CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Chapter Five

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 84667

Pippin asks: 
> > 5. Harry seems equally interested in the lighthearted efforts of 
> > Tonks and Mundungus to entertain the other youngsters, and in 
> > the more intense, grownup conversations going on. But he 
> > doesn't take part in any of the talk until Sirius asks him. Why?
> 
> Meri: IMHO, I think this has to do with all that Harry has been 
> through in the last few days, from the dementor attack, to being 
> expelled to the ministry hearings to the rescue from Privet Drive. 
> He's probably just glad to be among people who don't treat him like 
> dirt and value his company, and he's probably more that glad just to 
> listen and eat his fill. 

While I'm sure Harry's ordeals have something to do with it, his choice 
to stand back and be silent is pretty typical of his behavior.  Harry often 
casts himself in the role of the outsider - and is cast in it by others just 
as often.  Consider his behavior at the very first opening feast.  
Hermione, who is just as much of an outsider as Harry, is chatting 
animatedly with Percy, a complete stranger and someone 4 years her 
senior.  Harry, on the other hand, just watches.  

In fact, Harry rarely seeks the company of others.  His closest friendships 
are ones that he more or less fell into.  Ron strikes up a conversation with 
him on the Hogwarts Express.  Hermione spends several weeks intruding 
on him until his choice to save her life cements their friendship.  The same 
is true for adults - Sirius, Lupin, Molly and Hagrid all seek Harry out, not 
the other way around.  In terms of interpersonal relationships, Harry is a 
very passive person.  This is probably why he's such a bad boyfriend - Cho 
expects him to take a more active role in their relationship, but Harry 
prefers to watch other couples then to interact with her.

Pippin again:
> > 8. Molly and Sirius  act like  stereotypical parents in this 
> chapter: 
> > Molly the overprotective, interfering  Mum and Sirius the feckless 
> > single Dad.  Is this consistent with their portrayal in the rest 
> of 
> > the series?  Are these  caricatures harmless entertainment or do 
> > they foster sexism? 
> 
> Meri: I think Molly's is very consitent with how she has been 
> portrayed in the previous books, but I don't think that she is being 
> overprotective and interfereing with out good reason. There is a war 
> going on after all, one of her sons has gone and joined up with a 
> group dedicated to put the Order down, and now she has Harry, the 
> prophecy and the Ministry hearings to deal with. Do I think that it 
> is sexist to show her as a caring, though sometimes overbearing 
> individual? 

Another thing that isn't often brought up when discussing Molly's 
character in OOP is the intense pressure that she's under.  In OOP Molly's 
comforting protectiveness is taken just enough over the top to be shrill 
and disturbing, and in my opinion it's her fears that are causing it.  Her 
boggart encounter is often brought up as a way of eliciting pity for her, 
but I think that it shows us exactly what's on her mind.  She says herself 
that she sees her loved ones dead constantly, and I believe that the 
pressure of it is wearing her down, making her irritable and snippy.  In 
Molly's mind, Sirius is bringing Harry closer to that fate, and therefore she 
stops at very little to prevent him from doing this.  

I think Molly is headed for a breakdown myself - she's obviously unused 
to dealing with this kind of pressure, and being a stiff upper lip type of 
person, I doubt that she confides much in Arthur.  She's keeping her fears 
bottled up - notice her inability to either vanquish the boggart or recover 
from its assault, and then her quick demand that Arthur not be told, and 
her shame at being seen to break down - and, her relatively minor 
flare-ups in OOP notwithstanding, I wouldn't be surprised if we see her fall 
apart in some future book.

Meri again:

Not IMHO. In Sirius' case, however, we have very little 
> cannon backing up how he and Harry would interact on a father-son 
> level. In GoF, the only other book where they have significant 
> contact, that contact is limited to a few fire chats, a cave visit, 
> and Dumbledore's office after the tragic events, 

Speaking of Dumbledore's office, has anyone noticed how completely Sirius 
and Dumbledore switch positions over the summer between GoF and OOP?  
At the end of GoF, Sirius wants to spare Harry from speaking of his ordeals, 
but Dumbledore realizes that this is a solution that befits a child, and that 
Harry the young man can't be protected by silence.  In OOP, their attitudes 
are reversed.  I find the change in Sirius' attitude particularly interesting, 
and I think it lends credence to the theory that he is motivated, at least in 
part, by a desire to revive James in Harry.  I also believe that his stay in 
Grimmauld Place, where he was a sullen and unhappy teenager, regresses 
Sirius back to that same sullen and unhappy person, which is why he's so 
much more mature in GoF then OOP.

Abigail