Handwriting in FB (late as usual)

[frantyck at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26767

Sorry for length of post...

Credit where credit's due: This was first brought up by Amy Z ages 
ago, so says the message archive. Trina offered some analysis. Both 
anticipated some of the points I make.

I think I have the US editions.

Confession: It was a major thrill to scribble my own name in 
Fantastic Beasts alongside the others!

-----------------------------

In high school, my mum once sent me a large book on handwriting 
analysis, whose author claimed (on the front cover) to have consulted 
with the likes of the FBI and Forbes 500 corporations. It was a 
mesmerising read, and also a massive pain in the ***. It was (with a 
few exceptions...) very tiresome to have people begging to borrow it, 
or to have their handwritings analysed by an expert (me), almost 
fearfully, as if I had some secret window into their souls. Worse, 
probably, was the constant, petty desire to secretly evaluate others' 
handwriting, to see what they were *really* like. Worst of all was 
the attempt to change my own handwriting to be more hardworking, 
smarter, whatever the needs of high school dictate! At some point, I 
shoved the book under the mattress and deliberately lost it.

So that establishes my expertise. Actually, everyone can (and 
probably does) do some handwriting analysis. It's hardly a science.

The US editions of the main books have some faux-handwritten script, 
notably in Hagrid's letters to the trio in PoA (complete with teary 
blotches). We also have Sirius Black's signature, or at least his 
name written at the bottom of letters to Harry. Dumbledore signs his 
foreword to Fantastic Beasts with an old-fashioned flourish (and it 
really looks like he used a quill!). Mafalda Hopkirk's teacherly 
signature is on the letter Harry receives after Dobby performs that 
Hover Charm on Petunia's fancy pudding in CoS. Minerva McGonagall 
signs the Hogwarts admission letter in PS/SS.

[Skip the standard disclaimer about how small samples of handwriting 
are not much use for accurate analysis.]

Ron: angular, heavy, slightly irregular script with a dominant middle 
zone, no tall stems and deep g's. I have a friend whose handwriting 
is very similar, and he is also tall, lanky, has a short fuse and is 
very funny. According to his handwriting, Ron isn't much of a dreamer 
and doesn't have any major goals... is this too obvious?

Hermione: careful, regular, even, with a nice balance of lower, 
middle and upper zones (the so-called id, ego and superego zones). 
The interesting thing is that while the letters in each word are 
normally spaced, the words are quite far apart. This is supposed to 
indicate reticence, difficulty in making many friends... again 
obvious.

Harry: very interesting for several reasons. His signature (which I 
like a lot) shows confidence and clarity. It slopes gently upward 
which -- wait for it -- means that he has a basically positive 
outlook. "Harry" starts out pretty much upright and normal, but 
halfway through "Potter" the letters start leaning, and almost trip 
over in their eagerness to get off the page... the single bar of the 
two t's and the final stroke of the r are long and straight, 
indicating will and the ability to work hard (which is why I was 
surprised not to see it as clearly in Hermione's handwriting). The 
bar of the t's hangs high on the stems, another indication of 
hardworkingness. The clarity and strength of the signature seem to 
show that he does not doubt himself, witness the two confident 
downward strokes of the H. Wait, read on.

Harry's handwriting seems the most mature of the three, partly 
because the three zones (id, ego, superego) are not balanced. The 
middle zone (ego) is small compared to the tall stems and deep tails. 
Harry thinks a lot without necessarily thinking constructively or 
with direction (tall upper zone). At the same time, he is not 
particularly imaginative, because the upward stems are stiff and 
narrow, not loopy. I would link this with Harry's strong t-bars, to 
say that he can work hard toward specific goals, but perhaps not 
including homework and not all the time.

Harry also has a thirst to achieve (deep lower zone). The cramped, 
diffident middle zone suggests either that Harry is outward-directed 
and doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about himself, or that he 
isn't as sure of himself as his signature might suggest.

This difference between eager signature and diffident script suggests 
that Harry likes his name a lot (apparently this matters), and that 
it forms part of his identity... Harry Potter shaped by what it means 
to be Harry Potter.

What bothers me, though, is the strange, guilty little loop at the 
bottom of Harry's g's and y's. There's something wrong there, because 
he isn't able to open up and make the normal upward flick that would 
cursively connect the g or y to the next letter. In extreme cases, 
such as weird flicks or curls at the bottom of y's and g's, that's 
supposed to indicate some form of deviance (sexual or not, I dunno) 
or trouble in the id.

I suppose it's fair to say that Harry has a troubled id.


If you've been going "hmph, this is all obvious," it's true. We know 
what the characters are like because we are shown how they think, 
behave, react, relate to each other. I do appreciate the thoughtful 
way in which even small touches like the fragments of handwriting 
tell us something about the characters -- not necessarily something 
we didn't already know. It's an added subtlety that makes the whole 
ring truer.