CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter Seven, The Ministry of Magic

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 86784

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "KathyK" <zanelupin at y...> wrote:
> There is a lot of detail in this chapter.  I left in as much as 
> possible without making it too long.  It's still too long. <g> I 
> hope it suffices.  Questions appear at the end of the summary.
> 
> Summary:
> 
> ...edited...
> 
  They enter one of the lifts beyond the gate and begin their ascent. 
>  As they reach each level, the cool, female voice announces what can
>  be found there.
> 
> Level Seven:  Department of Magical Games and Sports— ... and 
> Ludicrous Patent Office.
> Level Six:  Department of Magical Transport—
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Level Five:  Department of International Magical Cooperation—
> Level Four:  Department of ... of Magical Creatures—
> Level Three:  Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes—
> Level Two:  Department of Magical Law Enforcement
> 
 
bboy_mn:

I've alway found the lifts and the floor structure to be very
confusing. They ascended in the lift, yet the floor numbers descend;
it took a while to reason out why that was.

The whole Ministry appears to be underground, and my mind
instinctively sees the various foors as sublevels, and that image
seems to hold true as sublevels are in ascending order as you go
deeper into the ground. 

Yet the internal appearance of the stucture is that of an above ground
building. If they were trying to emulate a normal windowed above
ground building then the floor levels should have ascended as the lift
ascended.

They appears to be trying to emulate a muggle building with 7 upper
floors, a ground floor (atrium), and two sublevels. In a muggle
building, starting from the lowest to the highest would be SubLevel2,
SL1, GF, Floor1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, and F7; ten levels in all. But
that's not how the floors are designated. 

Can anyone confirm how floors and subfloors are numbered in the UK?
Are we seeing the floors numbered as if they were all underground
sublevels? If so, does that put the Dept of Mysteries on Level 9 or
Sublevel 1?


> 
> Questions:
> 
> 1. The golden symbols on the ceiling in the Ministry—What are
> they and why do they change?
> 

bboy_mn:
Lots of people have speculated about his, but my personal feeling is
that they are symbolic/decorations and not functional. The symbols are
only mentioned on the ceiling of the Atrium, and the description of
the whole room as well as the ceiling seems ornate. Like all goverment
building, the first main floor is intended to impress visitors.


> 2. Is there any significance to the beings represented in the 
> Fountain of Magical Brethren?  Why are the centaur, goblin, and 
> house-elf described as looking adoringly at the wizard and witch? 
> 

bboy_mn:
I think the significance is that these are the only intelligent
sentient humanoid creatures in the wizard world. So this is a
gathering of the highest intelligence lifeforms. Since the statues
were made by wizards, they naturally placed themselves in the postion
of the highest lifeform, which has been a consistent and continual
occurance for Europeans since the beginning of time.


> 3. Harry checks in at security.  How long do you think it takes 
> security to catch anyone who doesn't check in?  What do you think 
> happens to those folks? 
> 

bboy_mn:
Security doesn't seem that tight. Like most public buildings, you have
to walk past some type of security, but they are invariably bored and
underpaid with a primary interest in doing their routine duties and
going home at the end of the day. They really don't have a strong
motivation to go out of their way to chase bad guys. In this sense, I
think JKR is just playing on a stereotype of security guards everywhere.


> 4. The security guard waves a golden rod over Harry's body.  What
> is its function? 
> 

bboy_mn:
I see this as the equivalent of passing through the metal detectors at
the airport. Again, I think JKR is making us comfortable with her
world by filling it with familiar images and icons. JKR has tried to
construct a wizard world the live in parallel with the muggle world,
and while she has kept them separate, she has also integrated them in
away that make the existance of the wizard world believable. Platform
9-3/4 at King's Cross Station, St. Mungo's in a non-descript
department store, The Leaky Cauldron on Charring Cross Road; all these
common reference points serve to stimulate our imaginations, and allow
us to fully believe in something that is highly unlikely.

At to it functional use, I think it is amoung other things a metal
detector which prevents dangerous wizards from bringing muggle weapons
into the Ministry. It could also sniff our poisons, Dark Potions, and
other dangerous and unauthorized items.


> 5. The Ludicrous Patent Office .... What might constitute a 
> ludicrous" patent?  Where is the not-so-ludicrous patent office?  
> Why is this office ...(in)... the Department of Magical Games and 
> Sports, ...?
> 

bboy_mn:
If you look up the latin roots of the word 'ludicrous', you discover
that it is indeed related to sports. (Am. Heritage 3rd Ed) "From Latin
'ludicrus', sportive, from 'ludus', game, with its derivative
'ludere', to play". Also from 'Leid' - "To play, jest".



> 6. Looking at the Department of Magical Transport, ... the only 
> legal, magical ... transportation are the Floo ..., Brooms,
> Portkeys, and Apparation?  Or is it that these are the only means 
> that are regulated...?
> 

bboy_mn:
I think this is the department that regulates 'created' magical
methods ot transport. Natural method like flying magical creatures
would not be requlated here. 

To the best of my knowledge Floo, Brooms, Portkeys, and Apparition are
the only legal methods of wizard enchanted travel. But, as we have
seen, flying carpets are banned because they are charmed muggle
artifacts. I suspect there are other banned methods of magical
transport that are controlled and regulated by other departments.

