Longbottom's Torture to Insanity (Re: candy)

[dcgmck]

No: HPFGUIDX 109910

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jcb54me" <ejblack at r...> wrote:
> 
>    Going off on a totally different thought.  I think the candy, is 
symbol of nourishment, not only of the body but of the mind and 
> spirit.  Note the repeated emphaise in all the books on the happy 
> community feasts of Hogwarts as opposed to the stingy, begrudged 
> meals provided by Harry's muggle family.
> 
>   My thought is, Alice's gift of candy wrappers means even in her 
> tormented mental condition she is still trying to provide loving 
> nourishment to her child. Even insane, she is thinking of him - 
> remember the comment along the lines of "you must have enough 
> wrappers to paper your bedroom", so this is no one-time gift but a 
> steady reaching out to Neville over the years.
> 
> Jeanette

dcgmck:
I like the positive spin on this, even though I tend to frown at 
parents who let their children grow up believing that candy is one of 
the major food groups.  ;->  If, in fact, Alice is no longer playing 
with a full deck, then candy as nourishment makes sense.  

One of the nice things about fantasy is its relative freedom from the 
constraints of muggle world realities such as cavities, dentists' 
drills, sugar highs and lows, stomach aches, and malnutrition.  
Clearly JKR is either like my disgusting friends with high 
metabolisms and stick figures or she is one of the world's many sugar 
junkies herself... :-)

On a more serious note... perhaps Droobles has a salutary effect 
similar to chocolate after a dementor attack.  That would certainly 
fit in with your suggestion that candy nourishes the soul, something 
Alice understands firsthand.