Muggle studies, alternate studies, grownups, Javert

[Elizabeth Dalton]

No: HPFGUIDX 31118

Scot (from Minneapolis) wrote:

> I would love to find out the the Muggle Studies 
> prof is an honest to goodness Muggle who landed a sweet job.

Wouldn't we all. Aren't we all wishing we could have that job? Given that we're
too old to get the invitation letter... We're also waiting to find out who the
"late bloomer" is that JKR mentioned in the interview. At least, I am. :)

Actually, I'd also like to see a "Comparative Magic" class. Something that
covers how magical traditions vary in different parts of the world. JKR touches
on this briefly in QTA and FB, but doesn't say much about it in the books. If I
had time to write fanfic, I'd write about a visiting professor from Asia (for
talking purposes) who would do a two-week rotation in each class, to give the
kids an alternate perspective. I think that could really help the next
generation find some creative solutions for fighting Voldemort, who seems to
have stayed largely within the confines of Europe. It would be fun to write,
too. Chinese medicine in potions class, ofuda in DADA, shinto fire-reading in
divinations, flying carpets vs. brooms (they'd need a special import license for
that one)... I can't think of a good equivalent for Charms, though. Anyway, as
all this has nothing to do with canon, I suppose it's OT. Or is it? Can we
discuss what new mythological traditions JKR might pull in, and how?

annahunny2000 at yahoo.com started a thread called "Potterworld grown-ups are a
sorry lot". Many others have disagreed with her original remarks, so I won't go
further down that road (for once). Dawn made some good comparisons to Roald
Dahl's treatment of grownups, and generally this is pretty common in children's
lit, as others have pointed out. But as we've also noted, the books are shifting
from kid's books to more adult books as Harry ages, and I've noticed an
interesting transition over the course of the four books so far, that pretty
much tracks how a kid of Harry's age views grownups in our world:

SS/PS: Grownups are a pain. They are stupid, nasty, or at best amusing. Usually
they try to stop you from doing what you want to do. They never tell you
anything. But if things go really wrong, the few "good" ones can usually fix it.

CoS: Grownups can be a little bit interesting, but generally they still seem to
just want to make rules, and they don't help much in a pinch. Some of them are
liars. A few are really useful, but they still don't answer questions the way
they should.

PoA: Some grownups are pretty cool-- especially the ones who don't treat you
like a kid. Grownups may have problems you don't know about. Some of them are
worse than you've suspected-- in ways that make "bad" grownups you've known
before look less significant. Some grownups might know someting worth learning.
At least now sometimes they tell you stuff you need to know. Some of them,
anyway.

GoF: Grownups have *lots* of problems you've never realized you don't know
about. They have pasts, often going back to events that happened before you were
even born. They don't have things under control the way you thought they did.
They can't protect you from bad things nearly to the extent you'd believed. On
the plus side, they can be better listeners than you would have thought, and if
anything, you might wish they'd skip telling you some things. Some of them are
even more powerful than you thought they could be when you were eleven. But they
may not be around to help forever.

I predict that in future books, as Harry becomes close to "grown up" himself,
he'll come closer and closer to a viewpoint like this:

- Grownups are just people (like you). Some are good, some are bad. Some may
have reasons for acting that you don't know about or understand. Some are more
powerful than you, some less so. Some are wiser than you, some less so. All of
them are mortal. And so are you.

Another Elizabeth (aka smurfs143143 at aol.com) posted a nice comparison of Fudge
and Javert. Works for me. Except that I don't see Fudge as quite as driven as
Javert.

Elizabeth....
(Now I need some distinguishing feature... Hm... I'll have to think about this a
bit. I don't know much about the other Elizabeth, so I don't know what would
distinguish us from each other. Maybe just Elizabeth-the-long-winded... ;)