More Musing on the Put-Outer

[foxmoth at qnet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 30270

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Cindy C." <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:

>>A few months back, we discussed the Put-Outer in PS/SS and 
tried to figure out why Dumbledore uses this magical device to 
extinguish and light the lamps on Privet Drive.  Why doesn't he 
just use a wand?  Is this just because JKR doesn't yet want us to 
know about wands?  Or is something else really important going 
on?  And why does JKR, a master of inventing clever names like 
"pensieve," resort to a clunky name like Put-Outer?

Then, when I went to see that 
Hollywood-production-that-we-are-not-
supposed-to-discuss-on-this-list, I observed that a big chunk of 
valuable time is used watching Dumbledore use the Put-Outer in 
a rather slow and dramatic way.  Why is so much book time (and 
precious screen time) devoted to the Put-Outer? 

<<snip Cindy's fascinating forcefield theory, which I really like. >> 

 Here are some additional reasons:
  1.The wand is a give-away for wizardry, whereas the Put-Outer, 
Dumbledore's watch and the motorcycle aren't necessarily 
magical. Remember, if you're reading the book for the first time 
under its original title (having spent the last five years underwater 
so as to miss the accompanying hype) you aren't meant to know 
there's wizardry involved until Hagrid makes his dramatic 
pronouncement to Harry in chapter four.
  2. It's  the establishing note for Dumbledore's character, both in 
the books and in the FTMNBN. He's got mysterious powers, he 
does things in a dramatic and unexpected way, and he has a 
quirky sense of humor (a Put-Outer looks like a Lighter, but does 
the opposite thing)
  3. The scene recalls a well-known quotation: "The lamps are 
going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our 
lifetime." (Edward, Viscount Grey of Fallodon, August 4,1914, 
watching from his window at the Foreign Office in London as the 
lamplighters put out the lights in St. James Park at the start of 
World War One.) It's a cue to the reader/viewer that there's a long 
bloody struggle ahead and the end of an era as well.


Pippin