning of the play, where everyone's concerned about the growing
rhino population. We all know that the Dursleys are as much conformists
as anything else. And at the beginning of Ionesco's play, everyone is
concerned that there is this crazy rhinoceros running around, making
a mess, wreaking havoc, being a stupid ANIMAL... that sounds like the
kind of reaction I can see coming from the Dursleys. Of course, then at
the end, everyone conforms and becomes rhinoceroses(correct plural?) as
well, so... I can also see this behavior from the Dursleys. I'm not sure
I know what to think about this.

I do know this. If JKR *did* put this in as an actual allusion... there's
no WAY the average - or even above average kid is going to get the
significance. Hell (excuse me!), *I*'m not sure I can work out the
significance. Someone, please... tell me I'm not crazy! (well, not more
crazy than usual, that is)

Jen (remember! This tortured me all last night. Be gentle!)

Ps. To qualify my above statement (not in my sig), I don't think any
average/above-average AMERICAN kid is going to get it. I don't know about
the British school systems, but I highly doubt that any normal American
kid is going to be exposed in public school to Ionesco. ;)