Is there anything in the HP world that bothers you?

[Laura]

No: HPFGUIDX 56504

Melanie L Ellis wrote:
> > >
The one thing that bothers me in the HP world is JKR's descriptions 
of the Mandrakes in CoS. When they pull up the "seedlings" they are 
described as ugly babies. Not creatures, not monsters, just "babies", 
albeit ugly ones with green mottled skin. From then on throughout the 
book, descriptions of them growing up sound just like children 
growing up (acne, getting into each other's pots to fool around, 
etc.) And then, they are CUT UP AND STEWED! <shudder> 
> > >

Me:  I know *exactly* what you mean!  I never read the story to small 
children, so I didn't have to fudge the details like you did.  But I 
know it creeped me out a little while I was reading it.  With all 
this talk about them "moving in together"- makes them almost seem as 
if they have feelings or something.  I agree that she was making a 
comic exaggeration, and I'm not about to complain- I'm just saying 
that I definitely agree, that particular part of the books definitely 
got under my skin a little bit.

As for other candidates of "things in HP that bother you," people 
have mentioned the justice system.  I agree- the justice system (or 
lack thereof) is horrible, but it's not something about Harry Potter 
that bothers me.  Meaning that these problems (along with the 
corruption in the MoM) are also Muggle problems- JKR is simply 
showing that even wizards can't seem to get away from that kind of 
stuff- they are human after all!

Which also rules out my "what about the women?" comment, which was 
the first thing that came to mind when I saw the title "Is there 
anything in the HP world that bothers you?"  If this is just Harry's 
PoV and if it will change in future books is yet to be seen, but it 
irks me none the less.  It *really* gets under my skin that so far, 
we're given very, very little (if any) evidence that Ravenclaw and 
Hufflepuff are important.

But as for strict wizarding aspects of HP, the Mandrakes are way up 
there!  Along with the werewolf stereotypes- which I include as 
an "almost strictly wizarding problem" because although racism is 
definitely a Muggle issue, werewolves are not.

-Laura