OT: Latin (was boggart) patronus or father?

[Lumen Dei]

No: HPFGUIDX 18766

Well, well.  I find it interesting that the two who took exception to my reflection on "Expecto Patronus" are both men.  Now that might just be sheer coincidence, but it might have something to do with the much deeper question.  I don't take the books lightly.  She is not a bubble-headed woman, as anyone knows who reads some of the interviews.  She has suffered, and it has dug caverns into her soul.  She has a real theme/message or "philosophy" behind what she is doing/writing. 

So let us take the bull by the horns.  Sorry, but I cannot accept the translation of exhaling, vomiting, breathing, etc.  Would she go looking for the most esoteric Latin word she can find?  All of them are easily understood by an adult and to many of her young readers.  Remember, she is committed to keeping this within the grasp of children, even while she thrusts spears of her counter-culture ethos at her adult audience.  "expectorare" is a nice piece of Latin, but does it reflect the theme of the books?  My position is that she is always working within a --to me rather obvious-- framework of themes.  And foremost is Harry's longing for a family.  Harry sitting hours before the Mirror of desire... is that not yearning?  Harry already knowing who it is that is going to emerge from Voldemort's wand: the one of whom he had thought more than any one else.  The patronus emerging from his wand, the murdered father, pater, emerging from Voldemort's wand.

The picture of Harry running pell-mell through the dark forest (a forest filled with dementors) because he is consumed with the desire to see his father...is that not yearning?  That little boy running through the forest is her portrait (and no, I don't think I am putting ideas into her mind) of contemporary western civilization: desperately seeking its father.  Freud killed the father for us.  50% of our children growing up without their fathers in their home.  My own brother spent six years teaching for that purpose alone: there are too many little boys who don't have a male figure in their lives.  And JKR is herself facing the challenge of raising her child without the father present.  She is crushing some of our most cherished culture icons: one being the new "vision" of a family/fatherless society, among many others.  She was a teacher, she remains a teacher.  One has almost invoked the patronus charm on reporters who dared to come between her and the children.  But above a mother.  Another culture icon shattered: she placed a young mother at the heart of the book.  One who gave her life for her child...

My computer Webster's tells me this

pa.tron \"pÀ-tr?n, for 6 also pa-"trÖn\ noun [ME, fr. MF, fr. ML & L; ML patronus patron saint, patron of a benefice, pattern, fr. L, defender, fr. patr-, pater] (14c)

Yes, patron is derived from patronus, but that in turn springs from pater...  And that makes sense when you contemplate all four books at once.  No, I don't think I am being merely poetical.  There are too many children who write to me, telling me what the site means...  These kids are hurting; and they know why.



Uh, right now we are having some technical difficulties with the site...trying to go over to flash.  So please wait a day or two before going there.  Thank you.  Oh, I love a good discussion.  So glad it is really out there!  Hope no one's toes are the worse for it....

Lumen Dei
Harry Potter's Philosopher's Shop  -- "Have Wand, Will Wave"
www.geocities.com/lumen_dei


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: rcraigharman at hotmail.com 
  To: HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, May 14, 2001 5:10 PM
  Subject: [HPforGrownups] Re: OT: Latin (was boggart)


  --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Morag Traynor" <moragt at h...> wrote:
  > <snip wonderful analysis of Expecto patronum and HP theme>
  > Thanks for that!  So much more interesting than I thought expecto
  > patronum  was - I should have known, from "Et expecto
  > resurrectionem mortuorum..." from the Latin creed.

  Personally, I think it's a bit overboard as analyses go.

  "Exspectare" (the "s" was there classically) is not just "expect",
  it's true--in fact, its breadth covers "to await", "to expect
  something that is to come or to take place", "to be waiting for",
  "to look for with hope, fear, desire, expectation", "to hope for,
  long for, expect, desire"; "to fear, dread, anticipate, apprehend".
  [Lewis & Short]

  But it's probably too poetic to transform "expecto patronum" into
  "I yearn for a father", unless we wish to believe that all "patronus"
  spells cast are psychologically bound to such a yearning or lack.
  I think that "protector", "defender", or "advocate" are all adequate
  translations, that don't add more baggage than intended.

  ....Craig


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