Chapter Discussions: Chapter 3, the Advance Guard

[junediamanti]

No: HPFGUIDX 83240

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ali" <Ali at z...> wrote:
> First posted as message 76055:-

Finally a chapter discussion when I've just read the chapter!  Thanks 
to Andrew Davies who was so scathing about these books on the BBC the 
other night and encouraged me to re-read!!
> 
>> *4* days follow in which Harry is confined to his room, segregated 
> from the rest of the household with his Aunt providing food through 
> the cat flap. The segregation seems to suit all concerned as Harry 
> isn't actually locked in his room but isolates himself from the 
> Dursleys for fear of provoking further confrontations leading to 
> possible unintended magic. Aunt Petunia refuses to engage Harry in 
> any further discussions about her wizarding knowledge/connections. 
> Harry's bedroom door seems to be a prop that Petunia now needs to 
> rebuild the barrier she has towards the WW of which Harry is of 
> course, a constant and visible reminder. Harry spends his time 
> either full of restless energy or in a state of torpor that lays 
him 
> out on his bed for hours at a time. He aches with dread at the 
> thought the MOM hearing against him wondering whether he will end 
up 
> in Azkaban.

> (Q1) Harry is a teenage boy who at this stage in the story is 
> lacking any guidance, but does he have a hygiene problem? He goes 
to 
> sleep in the same dirty, ill-fitting clothes that he is wearing 
when 
> we first see him in Chapter 1. He doesn't comb his hair when 
> confined to his room, but is this a symptom of a wider lack of 
> looking after himself? His clothes might only have been dirty 
> because he had been hiding in the flower bed, but is he actually 
> allowed to wash his clothes? Has Petunia washed her hands of all 
> responsibility towards Harry's physical appearance perhaps 
> encouraging his delinquent appearance as it so obviously sets him 
> apart from her and what she stands for, allowing her to despise him 
> even more?
> 
> (Q 2) Is the behaviour exhibited by Harry – waxing between total 
> inactivity and inability to stay still, a sign of depression or 
Post 
> Traumatic Stress Disorder? We see him wanting to externalise some 
of 
> the internal pain and frustration he is feeling by having Hedwig 
> peck his friends this does seem to be an unwelcome development in 
> Harry's character from the boy we left in GoF.

June:
This struck me a rather strong depiction of depression.  Not so much 
teenage angst but genuine adult depression.  The restlessness struck 
me as familiar from an unhappy period of my own life - that inability 
to do anything constructive (of course it would be very hard to do 
anything constructive if you are confined to one room and fed via a 
catflap).  Similarly - the neglect of appearance, classic signs one 
might say (though again, just how is the lad supposed to take care of 
himself if confined like that?).
> 

> 
> (Q 3) Is Petunia's order that Harry is not to leave the house an 
> acknowledgement that she knows that Harry is now only safe *in* the 
> house?  But her insistence that Harry be confined  to his room for 
> her benefit as she cannot stand his presence?

June:
It's very hard to decide what Petunia is thinking here.  There's been 
a huge amount of conjecture on this board along the lines of "what 
did Petunia know and when did she know it?".  I think it's a 
combination of both - she is coming round to some self-knowledge as 
regards Harry and of course Lily too.  But it's hard to drop 
ingrained behaviour especially when that behaviour is nasty.  I'd 
like to think that she might become nicer to Harry - but perhaps 
that's just wishful thinking on all our parts.

–> (Q 8) At this stage in OoP, Harry hasn't been banned from 
Quidditch, 
> so why has he never considered Quidditch as a professional career? 
> He loves it and appears to be exceptionally gifted at it yet here 
> seems content to continue it as a hobby. 

June:
Given Harry's almost total absence of knowledge about the WW I doubt 
that he's even given it the slightest thought. 
 
> 
> Tonks helps Harry to pack his trunk and then they return to the 
> kitchen where  Moody places a Disillusionment Charm on Harry so 
> that, chameleon-like, he resembles his surrounding background. 
After 
> a signal, Harry and his guard fly to his safe haven. Harry learns 
> that there is a rear guard as well.

June:
I loved the Disillusionment Charm idea.  That cold damp feeling 
trickling down the back of your neck - if that isn't just what you DO 
feel when you are disillusioned in the RW - what is?

> 
> (Q 9) The size of Harry's guard is partly due to intrigue about 
> Harry, but seems absurd when compared to his trip to the MOM when 
> Harry has only Mr Weasley to accompany him. Is Harry really unsafe 
> or is it just a combination of Moody's paranoia and other peoples 
> general nosiness?

June:
I loved Moody's totally over the top paranoia.  I liked this chapter 
because it was good to get back into some humour.  The line about 
wizards losing buttocks had me in stitches, which was awkward because 
I was on the bus to work at the time.  I think at the time I read it -
 I decided that Moody was totally paranoid, now in the hindsight of 
having read the whole book, I feel he may well have had a point.  And 
lets face it you don't get to be a successful and surviving Auror for 
no reason, do you?  Constant Vigilance!

> 
> Harry becomes very cold flying but experiences real pleasure, 
> forgetting his problems for the first time in weeks. Harry and co 
> finally land in an unkempt square in a dilapidated almost slummy 
> part of London. We are reintroduced to the Put-Outer first used by 
> Dumbledore at the beginning of PS/ SS. The chapter finishes with 
> Moody giving Harry written details of the Order of the Phoenix HQ 
> which he tells Harry to memorise.

>> (Q 12)  Much of this chapter could be viewed as superfluous 
> narrative. Is this a chapter which a more rigorous editor would 
have 
> stripped down to a few lines? Has JKR's success actually meant that 
> her editors are now reluctant to offer advice and guidance which 
> might have lead to the OoP being a shorter and punchy book?

June:
I wouldn't have clipped this chapter, personally - but that's only my 
opinion. I would have contracted the previous two.  I think it would 
have been possible to still convey the real terror of the situation 
without being so long.  It was during chapter two that my daughter 
dropped out altogether and as far as I know she has not picked up 
since then.  I preferred Ch.3 for the reasons already stated - the 
humour and also the fact that we can see Harry is getting out of the 
Dursleys.  His situation there is particularly dismal at this point - 
I'm always glad to see him get sprung from there but particularly 
now.  Call me soppy - but as a parent I find his situation horrible 
and can never wait to see it improve.


June

"ARTHUR: I am the King!
DENNIS:  Oh, King, eh, very nice.  And how d'you get that, eh?  By 
exploiting the workers! By 'anging on to outdated Imperialist dogma 
which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society."

Monty Python and the Holy Grail "Bloody Peasants"