Why is Tonks clumbsy?

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 111627

> <sunflowerlaw at c...> wrote:
> <snip>
> > Tonks.  She's clumsy, we know this.  In practically every scene 
> where we see Tonks, she's clumsy.  It's overly exagerrated, to a 
> point.  Why?
> <snip>
> > --Lawless
> 
> n_longbottom01:
> 
> I think, in book 6 or 7, someone, perhaps the new Defense Against the 
> Dark Arts teacher, will spill a plate of food on Snape's lap, or trip 
> over a garbage can on their way to their desk, or something like 
> that.  And when that happens, I will shout "AH HA!  That person is 
> clumsy!  It must be Tonks in disguise!"  And then probably a few 
> chapters and few clumsy insidents later Hermoine will recoginize the 
> clumsiness and come to the same conclusion.
> 
> So, my answer to the question "Why is Tonks clumsy?" is: so that the 
> reader, and then Harry and his friends will be able to see through 
> her disguise.  If she weren't clumsy, Tonks would easily be able to 
> pull a Barty Jr. on me, and fool me through a whole school year while 
> posing as another person.
> 
> Since Tonks clumsiness was emphasized so heavily in OotP, I think we 
> (and Harry) will spot Tonks in disguise fairly early on.  She isn't 
> meant to fool us long, like Fake Moody was.
> 
> Maybe it won't play out like this, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for 
> any clumsy goings on.  Hey--just a though: Tonks could disguise 
> herself as Neville, and I wouldn't suspect a thing.  Neville and 
> Tonks are equally accident prone.
> 
> Anyway, interesting post, Lawless; I enjoyed reading your ideas.
> 
> -- n_longbottom01

Antosha:

Hmmm...

Interesting thoughts, which give us much to consider.

Personally? I think Ms. Tonks was in danger of becoming a Mary Sue--too perfect to live. 
She's funny, she's cool, she can turn her nose into a pig's snout. So JKR made her a klutz, 
just to balance things out--and to give her a distinguishing characteristic that doesn't rely 
on our being able to recognize her visually. 

Still, you *know* the metamorphmagus thing is going to appear as a major plot point 
some time in the next book or two, so I would be at all surprised if Tonks gives her/(or 
less likely, him)self away by dropping the proverbial soup in the proverbial potionmaster's 
lap.

(Know the difference between a schlemiel and a shlamazel? A schlemiel is the person who 
drops the soup; the shlamazel is the person it gets dropped on.... </yiddish 101>)