One could speculate that Apparation is a 'natural' method of travel,
but it is clearly dangerous to wizards, and given that fact, would
need to be regulated.


> 7. How do the paper airplane memos work?  ...  Must one tell it 
> where to go?  ....
> 

bboy_mn:
One could ask, how do owls know where to go? Owls logically don't
speak English and I doubt that they can read, so, as always, the
answer is, they are magic. Owls and magical paper airplanes are
enchanted either natually in the case of an owl, or by assorted spells
in the case of the planes.

So, just like with owls, you write the name of the receiver of the
memo on the paper, tap it with your wand, and say 'take this to Arthur
Weasley', and the paper airplane memo enchantment takes over from there.

> 8. How many wizards does it take to come up with a muggle-worthy 
> excuse?  <g>
> 

bboy_mn:
Given wizard's poor, warped and distorted knowledge of the muggle
world, I would say it probably takes quite a few. Either that or there
are some extremely talented muggle experts in the Minstry. However,
given that Mr. Weasley has a job that deals with the muggle world, one
could consider him an expert. That would imply that it take a
committee a great deal of effort to come up with muggle-worth excuses.


> 9. Is the enchantment placed on the windows on Level Two similar to 
> the one placed on the Great Hall ceiling at Hogwarts?
> 

bboy_mn:
Not quite; I'm sure it's a similar spell, perhaps even based on the
same charm, but the Hogwarts ceiling emulates the real world, whereas,
the Ministry windows are programable; they show whatever the
Maintenance Department decides they will show.


> 10. Why must Kingsley and Mr. Weasley pretend they don't know one 
> another?  Yes, it's to keep the Order a secret, but would it be
> so out of place for the two to be friends?  
> 

bboy_mn:
They don't pretent to not know one another, they pretent to be nothing
more than co-workers. Like all co-workers, they would be on friendly
terms but not necessarily friends. Also, keep in mind that Kingsley is
in the premier postion in Law Enforcement; he is one of the best of
the best. Mr. Weasley on the other hand, is the lowest of the low with
regard to his preceived job status. He's like the dog catcher of law
enforcement.

Also, Mr. Weasley's status at the Ministry is pretty shake. He has
generally made it know that he is a strong supporter of Dumbledore's
and that he has faith in what Harry says. That makes him a suspect,
and someone who's actions would be closely watched. So, it wouldn't be
good for anyone at the Minstry to seem too friendly or sympathetic
toward Arthur because that would likely draw close scrutiny to them.


> 11. ... Mr. Weasley's job, ... seems ... held in low esteem, ....
> Why is his office so small... only two people work there?  
> Is the offense of misusing muggle artifacts so rare or so 
> insignificant that it warrants little attention?  
> 

bboy_mn:
Remember there are other departments that deal with the interaction of
muggles and magic; Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviators,
etc.... Mr. Weasley deals specically in illegally charmed muggle
objects. Give that in my many years of life, I have yet to come across
a charmed muggle object, I think it's safe to say it is moderately
rare occurance. 

In many cases, muggles would think that they are just malfunctioning
common objects; like the exploding toilets. In real life, toilets
occassionally DO explode, so again, most muggles would see it as
merely malfuncitoning, not magically charmed. 

So Mr. Weasley would concentrate on finding the perpetrator and
reversing the charmed objects, rather than dealing directly with the
muggles. If there was serious muggle interaction required, Magic
Reversal and Obliviators would be called in. If there was a need to
confront a perpetrator, magical law enforcement would be called in. 


> 12. In Mr. Weasley's office, Harry notices Percy has walked out
> of the family photo.  How can a photograph mimic a behavior like 
> Percy turning his back on the family unless it was already in his 
> nature to do so?  How does Harry know Percy was in the photograph in 
> the first place?
> 

bboy_mn:
I've written long posts on the nature of photos and magical art. My
impression is that photos are like little stage plays. The subjects
are actors playing out a context. Illustration, Harry is pictured in
the paper as someone undesirable and untrustworthy, and the photo
automatically takes on that context; dark, sinister, shifty-eyed,
devious. The same photo is used in an article where Harry is portrayed
positively, and Harry is smiling, handsome, and confident.

The photo may have sensed or overheard the Percy/Family situation, and
has automatically taken on that context. The photo-actor Percy has
taken on the context of the real life Percy.



> 13. ... the Department of Mysteries is beyond the black 
> door at the end ....  Harry expects to go through the door when 
> Mr. Weasley leads him to the left of the door down the stairs.  Does 
> Harry expect to go through the door because he doesn't see the 
> passage to the left, or does it really have to do with the dreams 
> he's already having, and he wants to go through the door even if
> he doesn't recognize it yet?  
> 
> KathyK

bboy_mn:
I think it is a combination. First, he doesn't know where he is going
much less where he is at, so he is following the most obvious clues.
He enters the hallway and his sight is drawn to a vaguely familiar
door at the end. He is attracted to the door and make the quick
assumption that this is where they are going. But given the tension
and urgency of the moment, he has no time to react or analyse the
door. Before it even really registers in his conscious mind, Mr.
Weasley has already pushed him down the hall to the side. 

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn