Making an Impression (Was:Re: High Inquisitor / time)

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 71654

I'm going to post a question of mine that I hope some of you will 
think about and explore on the list.  Many of you are so good at 
putting things into words that I have only had buried in emotions. I 
hope some of you will have an idea what this means:

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mtwelovett" <mbush at l...> 
wrote:

> Harry gets Detention with Umbridge at 5 pm so classes would have 
to be
> over by then wouldn't they? [...](and he did lines from then until 
after midnight most
> nights... that is over 7 hours of detention per night!!!! that evil
> Witch!!!!)

Umbridge intended to "make an impression" on Harry with this evil 
quill.  This act of hers must be very important to the story since 
it was featured so prominently and it was so horrible.  I believe it 
took three detentions (or over 21 hours) for Harry's hand to fail to 
heal over and continue to bleed freely.  Umbridge seemed to imply 
that it was taking an unusually long time with Harry, and I think 
that must be due to his strength of will or character.  Strength of 
will is a neutral attribute (a good or evil person can have it), 
while strength of character would be seen as a virtue.  As Umbridge 
seems to hate Harry, I don't see her believing in his strength of 
character, but that's neither here nor there as far as my questions 
go.

I want to know what is the true effect of these detentions on 
Harry?  Does the fact that his hand eventually does continue to 
bleed mean that either his strength of will or character was 
weakened in some way?  In branding "I must not tell lies" into his 
own hand, does Harry in effect name himself a liar?  Does he rather 
reinforce his respect for the truth?  Later on we see that he is 
even more willing to tell the truth about Voldemort (giving the 
interview) but he is no better at telling his own feelings (always 
answering "fine" when asked how he is by people who care).  Even 
when he trashed Dumbledore's office he was not so much giving vent 
to his feelings as not being able to bear them: if you read 
carefully he was doing things to try not to think about Sirius or 
his own guilty feelings.

Ah, I'm going rather far afield.  To return to the subject:  What 
effect would the further detentions have, which were not described 
but merely mentioned?  Does anyone see that the detentions have 
changed Harry in any way?  Is their only purpose to be symbolic of 
the evils bureaucracy can have, and symbolic of Harry's willingness 
to be punished rather than go for help per Iris' idea that Harry 
feels "dirty"?

I hope for some discussion of any of this, as I feel I'm missing 
something important here!

Annemehr
always ready to ask the big questions, lacking all the answers...