$pride/Voldie at eoPS/Fluffy's fate/G's sword, H's ?/Socks/Ghosts-Symbolism/POV

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 60399

Calimora (The Prideful Lurker) wrote:

<< There is a certain pride of accomplishment in making it by 
yourself. And there is a particular shame in not being able to make 
it by yourself. (snip) Yes, a poverty grant may 'give me the chances 
I deserve' but i'd much rather have the chances I've personally made 
and earned. >>

Yes, but one of the illogical things about human beings is that 
children feel the pride of accomplishment, feel that they have 
personally made and earned chances that THEIR PARENTS gave them. It 
is illogical that Ron would be very happy to accept a Firebolt or a 
Nimbus 2001 that his parents bought for him, but would be ashamed to 
accept one that McGonagall or Dumbledore bought for him. As far as I 
can tell, Harry didn't care whether his new broomstick was paid for 
from his Gringotts vault or by McGonagall or Dumbledore or the 
Hogwarts Boosters Club. 

(I used to know a woman who admitted that she was quite proud of 
having been able to go to college without any grants or loans ... 
because she paid for it with a nice trust fund that her late 
grandfather had left her.)

Patricia Bullington-McGuire

<< It's not clear that Ron would be allowed to attend classes *at 
all* if he did not buy even the basic required texts, and even if he 
did attend his ability to learn would be severely impaired. >>

We haven't seen Hogwarts inspecting students to see if they had 
actually brought the assigned books, so I don't think they'd start 
with Ron: they wouldn't ban him from his classes. He would just have 
to rush around trying to borrow his classmates' books while they 
were working on their other subjects, resulting in inconvenience 
and embarrassment. And Draco Malfoy would have great fun mocking his 
old worn-out too-short robes. And maybe Ron would still think it was 
worth all that to have a decent broomstick, which is not the lesson 
that hypothetical-Molly intended to teach him. 

Tonya Minton wrote:

<< At the end,Voldy is inside Quirrell and he dies because Voldy 
leaves his body. So how did Vodly get out of Hogwarts castle and 
grounds?? Was he a spirit?? therefore walked out?? >>

At the end of PS/SS, Voldie was once again a disembodied spirit. I 
personally believe that there is some spot in an Albanian forest 
which pulls hard, like magnetism, on Voldie, and without a body he 
cannot resist that pull, so it looks like he's flying (maybe as fast 
as the speed of light) to Albania, but really he's being dragged 
there. I believe that the reason that that spot has that effect on 
him is that that is where he did the final spell that made him 
immortal. 

anne conda wrote:

<< what HAPPENED to Fluffy at all? He`s not still caged in a certain 
room in Hogwarts, is he? Poor puppy >>

I have a strong impression that someone asked JKR in one of those 
on-line chats and she answered that Fluffy was living happily in the 
Forbidden Forest, but I can't find the citation.

digger wrote:

<< Another excellent suggestion! I like this. Sooooooooooooo, what 
kind of article do you think Hufflepuff has left lying around? >>

I like to think that Hufflepuff's relic is broom. A broom that she 
used to sweep the floor (probably enchanted to sweep on its own), but 
which Our Heroes could use for flight.

Laura Metslover wrote:

<< One other mini-thing, I think we're going to find out what's so 
cool about socks. But maybe I just think that because I'm personally 
dying to know. >>

We may never find out why sock are so cool TO JKR, but my theory 
about Dumbledore seeing himself with socks in the Mirror of Erised 
is that they weren't just any old socks: they were a new pair of 
the hideously ugly hand-knit socks that his beloved late mother or 
beloved late wife used to give him for Christmas every year, and his 
heart's desire is to still be with the giver, not to have the socks.

Brief Chronicles asked:

<< Are there ghosts outside of Hogwarts? >>

Yes. Some of the them came to NHN's Deathday Party in CoS: "The 
Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent".

Rhianyn the Cat meowed:

<< All I really remember of it now was that it centered (I thought) 
on a man and his pet bull. I went off on an impressive bull chase 
that made this bull the symbol of all things male, (snip) And into 
the reverent silence spoke the author of the piece (not Mr Ford 
thankfully) who said "Wow, that bull was a cow until the third 
draft". >>

And you had just given a fine explanation of why that author had had 
to change the first-draft cow to a bull in order to make the story 
work. That is, this evening (is 5:30am still evening, because I 
haven't been to bed yet), I am asserting the theory that the author 
doesn't have to consciously plan symbolism and allegory into hiser 
story for the symbolism and allegory to be there ... which lets me 
segue to:

Penny Lisenmayer wrote:

that Francis Bridger << confidently states that he believes that the 
"snippets of Christian theology" in Rowling's novels were worked in 
without any overt intent on her part (and perhaps without her 
knowledge even). >>

Which is the point I was going to make to people who say that JKR 
didn't intend to write a Christian allegory, and for that matter to 
people who say she didn't intend to write a mythic hero's journey 
with references to Arthurian legend, folklore, mythology, ancient 
history ... it doesn't really matter whether she *intended* it. All 
that stuff is in her head so it can come out in her stories when all 
she *intends* is to make stories that sound good. Of course all that 
stuff is in her head: she was (probably still is) a voracious reader.


vjoporter

<< Have any of you noticed other POV breaks/gaffes? >>

PS/SS. Harry is playing Quidditch and the broomstick tries to buck 
him off.  Seamus, Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione exchange words, then 
Hermione rushes off to set Snape on fire. Harry is up in the air, 
hanging onto his broomstick for dear life: there is no way he could 
be observing what Hermione is doing. And the next match:

<< Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps 
and cheers from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in 
her mouth, as Harry streaked toward the ground like a bullet.

"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on 
the ground!" said Malfoy.

Ron snapped. Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on top of
him, wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, then clambered 
over the back of his seat to help.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch 
as Harry sped straight at Snape -- she didn't even notice Malfoy and 
Ron rolling around under her seat, or the scuffles and yelps coming 
from the whirl of fists that was Neville, Crabbe, and Goyle. >>