[HPforGrownups] Re: Foe Glass

[Jacob Lewis]

No: HPFGUIDX 46397

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "ats_fhc3" <the.gremlin at v...> wrote:
> > Okay, the passage is: "Snape followed him [Dumbledore], looking
> into
> > the Foe-Glass, where his own face was still visible, glaring into
> > the room" (GoF, 679, US Ed.).
> > -Acire
>
>
> Again, it's just this very quote that bothers me.  Now, we're told
> the story from Harry's point of view right?  So seeing as Snape
> doesn't say what he sees, it's just Harry saying that he see's Snape
> seeing himself, and perhaps at this point he just mentions Snape
> because he's so incredibly close to the mirror?

Actually, there's a grammar problem here, since there are /two/ male
subjects: 'him [Dumbledore]' and 'Snape'.  Follow that up with the fact that
you don't know /who/ is doing the looking into the glass (is it Dumbledore,
i.e. the prepositional phrase modifies 'him', or is it 'Snape'?).  It could
be that /Dumbledore/'s face is still in the glass, and, considering the mood
at the moment, either one could be doing the glaring.  The only thing we
know is that McGonnegal isn't in the mirror anymore (nor, really, the
narrative, if memory serves, considering it's D who does the interrogating,
and S who gets the potion).

You know, to tie this in with other posts, there's a biblical controversy
called the "iota heresy": basically, is JC homoousion "same as God" or
homoiousion "kind of like God"?  (Gibbon, "Decline and Fall", Ch. 21).  It's
where we get the "not an iota, not a jot" of Shakespeare and later -- thus
showing you that Grammar, or at least /good writing/ is a thing to be
cultivated, be it Harry Potter or God.  (Ooh, I'm getting Purgatory for that
one!)

(grins) Who put this soap-box under me? (steps down)

Jacob the Arcane