Intro pt 1: Umbridge/Grawp/Snape the betrayer

[Tasukibeth1 at cs.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 70757

First of all, I want to thank The Skeptic for that fabulous essay on why to 
like, or not like, OoP. That was really brave and really interesting! 

Image loving your perfect baby unconditionally and then having a stranger 
walk up and tell you that it's ugly. You may secretly be aware that it's ugly, 
but it's still kind of a smack in the fact when someone assaults you with The 
Truth like that. And I have to admit that now, after loving HP unconditionally, 
I am being forced to accept that it (the series) is flawed in many places, but 
I still love him and all of his adventures. However, there were some things 
that I was having problems with, and I was curious if any of you had any input 
or answers -  

Umbridge's lack of comeuppance - 
I was irate at the way Umbridge
got off. After reading 700+ pages of her torture, I was waiting for
the sweet, sweet payoff. When Hermione let her into the woods, I was jumping
for joy, screaming "YESSS!! GO GET HER, GRAWP!!!!!!!! Tear her limb from
limb!!!!" Of course what happens instead-she gets carried off by some 
centaurs and her hair
gets messed up. She eventually skulks away from the school, all of her body
parts in tact. I just felt...cheated. Her lack of any type of punishment was 
not appropriate for the disrespect that she showed her fellow staffmembers, 
and the unforgivable cruelty that she inflicted on her students. During the 
first "I will not lie" scene, I was SCREAMING for vengeance. To call any student a 
liar and then force them to mutilate themselves to further your cause is 
SADISTIC. Her bigoted intolerance of Hagrid's behavior and speech, her LACK of any 
useful curriculum (you think Hagrid is a bad teacher!?!? He's a genius 
compared to "Wands away, book out"), her self-serving appointment of the Slytherin 
boys to do her nastywork, and her unjustifiable suspension of Quiddich 
privileges for Harry and the twins are just some of the things that spring to mind.

The Grawp Thing-The whole Grawp thing made me very, VERY uncomfortable. I 
hope Grawp
was introduced for a reason -- otherwise, all I see is a new can of worms
with an inevitably messy resolution.

Snape as the ultimate betrayer - I hope and pray that Snape is a good guy.
If he ended up being a betrayer, I would feel extremely let down. Someone
said (I apologize, I don't remember who) that just because he is mean
doesn't necessarily mean that he is evil. I think JKR has already
established that there is never a definitive line between good and evil; not
all evil guys are mustache-twirling dark wizards, and not all good men are
perfect. Respectable men can still sometimes act like cruel butt-heads
(JAMES!!!! grrr) and even the smartest men can do some pretty stupid things.
Snape is not evil (IMO); he is just a miserable old SOB who can't stand
children and wished he had a better job. Heck, he sounds like me.

Beth in Sacramento
race to banishment
brimstone can heat
into neat chambers



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