female characters - very long and very opinionated/ Seven Virtues/ Vampires

[Steve Bates]

No: HPFGUIDX 3473

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Schlobin at a... wrote:
<I fear that I will be shot for this post, but here goes anyway. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
susan (bracing herself for the fury of the list unleashed)>

No fury here.  You really summed up my own mixed feelings on the 
issue.  The people who complain about the female characters are half 
right.  There is Hermione, but there isn't really much else, is 
there?  I am particularly disappointed that McGonnagall hasn't been 
better developed, expecially after her extremely interesting 
appearance in the very first chapter of the very first book.  Still, 
I think JKR's reaction to those critics who keep asking for better 
female characters is appropriate (didn't she compare their requests 
to "ordering a plate of fries"?).  She is the author, and she is 
following her own vision.  I can give her the benefit of the doubt, 
and assume the apparent relative lack of a strong feminine presence 
is due to the fact that the books are largely from Harry's point of 
view, and he is not expected to notice a lot of things.  This 
explains why Hermione is mostly seen as filling a somewhat male role: 
because that's how Harry sees her.  The fact that she is a girl 
probably actually doesn't occur to him, on some level.  And he simply 
doesn't notice many of the other female characters, or, if he thinks 
about it at all; he simply classifies them in a traditional female 
role (Mrs. Weasley as the mother, Madame Pomfrey as the healer).  But 
as Harry is maturing, his point of view is expandng, so I think there 
is hope that we will see a more 3D view of many of these female 
characters, perhaps even quite suddenly in the next book (Harry's 
experiences in GoF will certainly cause him to mature quickly in any 
number of ways.)

Peg: I wouldn't have thought it possible, but it looks like this 
series is going to be even better than your last.  Amazing!

About Brooks's comment on vampires: There are numerous variations on 
the vampire myth, and though I am not that knowledgable about them, I 
have heard two contrasting versions, one in which anyone who is 
killed by a vampire becomes a vampire, and one in which the vampire 
has to let the victim drink from him/her.  In any case, their one 
method of reproduction is to kill humans and make them vampires, so 
it would be hard to see how Snape could be half vampire.  If the 
fetus theory is true, the absorption of some of the vampire blood 
woud probably be enough to make him a TOTAL vampire.  It really is an 
all or nothing deal.  Anyway, I think the Snape as vampire theory is 
utter balderdash, based on totally circumstantial evidence, but it is 
so popular, I am forced to at least consider it.  I'll admit it's 
interestng to talk about, even if I don't believe it for one second.

P.S. Dracula could appear in the daytime, so it is not totally 
impossible that Snape can, too.  On the other hand, the vampires in 
Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (a guilty pleasure that ranks above Harry 
Potter for me) can stay up at all hours of the day as long as they 
are not in direct sunlight.  Of course Snape HAS been outside in the 
day, many times, but still. . .tbere are lots of possible 
explanations.