Lupin's Edge/Twins' Edge? (was Why Suspect Lupin?)

[ssk7882]

No: HPFGUIDX 35613

Cindy, who only beats up men, wrote:

> You like Edge; I like Tough. 

Actually, I'm beginning to think that what I like is really just a
certain type of sensitivity.  I prefer the neurotic to the well-
adjusted, the sly to the straightforward, the passive-aggressive to 
the confrontational, the helpers to the heroes, and the sadists to 
the thugs.  I like people who when placed under pressure, neither 
bend nor Crack, but *splinter.*  That's why I can appreciate all 
those poor SYCOPHANTS so much, while also enjoying the heroically 
Edgy.  And it's why Tough, for the most part, leaves me cold.

> Does Voldemort have Edge? 

No.  Tom Riddle had Edge.  Voldemort has gone *over* the Edge.

Once you have gone all the way over your Edge, then you can really no 
longer be said to have it.

> Does Snape have Edge? 

Yeah, Snape lives on the Edge.  Snape's holding onto the Edge with 
his last two fingernails.

> I don't think I get Edge. Edge is harder to evaluate than Tough.

It is, isn't it?  I went looking through on-line slang dictionaries
in search of a workable definition of Edge.  I couldn't find one, 
although I did learn a number of exciting new ways to describe the 
act of vomiting.


Kimberley wrote:

> Yay! I'm normal! 

LOL!  

This is surely the only time this phrase has *ever* been heard on the 
Internet!

> AND I get to enjoy the Shack scene without feeling like a heel. 
> This is great! I love Edge! Ahh, that feels so liberating.

<twisted smile>

I see that you're ready for the intermediate lesson, Grasshopper.  
Want to learn to read the Graveyard scene in GoF as black comedy?  
C'mon...You know you want to.  Good and evil are only in your 
*mind*...

I wrote that the Twins' pranks are usually well-meaning, if sometimes
insensitive, but at other times show elements of malice.  I cited 
their constant attacks on Percy's badges as an example of the latter.

Kimberley wrote:

> I kinda think that this, like the example you mentioned with Ginny, 
> is not about malice, but about an attempt to "cheer" him up, 
> although in another sense of the word. Percy's wound up tight, and 
> takes everything (including himself) very seriously. . . . I get 
> the impression that the twins' teasing is just an ill-advised 
> attempt at getting him to lighten up. I think Fred and George are 
> trying (in the way that is their specialty) to teach him to laugh 
> at himself. 

I certainly agree that this is how they would defend their actions.
But I don't think it's accidental that they go after Percy on 
precisely the same points for which he is always being praised by 
their mother, or for which they themselves are always being 
*criticized* by their mother.

There's genuine hostility there, I'd say.  Not, of course, that this
precludes love.

> It's obvious they love their brother, or they wouldn't bother 
> forcing him to spend Christmas with them, so I don't think the rest 
> of the teasing is malicious. 

I agree that they love him.  I also think that much of their teasing 
is malicious.

> So basically what I'm saying is that Fred and George are sort of 
> thoughtless, but I think they mean well. Judging from the way they 
> zoom in on Percy's sore points, they do have the insight, so when 
> they grow up enough to realize how they push people's buttons maybe 
> they'll develop the kind of strenght and control that will make 
> them characters with Edge too

I don't see the Twins ever becoming 'Edgy,' per se.  They're too 
direct and too straightforward, and not sufficiently thoughtful or 
sensitive.  Honestly, I don't think that they way they go after Percy 
shows a terrific deal of insight.  They're not really very subtle at 
all, are they?  Like a pair of human Bludgers, the Twins are.

(Of course, a great deal of what makes Percy such a tempting target in
the first place is that it requires absolutely *no* insight to figure 
out how to get his goat.  <sigh>  Poor Percy.  I always feel for 
Percy.)


-- Elkins