Ch. 14: Character Development

[milz]

No: HPFGUIDX 3435

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Karin " <karob_7 at y...> wrote:
> One of the interesting things to me in chapter 14 is that we seem
to 
> learn a lot about several characters, simply by their reactions to 
> the Unforgiveable Curses.
> 
> 1.  The majority of the class, including Ron:  Most of the class 
> thinks the lesson was really amazing and cool.  Not having any 
> personal experience relating to the Unforgiveable Curses, they
don't 
> recognize how horrible they really are.  Moody says he is trying to 
> make them more aware, but most of the students leave the classroom 
> just as insulated as when they entered that day.
> 
> 2.  Hermione:  Hermione watches not only what happens to the 
spiders, 
> but the reactions of those around her.  She sees Neville's reaction 
> to the Cruciatus Curse, and demands that Professor Moody stop.  
> Hermione hasn't had the personal experience either, but her
reaction 
> is different from that of most of the class.  I think we learn from 
> that that she is not only intelligent and observant, but that she
is 
> also an extremely caring and thoughtful person.  
> 
> 3.  Neville:  Neville's reaction is a big surprise to us, or at 
least 
> it was to me.  Up until this point, Neville has pretty much been a 
> one-dimensional character.  But when we see how upset he is by the 
> seeing the Cruciatus Curse performed, we realize that there is a
lot 
> more to him than meets than eye.  
> 
> 4.  Harry:  Harry's reaction to the curses is also a contrast to 
that 
> of most of the class.  He has just learned how his parents died,
and 
> there is nothing amazing or cool about that.  
> 
> From their reactions here, we see that most of the students will be 
> shocked by Voldemort's return.  It will be a very rude awakening.  
> But for Harry and Neville (especially Neville), his potential
return 
> has been hanging over their heads for quite some time.  As for 
> Hermione, she seems to know about practicing constant vigilance 
> without the help of Moody.

I don't think the reactions of the other students were totally off. 
Seeing those curses was "cool" because they were able to
depersonalize 
it. (I remember in school when our professor showed a tape of an 
appendectomy. The students who had had appendectomies were the least 
fascinated. The rest of us were fascinated not because we were 
insensitive to our appendectomized classmates, but because we had 
never seen an appendectomy before.) Harry and Neville could not 
depersonalize those curses so it wasn't "cool" to them. Harry's 
reaction wasn't surprizing and in retrospect neither was Neville's.

;-) Milz