[HPforGrownups] Re: Socks

[yellows at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 60422

Katie wrote:
<<   I could also be really wrong, and Dumbledore doesn't need 
anything but to relax with a nice warm pair of socks this weekend.
>>

I saw it this way the first time I read it. I took the socks to mean that Dumbledore is a nearly-enlightened person, who doesn't need anything much in life at all. He said the happiest person would see only himself staring back at him, and I figured that seeing just a pair of socks put Dumbledore very close to being a completely happy person.

But now that you mention the sock symbolism that comes up in later books, I think you may be right. Dobby doesn't really want the sock he's given that frees him; he wants the freedom it brings. Maybe Dumbledore sees himself later in life, with nothing more to worry about than socks. 

It's not that he cares particularly about socks, but he cares about someday being able to stop fighting evil and saving Harry and the Muggles and Hogwarts and everything. Then, he can just sit back, relax, and do something pointless, like try on socks.  :)

Brief Chronicles