Mimble Wimble

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 90254

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> 
> Carol:
> 
> Two things here that I mentioned before but they seem to have been
> overlooked. First, "mimble wimble" is what Harry hears, not
> necessarily what Uncle Vernon says. We all know that Harry's
> perception of what is happening around him is not infallible.

The question is not whether Mimble Wimble is what Harry heard or what 
Vernon said (or both). As fictional characters, they neither really 
speak or hear. The question is, why did JKR choose to put those 
specific words/sounds in Vernon's mouth (or Harry's ears). Do you 
really think that it was purely by accident? That it's a coincidence 
that she had Vernon say Mimble Wimble and had given that exact name 
to a magical plant? She is such a careful writer, and she has spent 
so long planning this story, going over the various details of the 
Potterverse and the plot, that it seems highly unlikely to me.


<snip>
> 
> Uncle Vernon, as Hagrid makes clear in that same scene and JKR 
states
> emphatically in every book, is the ultimate Muggle. Whatever the
> significance of "mimble wimble," and I'm not questioning a possible
> connection with Mimbulus Mimbletonia, it's highly likely that it
> relates to Uncle Vernon having magical powers or an intuitve 
>knowledge of countercurses.

If there is one message that JKR is anxious to get through the books, 
it's the danger of prejudice. Another important message is the 
importance of choice over inborn ability. In the Potterverse, the 
most important divide, and around which there is the strongest 
prejudice, is between magic and Muggle. On the face of it, it is not 
a matter of choice to which group you belong - you have either been 
born with magical ability, or not. So, it would be very much in 
keeping with JKR''s central messages that the biggest Muggle of them 
all would turn out to be a latent wizard, who *chose* to be a Muggle. 
Maybe Vernon's parents did to him what he tried to do to Harry, and 
squashed the magic out of him? Wouldn't that explain his rabid 
antagonism to anything magic?


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