our POV (was Re: Who's more out of line?)

[gingersnape1966 <gingersnape1966@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51239

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "John Hatch" <john at s...> wrote:
> Tome writes:
> 
> For everyone who got so upset over Snape's treatment of Hermione: 
> were you equally upset when Crouch/Moody turned Malfoy into a 
ferret 
> and started bouncing him around? 
> 
There have been some *great* discussions about authorial intent, 
teacher/student roles, etc. but I am going to wonder a bit obout POV 
(point of view).  JKR tells the story from Harry's POV.  Therefore 
the Draco incedent is funny, whereas the Hermoine incedent is not.  
At least to Harry.  And a few of his friends.  And some readers.  

That's where our POV comes in. Regarding the Draco incedent: Think 
back to when you first read it.  Did it bring back a time when you 
were humiliated (or transfigured) by a teacher?  Or did it bring back 
a memory of a classmate you *wish* would have gotten that sort of 
treatment?  I wonder if that has anything to do with preception?  

Those offended and angered may have been reading it as a real life 
type of incedent, whereas those of us who found it amusing may be 
recalling someone real.  In my case, the guy who beat me up after 
band if I didn't have his music alphabetized, but never told me which 
end of the word to start at, so there was always a "reason" for the 
beating.  Of course, he was never caught and punished, so this was a 
vicarious "comeuppance".    A 25-year-old wish fullfillment.  All in 
the safe setting of a fantasy.  I wish no ill on this classmate now, 
but I can go back and imagine "wouldn't it have been funny if Moody 
had been our band teacher?" 

Best regards to all and thank you to all on both sides who 
contributed interesting reading material, 
Ginger

By the way, did anyone feel sorry for the fellows sent to the 
hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears?  Sorry for 
Gilbert Wimple stuck with his horns?  Or did we see them as a 
humourous reminder that we are not in the real world?