sexism/discussion questions/PLUMBING!/shark Transfiguration/vanishFood

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 88473

Laurence de Bergerac (Cyrano?) wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88302 :

<< Where are Mr Sprout, Mr Mac McGonagall, Monsieur Pince? >>

All the relationships and all the names in square brackets are NOT
CANON, just my own opinion: 

Professor [Beatrix] Sprout is a great-grandmother. Her husband [Ben
Sprout], spends the school year exploring distant places to discover
new magical plants, but spends the summer holiday with her at their
beachside cottage. 

Minerva McGonagall and [Hieronyma Horatia] Hooch have been a couple
since they were in their early 20s, but are discreet about it. 

Madam Poppy Pomfrey, also a great-grandmother, is a widow; perhaps her
husband [Herb Pomfrey] was killed in the first Bad Years (Voldemort
Reign of Terror). It is she, not Minerva, who has something from a
mild flirtation to a secret affair with Dumbledore. (Who,  by the way,
is to me a great-great-grandfather, three times a widower, and
bi-sexual. His first two wives, Muggles, each died of old age, and his
third, DADA prof at Hogwarts when he was Transfiguration prof, was
killed by the Dark Wizard Grindelwald.)

I haven't given much thought to Madam Pince, other than to *assume*
she and any husband she might have are British, not Monsieur. 

<< Where are their children? (don't know you, but there was
always a son, a niece, a cousin, of the professors in my school,
especially if Hogwart is the only magical school). >>

Their descendents who are current students have different surnames, 
or are in different Houses so that Harry has never noticed their
surnames.

Lynn Allen wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88458 :

<< On the topic of sexism, and in fact many other sociological trends,
it has seemed to me that the WW would always be far behind Muggle
traditions, primarily because lifespans are so much longer. Social
change happens when generations change, (snip) the transition from an
agricultural to an urban, technological culture in which women have
more ability to perform "non-traditional" roles >>

I quite agree with you about the Wizarding World being extremely
conservative by Muggle standards ... they still wear Medieval clothing
styles and are just entering the Victorian beginning of mass
production (QTTA tells of broomstick production moving from hand-made
artisanal uniqueness to brand names) ... they haven't figured out 'the
rule of law' yet ... 

But I believe that the wizarding world was MILLENIA AHEAD of the
Muggle world in matters of sexism. Because the wizarding folk had
MAGIC, which means: 

1) the greater physical strength of males is irrelevant to who wins
battles

2) infant mortality is so low that families don't need to have many
children just to ensure that a few survive

3) they've had contraceptive magic since forever, which together with
(2) means witches spend only a small part of their life pregnant and
nursing babies

4) they transititioned form an agricultural to a dense (due to
Apparation, Floo, etc, neighbors and shops are as available to country
folk as to city folk) and magi-nological economy and culture LONG ago.
["urban and technological" = "dense and magi-nological"].


Lynn Allen wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88464 :

<< After 400 generations (assuming 25 years per generation), there
would be only a small percentage of genetic inheritance from someone
that far back, but most everyone would have some genes from Hogwarts'
prominent founders. >>

With the minor exception that I think that proud old Dark Magic
families would have a higher concentration than average of Slytherin
genes: not only do we know that they in-breed, but I imagine that they
consider 'descended from Salazar Slytherin' to be as important as 'has
money' and 'is a good housekeeper' when arranging marriages. I imagine
Malfoys, Snapes, Blacks, Rookwoods, and Lestranges all boasting of
their descent from old Salazar.

Btw, I think the average generation would be longer than 25 years,
because of the longer lifespan of wizarding folk ... I am sure it goes
with a longer span of fertility for witches ... so they have the
option of spacing their children: one at age 20, one at age 40, one at
age 60.

<< To me the issue of being someone's "heir" seems less based on
direct lineage and more on selection based on commonality of
personality and values unless I am way off base. Tom Riddle
romaticized Slytherin and tried to follow in his footsteps, but
probably had little more Slytherin genetic heritage than many other
pureblood wizards. >>

I agree, but we're trapped with Dumbledore's statement that "You can
speak Parseltongue, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly, "because Lord
Voldemort -- who is the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin
-- can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred
some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar."

