Umbridge and Blood Lines

[Berit Jakobsen]

No: HPFGUIDX 90267

Carol wrote:
The only student besides Harry that we know was made to write lines on
his own hand with that poison pen is Lee Jordan, and we have no
indication that he's a half blood or Muggle-born. So whatever 
Umbridge's motive in choosing her victims, I don't think it's the 
purity of their blood.

I personally think she's motivated simply by innate cruelty and lust
for power, and any student who thwarts her, or any teacher who appears
vulnerable (Hagrid and Trelawney) is a potential victim.

Berit replies:

I agree with you; Umbridge's motive seems to be driven by a hunger 
for power rather than an urge to purify the world of halfbloods or 
Muggle-borns. Just a little comment on Harry and Lee being the only 
ones we know of being punished by having to write lines. There is 
strong canon evidence (not clearcut proof though) that quite a large 
number of students were punished this way:

Quote:
"After putting four successive classes in detention and failing to 
discover their secret, she was forced to give up and allow the 
bleeding, swooning, sweating and vomiting students to leaved her 
classes in droves" (OoP p. 597 UK Ed).

The reason I believe the students of these four classes were punished 
by writing lines with her cruel quill, is that this is the only type 
of detention Umbridge ever set (as far as canon tells us). But then 
all those students should be walking around with "I shall respect my 
elders" or "I shall not tell lies" on the back of their hands, but we 
don't see anyone but Harry doing that? The answer would be that the 
students of the four classes were given only a day each of detention; 
there were simply too many miscreants around for Umbridge to have 
them all sit in detention for weeks at a time :-) Compare this to the 
quote on Mr. Filch:
Quote: "Filch prowled the corridors with a horsewhip ready at his 
hands, desperate to catch miscreants, but the problem was that there 
were now so many of them he never knew which way to turn." (p. 597) 
That would have been Umbridge's challenge as well :-). So it is 
therefore safe to assume that Harry's long detentions were an 
exception to the rule. So he's the only one were the quill made a 
lasting impression.

Berit
http://home.no.net/berjakob/snape.html