Stags and Rats, Oh My...

[christi0469]

No: HPFGUIDX 34492

> > Abigail wrote


> I have to say that my cultural biases are still showing.  
Intellectually I understand that a stag is a very powerful symbol, 
> but a part of me is still going "Wait a minute!  That's *Bambi's* 
dad!.


 It's been a while since I've watched Bambi, but the stag in the 
movie was "the king of the forest" (Bambi was the new little prince, 
and quite famous for it) he was quite impressive indeed. Remember 
that the stag saved Bambi and his girlfriend when it seemed that 
hope was lost for them (IIRC). It sounds like Harry's Patronus 
frightening off the dementors in PoA (I want to state that I am not 
using this as a H/H ship arguement. I also think that it's not a co-
incidence that JKR chose Patronus (Patron/Pater) for the incantation.



> Once again, cool.  Unfortunately, your pets have had very bad 
press - which will happen to an animal that's a plague 
> spreader - I'm pretty certain there's no misconception about 
that.  Regardless, the stereotype of a rat exists whether 
> or not it's true about the animal itself - one of the quirks of 
culture, kind of like "Lead on, Macduff" and "Play it again, 
> Sam" - everyone knows the lines even though they're misquoted.  So 
let's just say Peter Pettigrew fits the cultural     
> *idea* of a rat, and not necessarily the zoological truth.


 People who like rats might be able to console themselves with the 
portrayal of the magical rats in the pet store (PoA). They seemd 
highly intelligent and social, playing complicated rope skipping 
games using their tails. IMHO they realized that Scabbers was 
something other than a rat when they interupted their game to check 
him out. You could say that JKR does somewhat maligned snakes as 
well, using them as a metaphor for Slytherin when she wanted to 
point out Slytherin's negative points. She does portray a somewhat 
sympathetic snake at the beginning of PS/SS.


Christi