Questions and ponderings--the dementor's kiss

[i_am_erasmas]

No: HPFGUIDX 41031

Laura wrotes:
> Also, the fact that Harry reacts so strongly towards them -- that 
must attract them as well.  It's stressed in the book (I believe) 
that although they make everyone else miserable, their effect on 
Harry is remarkably worse -- he must be like a delicacy to them, you 
know??<<

I don't think Lupin explained them to Harry that way at least. Yes 
he's effected severely by them because his worst memories are awful. 
I suppose they may be attracted to those that have the biggest 
difference between their highs and lows, but that wasn't really thw 
question Harry asked Lupin.

Here's Lupin's description from PoA (sorry no page number, my hard 
copy isn't here):

"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They
infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair,
they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even
Muggles feel their presence, though they can't see them. Get too near 
a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked 
out of you. If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to 
reduce you to something like itself... soul-less and evil. You'll be 
left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. And the 
worst that happened to you, Harry, is enough to make anyone fall off 
their broom."

Harry asked why they came to the quiddich match and Lupin said they 
couldn't resist the crowd. It just doesn't sit right though: if they 
were attracted to the crowd why weren't they in the stands? Why were 
they in the field focussed on Harry?

"At least a hundred dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him,
were standing beneath him. It was as though freezing water were rising
in his chest, cutting at his insides. And then he heard it again....
Someone was screaming, screaming inside his head... a woman..."

See what I mean? 

One would think they'd also go for Neville at least; if you stripped 
away his happy thoughts wouldn't you be left with a memory of his 
parents being tortured? I would think the more life experience their 
target has, the greater the chance that they've had something really 
awful happen to them in their lives. No doubt the older professor's 
have been through some very nasty episodes. I guess I was originally 
trying to say that Lupin's explanation for the interaction between 
the dementors and Harry doesn't seem to tell the whole story. 

Laura:
> > On the other hand, I agree with your assessment that there's 
something > else going on here.  >We all know that Harry is a very 
unusual boy (even for a wizard ^_~)..perhaps this is another 
>manifestation of his particular brand of strangeness?

Whoohooo someone agrees with me :). In a post I made on Tuesday (I 
reread it -- it's very scrambled, sorry) I was trying to say that 
Harry has strange interactions will all manner of non-human magical 
creatures. Hagrid, Firenze, Dobby, the dementors. I think these  are 
linked. I think part of Harry's strangeness is a potential overcome 
some major challenges of tolerance in the magical community. I think 
a core part of the overall plot of the series is a deep look at 
tolerance and intolerance. 

Look at Goblet of Fire. No doubt Rowling was under a lot of pressure 
from the publishers to shorten the book. An obvious point is the 
whole thing with Hermione and the house-elves. There's a lot of pages 
there, and S.P.E.W. was not really necessary to the plot if you look 
at Goblet of Fire alone. In GoF all it serves to do is flesh out 
Hermione's character development -- Hermione as social activist. It's 
all going to come back, and in a big way. Ron accepts house elves as 
they are, Hermione campaigns for change, Harry doesn't say much but 
appears to be attempting to empathise. 

Richelle said:
> I'm really confused now.  Is it the good thoughts or the bad 
thoughts that the dementors feed on?  I skimmed through PoA but can't 
seem to find it at the moment.  I had it in my head it's the good 
memories they take (for food) leaving you with the bad ones.  Well, 
Harry obviously has more bad ones than anyone else around.  But if 
it's the good memories they're after, he hasn't got that many.  He 
would be more of a snack, not a feast.  I'm sure he had no really 
good memories until Hogwarts, which only leaves 2 years worth of
good memories, compared to his classmates 11+ years of good 
memories.  Or do I have the whole thing backwards?  Help!<<

They definitely suck out your happy thoughts. I can't remember any 
explanations in the book about them being attracted to Harry. That 
was just an observation that I made (no doubt lots of other folks 
observed that too). Harry is extremely affected by them because when 
his happy thoughts are gone, what he's left with is pretty grim. 

erasmas