That's the dramatic explanation scene of CoS, and "ancestor" has been
changed to "descendent" in some printings (alas for time travel
theorists, JKR has acknowledged that it's s'posed to be 'descendent').

Why did Dumbledore throw in the unneccessary detail that Voldie 'is
the last remaining descendent of Salazar Slytherin' when he could have
just said 'is a descendent of Salazar Slytherin'? 

Abigail Nus posed WONDERFUL Discussion Questions in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88305 :

<< 10. We already know why Harry wasn't selected for Prefect, but
do you feel that Ron was a good choice? Does he truly have latent
leadership qualities or did Rowling select him simply to make Harry
jealous (and because, apart from Harry, he's the Gryffindor boy with
whom we have the most contact)? What do you feel might have been
Dumbledore's reasons for selecting Ron as prefect? Is he perhaps
trying to guide Ron in the path of his older brothers? Would another
Gryffindor boy have made a better choice? >>

My expectation had been that Dumbledore would choose NEVILLE as the
prefect, in an attempt to make him more assertive and proactive. I
think Neville would have *hated* that -- perhaps when he opened the
letter, he would have a first surprised flicker of joy that Dumbledore
thought well of him and that Gran would be happy, but it would
immediately be replaced by unhappiness that this honor/burden would
force him to draw attention to himself. 

Dumbledore knew that Ron wanted to be prefect -- besides knowing all
his students well, he knows what Ron saw in the Mirror of Erised --
and I believe that he knows Molly well enough to know how she reacts
to her children being or not being chosen as prefect. Perhaps he chose
Ron rather than Neville as an act of kindness to Ron, or to both Ron
and Neville.

I don't know why not Seamus or Dean. We don't know them well enough to
know if they do or don't want the job or whether they'd be good at it.

<< 15. What reasons could JKR have for giving us a roster of the
original Order? Do you believe that some of the previously unknown
people mentioned in the photograph will show up in later books?
Will someone presumed dead turn out to be still living? >>

It's a response to the fans -- fans have made up so much fanfic (and
perhaps also written letters of inquiry to her) about the original
Order, with knowledge only that three families killed were Bones,
MacKinnons, and Prewetts, that she deigned to enlighten our ignorance.
I'm bitter about it, because in *my* fanfic, the Prewetts were a
married couple, not brothers.

<< 17. Is Mrs. Weasley really reassured, or has she simply regained
her composure enough to feel embarrassed? Why is she so ashamed of her
fear, and why doesn't she want her husband told about it? Do you think
we'll be seeing more of Mrs. Weasley's woes? Do you think she'll be
able to handle the stress of the coming war? >>

Molly is ashamed of her fear because JKR writes with a 'manly' view of
life, and people with that viewpoint believe that showing fear is a
character defect. She doesn't want Arthur told because she knows he
has enough to worry him already, poor dear, without worrying about his
wife's mere *feelings*. Molly is especially ashamed that she was
defeated by a boggart, a creature that any third-year in Lupin's DADA
class (and maybe first-years with proper DADA teachers, according to
Snape's rant) is supposed to be trained to defeat.

Steve bboy_mn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88447 :

<< How many people do you think we will find who agree with US that
Percy and Ron are very much a like? >>

They are somewhat alike, both desiring prestigeous accomplishments,
but they are different in at least two ways: Percy is hard-working and
Ron has a sense of humor. I agree that Ron isn't all that much like
the Twins.

Do you think the personalities go with the body types: Bill is tall
and thin like Percy and Ron, do you think he was an approval seeker?
Charlie is wide and muscular like Fred and George, do you think he was
big-time scofflaw and a bit of a bully? Ginny's personality in OoP
seems more like Fred and George than like Percy or even Ron, does that
mean she'll grow up to be short and dumpy like Molly? Of course, in
one's teens, that body type can be more cute (short) and voluptuous
(dumpy).

If so, how did Molly get a personality transplant? And Arthur get
comfortable with no one admiring him, no one approving of him except
himself, his wife, and perhaps Dumbledore? 
 
<< most notably, I think they are both STUBBORN as mules. >>

Is there any evidence of any Weasley who is NOT as stubborn as a mule?

