[HPforGrownups] Lords of the manor and dark siders

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 52661

Jo wrote:
>I'm surprised that you say that a house would be much bigger than a
>manor.  I checked the American Heritiage College Dictionary (which

>This may be a US/UK difference, but since I live in a house, I'm
>having a very hard time believing that it's bigger than the Malfoy
>manor. Surely the quirarchy (I love this term!)would still be living
>on a fairly grand scale. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you
>wrote, but wouldn't a manor still be quite large and impressive
>compared to say, Privet Drive (and certainly The Burrow!)?

Oh yes, but remember that I'm not talking about the difference between
ordinary people (who live in a house) and the aristos, but within the
aristocracy itself - where if you live in a House (or a Hall), it's a lot
more prestigious than a mere Manor. Just a rule of thumb, of course...

Elkins added:

>To the above list, though, I would also add the restoration of ancient
>class privilege, which I believe to be Lucius Malfoy's main interest
>in Voldemort and which I don't view as either purely ideological
>(although it can be framed that way) or as *precisely* the same thing
>as the issue of purity of blood (although the two issues are
>obviously closely related).  I believe that the exchange between

It would be interesting to speculate on what exactly the differences are
between contemporary and traditional WW society, and to wonder exactly what
sort of world the Malfoys and their co-thinkers are harking back to. One
perhaps in which the more "aristocratic" families have some sort of power
(perhaps the school board of governors is one relic of this).

>Well...yes.  That really *is* one of the more troubling things
>about the developing backstory, isn't it?  It certainly is for
>me.  I find that the more we are told about the Ministry, and
>about wizarding society as a whole, the more sympathy I feel for
>the Death Eaters, particularly for those who signed on when they
>were quite young.

For me, it's one of the deeper and darker sides of the story, obviously not
given centre stage because why should it be? But it brings an awareness of
the sense of _difference_ in the WW that makes it in some ways quite a scary
place.

The thought that some of the DEs might have joined up because it appealed to
their sense of injustice in the way that the WW was going is also
interesting. Terrorism is, of course, a common recourse of political
movements who have no other possibilities to influence the political process
in the way that they wish. Though of course the way that the DEs went was
irretrievably coloured by the fact that Voldemort himself appears to be a
psychotic megalomaniac. A Malfoy-led movement would I think have a far
different colour.

Also, I wondered recently about whether not only the bad guys but also the
good guys would have to organise conspiratorially and whether there is a
possibility that there are other groups "out there" who are neither for the
MoM nor for Voldemort.

I think that the politics _will_ come more to the fore in future volumes,
and  hope that some of my guesses will indeed come to pass...

Cheers

Ffred

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