responses to chapter summary/character study (kinda long)

[Kimberly]

No: HPFGUIDX 8584


> heidi  wrote:


                QUESTIONS:
                1. Is JKR, by making Hagrid blameless for whatever his 
>mother, the
                Giantess, may have done, and very different from what 
>witches & wizards
                believe about giants, setting up a parallel where the 
>children of the
                death eaters cannot be blamed for their parents' 
>actions and act very
                differently than their parents do/did?


Seems likely to me.  In CoS, when Harry's worried because Riddle says 
they have so much in common, and because the Sorting Hat says 
he'd fit in Slytherin, Dumbledore tells him it's our decisions that 
make us who we are.  I would think this would apply to Hagrid, and 
even Malfoy and the other death eater's kids.  The problem is, they 
have to make those different decisions.  So far, Malfoy and company 
haven't done that, but that doesn't mean they can't.  

                2. Would you rather take a class from Hagrid or 
>Professor Grubbly-Plank?
                Discuss.

Sooo much rather take from Hagrid.  First of all, I don't know 
anything about Grubbly-Plank.  Secondly, just because Hagrid hadn't 
introduced a unicorn doesn't mean he wouldn't have.  He does know an 
awful lot about all magical creatures - just look at the forbidden 
forest scene from PS/SS.  I'm guessing there's some sort of curriculum 
for Care of Magical Creatures just like there is for everything else, 
so just because Hagrid's introducing his idea of 'interesting 
creatures' doesn't mean he won't also cover the usual suspects.  You 
can't judge him by the flobberworm mess, because he was emotionally 
overwrought at the time and was afraid he was going to be fired for 
putting the kids in danger.  Oh yeah, and Hagrid's a sweetheart and I 
love him to death.  So that's enough for me.  I think of all the 
people in the books he's got the best, most loyal and truest heart.  I 
always love the guys who are somewhat simple.   

                3. Why doesn't Harry pull out the Marauder's Map to 
see if Rita is on
                Hogwarts grounds & then track her down in her bug form 
well before the
                end of the book?

I guess because he didn't know she was a bug for most of the time.  Or 
maybe just because it fit the plot better this way.  Or wait, didn't 
Moody/Crouch borrow the map?


Heidi wrote again:

Questions:
1. Is Draco sexy?  
Not at all, not to me, and not even to my inner adolescent.  I was a 
pretty timid kid, and I remember being devastated by guys like him.  

2. Is Draco redeemable?

Definitely, but not necessarily.  Meaning he could, of course, change.  
A lot of the guys who were rotten to other kids in school are now 
perfectly nice guys.  It happens.  Also see above about Hagrid/death 
eater's kids.

                3. Does he have any friends? I don't mean flunkies or 
minders, I mean
                someone who he can have a conversation with. If not, 
could he?

Not that I've seen, but he does seem popular among the Slytherins.  He 
is often mentioned as 'performing' (ie mocking Harry) for the whole 
Slytherin table.  So he may very well be friends with many of them 
that we don't know about.


For Goyle and Crabbe:
Questions:
1. Is he that stupid or is it an act?
    2. If he is that stupid, how did he get into Slytherin? What are 
his
                ambitions? Where is his cunning?


Probably fairly thick.  Nothing to say dumb kids can't get into 
Hogwarts, or into Slytherin.  You can be stupid and ambitious fairly 
easily.  Cunning - not so sure, but they're at least smart enough to 
align themselves with someone who has more smarts and social power.  
And the Sorting Hat has to put them somewhere - they're not 
hardworking, easygoing Hufflepuff types, they're certainly not 
Ravenclaw brains, and they don't show any Gryffindor qualities either.