The Hogwarts librarian

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 80423

Peggy wrote:

> I agree with Rania--what on earth does JKR think 
> a librarian is/does?  I'm one, too, and so are many 
> of my friends.  We're mystified at why someone who 
> can portray so many other characters so well opted 
> for such a stereotype?  Especially when public 
> librarians are at the forefront of protecting 
> access to her books in the face of the "ban the 
> books" crowd.

Well, I don't know, I've never thought that Madam Pince was portrayed
as all that horrible, particularly given that we're seeing her through
the eyes of a kid who spends next to no time in the library, and is
usually breaking some rule or other when he *is* there.  Although I
was just the opposite kind of child (along those two parameters), it
is easy for me to see how Harry would be intimidated by Madam Pince.  

As for her hewing to stereotype, the same could be said of many of the
books' more minor characters (I am thinking of Filch, Binns,
Trelawney, Pomfrey, even McGonagall).  Major aspects of Fudge's
character have been left to stereotype as well.  It is a quick,
shorthand way for an author to say little, and let her readers
mentally fill in aspects of a character that the author does not wish
to spend time describing.  JKR could have spent more time fleshing out
a unique character for Pince, but chose to spend her time elsewhere. 
That choice does not seem unreasonable to me. 

By the same token, you're right that JKR *could* be using her stories
to teach the virtues of library research, or respect for librarians,
just as she could be using them to teach about the virtues of
studying, of eating well, of being polite to their elders.  That she
does not focus on all of those themes does not mean that she is
careless, nor, necessarily, that she does not care about those issues.
 She simply has chosen to focus on a different virtue: making moral
choices.  While the stories touch on other virtues, it is moral fiber
that is rewarded above, and almost to the exclusion of, all others.

I guess that I would be disturbed by the portrayal of Madam Pince if I
thought it were a political one (i.e., Madam Pince is eeevilll, just
like all librarians, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha).  I don't read it that way,
just as I don't read the Filch character as a put-down to all
custodians.  The only instance where it seems (to my eye) that JKR is
portraying an entire profession in a negative light is the Ministry of
Magic, where she writes all of the folks who are high enough up to be
political types as officious, corrupt, and driven by the pursuit of
power. 

I'll take Madam Pince anyday! :) 

-- Matt