HP and the democratic equilibrium(Re: Umbridge, brooms and DEs)

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 87034


Hi all,

Geoff wrote:
 
"I did the same when I was teaching and removed items from
pupils. I would usually give them back at the end of the day with an
admonition "If I see it again, it goes away until the end of term"."

Things didn't change. I remember that, three years ago, I used to 
spend part of my time removing things from my students (portable 
phones, diaries, hair rushes, makeup, compassed they used to write 
their names on the tables, glue sticks
, while I was trying to make 
them speak Spanish. At the end of the hour, my desk was looking like 
a left-luggage office


Geoff:
"Umbridge is way over the top. She has already sanctioned Harry by
baning him from Quidditch. This is just to twist the knife. The
Firebolt was noting to do with the fight. Suppose a professional
football player is banned for a couple of months for bad play of some
sort. He doesn't have to hand over any footballs he owns; he isn't
told he can't kick a ball around in his garden. Harry owns a
valuable, rare Firebolt. He has every right to use it to fly around
on for fun and relaxation; he's not going to get to play Quidditch
anyway because he's banned."

I hate Umbridge. She's a sadist. I find the "Detention with Dolores" 
chapter hardly bearable. Even if a kid is difficult, there's no 
reason why they should be treated that way. Being an adult doesn't 
allow you to act like a dictator towards a child.
Back to what Geoff writes, I find the end of the paragraph very 
interesting: without his Firebolt, Harry can't fly around on. That 
means: he can't escape from Hogwarts on his own. For example, he 
can't use the Firebolt to fly to London. Taking the broom is a very 
useful mean to keep him under Umbridge's control. (Of course she 
neglected Hagrid's lesson about Thestrals- snicker). That brings up 
one question: who is she really working for? I suppose that there is 
more than sadism in her acts, the dirty creepy crawly.

Geoff:
"While on the subject of DJU, I consider JKR's portrayal of her gives
us a picture of evil woman who, in literary terms, is equally to be
loathed as Dickens' Wackford Squeers. There has been speculation in
the past as to whether the dear lady is actually a closet Death
Eater. My thoughts move along the lines that when you get
diametrically polarised ultra-extremists, you in fact get an almost
identical result. If you look at the way in which Hitler's Germany
and Stalin's Russia functioned, although they were political
opposites, the methods - secret police, executions, suppression of
opposition, disregard of legal trials etc. appeared to be virtually
identical. Apply the same to the Wizarding Worlda and you see on one
hand the Death Eaters and on the other fanatics like Umbridge and
Crouch Senior and the end result appears to be that they are clones
of each other. Dolores Umbridge is a scheming bully who likes to be
cock of the walk in her little world. Let's hope that she doesn't
claw her way back up in the next book or so..."

That answers my former question. I agree with you, paralleling what 
seems to be at first glance two opposite behaviours is probably one 
of JKR's intentions. The Death Eaters and Umbridge are like that 
snake that bites its own tail (by the way, it's an alchemical image
 
Thanks for your post, Geoff, I wonder whether I would have seen that 
without your thoughtful message). We could add that the global 
behaviour of the Wizarding World leads to the same dangerous 
situation. For example, refusing to speak Voldemort's name, ita est, 
to call him what he really is, is as dangerous as working for him. 
I'd better say: IT IS working for him. Using euphemisms such as "He 
Who Must Not Be Named" or "You Know Who" can lead to believe that he 
is not that terrible. It makes people forget how dangerous he is, 
and it opens the door to his return. That's all the paradox of 
tolerance, and all the delicate question of the democratic 
equilibrium.
Who said that HP was only a child book?

Two Knuts,

Amicalement,

Iris