Geoff Bannister wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88351 :

<< That tap could not be an original piece of Hogwarts plumbing
because taps weren't around a thousand years ago. >>

Taps were around LONGER than 1000 years ago --- the Romans had them.
Anyway, it is IRRELEVANT when MUGGLES had various plumbing abilities,
as we are discussing wizards. As others have already posted (but I
feel so strongly on this subject that I'm chiming in anyway), the
wizarding folk can have invented 1930-s British institutional style
lavatories LONG before Muggles learned to imitate them. Here comes my
rant:

I believe that Potterverse wizarding folk have had late twentieth
century indoor plumbing and Renaissance 'replica' castles since back
before Atlantis sank. They didn't need to know any plumbing,
hydraulics, metallurgy, stonecarving, or architecture because they
made their bathrooms and castles by MAGIC! However, Muggles who visted
wizards and saw the nice things the wizards had, had to invent all
that technology in order to imitate the wizarding goodies. There is a
long history of Muggles trying to imitate wizarding plumbing: Minoan,
Classical Roman, etc.
 
The wizarding folk teach their children a lot of self-enhancing
falsehoods. For example, they teach their children that the reason to
keep magic secret from Muggles is to avoid being pestered by Muggles
wanting favors (and Hagrid, not having completed his education, still
believes that), when in reality the wizarding folk went into hiding
because they were scared of the Muggles attacking them.

Another example is that they teach their children that Muggles use
technology to imitate what wizards do by magic. Technology probably
*started* that way, Muggles trying to figure out how to make bathrooms
and castles and swords like the wizards had ... this may have remained
true up to the Steam Age, with Muggles inventing horseless carriages
to imitate the horseless carriages that carry students from Hogsmeade
Station to Hogwarts, inventing railroads to imitate wizarding
self-propelled wagons like at Gringotts, gaslight to imitate the
magical self-lighting candles on the wall of wizarding houses ... but
by then the discovery and invention of science and technology had
become self-propelling themselves, and with Electricity, Muggles went
on to invent things that the wizarding folk copy. The Wizarding
Wireless Network is obviously an imitation of Muggle radio, because
it's named after "wireles", the British Muggle name for radio. The
wizarding folk would have no other reason to name it "wireless",
because they didn't have a preceeding technology named "wire" (the
telegraph).

Taryn wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPfor
Grownups/message/88442 :

<< I'll give the following quote from Quidditch through the Ages:

"No spell yet devised enables wizards to fly unaided in human form.
Those few Animagi who transform into winged creatures may enjoy
flight, but they are a rarity. The witch of wizard who finds him- or
herself transfigured into a bat may take to the air, but, having a
bat's brain, they are sure to forget where they want to go the moment
they take flight." (American hardback, pg. 1)

So it seems answered that when a person is TRANSFIGURED into an
animal, they also retain the animal's brain, which is certainly
detrimental. This is opposed to Animagi, who seem to retain their
mind. For the most part, anyway, as we must remember Sirius talking
about how his emotions were simpler when in dog form, so he could slip
past the Dementors. But it seems a very dramatic difference between
the two. >>

This is a forbidden "I AGREE!!" post!

Constance Vigilance wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88443: 

<< Which makes one wonder why Krum would choose to become a *shark*!!
He might have *eaten* Hermione instead of rescuing her. Why not a cute
dolphin or something, not only not as lethal, but smarter, too! >>

This is a forbidden "LOL!" post. But I suppose that JKR had her
reasons ... Krum is more able to Transfigure himself into a shark than
a dolphin because he is really a bloodthirsty and stupid DarkSider
despite his good taste in beloved girls ... or because he is
part-shark and that's why he could have a morning swim in the frozen
lake ... Durmstrang teaches self-Transfiguration into sharks not
dolphins because Durmstrang is evil ...   

Steve bboy_mn wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88444 :

<< In an interview JKR said that objects that are conjured (creating
something from nothing) aren't permanent, eventually they revert back
to nothing. That's why you can't create food by conjuring it. Well,
you can create the food and eat it, but in an hour or so the food
vanishes and you eventually starve. >>

Two-thirds of USAmericans would pay EXTRA for diet food like that! Why
so so many witches and wizards ... Mrs Weasley, Professor Sprout, and
Madam Malkin spring to mind, but IIRC JKR has also mentioned portly
males ... allow themselves to remain chubby when they have the power
to themselves create food items that would allow to them diet without
deprivation!