CHAPTER 17 DISCUSSION:Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four
Christy
christyj2323 at yahoo.com
Tue Apr 27 02:16:42 UTC 2004
No: HPFGUIDX 97047
One of the earlier questions:
> ~~There doesn't seem to be an aspect of the school that she cannot
> touch-what does it say about the MoM that one person is allowed
> this much control? Is Umbridge always working under the direction of
> the MoM, or does she also enjoy and sometimes abuse the
> power that she's been given? What is Rowling telling us about
> power-both how you use it and to whom you give it?~~
Christy:
I think that JKR is just reinforcing the old idea that power corrupts
and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I don't know if the MoM gave
Umbridge as much power as she took, although the attitude that Fudge
takes suggests that he told her to get the school under control
whatever it took. And in her estimation, this is what it took. I agree
that Umbridge frequently seems to take joy in her power and abuse of
it. Maybe it's her personality. Or maybe, she like Fudge is so
determined to believe that Voldemort is NOT back that she's willing to
go a little to the fruity side.
Now for a later question:
> ~~Do you think Hermione's idea to jinx the parchment was a clever
> safety measure or a low trick? Or both? What does it tell us
> about the nature of Hermione?~~
Christy:
To me, this shows me that Hermione either doesn't trust people, or
that she's much more shrewd than she lets on. Lots of people (and
companies) use what would seem like "low" ways to find out what people
are doing in their organization. Hermione already knew that what they
were doing could get them into a ton of trouble. That's why she went
so out of her way to hide the meeting (failing miserbaly as well, but
that just proves Hermione has little common sense). I think her jinx
was an effective way to know very quickly if they had a traitor. And,
I'd just like to point out -- she was right, wasn't she?
One of the last questions for now:
> ~~I think it was around this point when I first started to really be
> bothered by Sirius. Doing this, he is putting more people than just
> himself in jeopardy. Sirius thinks with his heart, and so is
> constantly putting people at risk. Was he a liability to the Order?~~
Christy:
I actually think that JKR may have been using this as a way to give
Harry a kick in the butt, so to speak. Because Sirius and Harry are
very much alike in that respect. Harry continually thinks with his
heart (it's how the kids ended up in the MoM, not that I disagree with
Harry. I'd likely have done the same in that position.) and Sirius
does the same. It manifests differently, as they are two different
people with very different experiences. But the idea is the same. Even
Harry starts to recognize Sirius is acting rashly toward the end of
the book or at least questioning his motives. The problem is that
Harry doesn't see the same failing in himself. I don't think it's
totally Harry's fault. Snape didn't help matters, and neither did
Dumbledore. But I think the intention was to give Harry a moment to
begin to think about himself and his own faults.
Looking forward to more questions...
Christy
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