CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 23: Christmas On The Closed Ward

Lissa Hess drliss at comcast.net
Mon Jul 19 23:47:45 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 106977

 >>1) When Harry thinks that he is a danger to others, why is his first
instinct to go back to Privet Drive?<<

Because magic just doesn't exist at Privet Drive.  Not in Harry's 
mind.  Even with the Dementor attack over the summer.  Two 
dementors?  Hah!  After everything Harry's been through, a little dementor 
problem is nothing.

Additionally, the people he cares about and cares about hurting are not the 
people at Privet Drive.

 >> 2) Why does Harry ask advice of no one, especially Sirius, whom he
trusts and has gone to before? <<

Huntergreen:
He did go to Sirius, he just didn't find it very helpful. He went to
Sirius before they visited Arthur in the hospital, and (essentially),
Sirius just told him to not worry about it, and if it was something
to worry about Dumbledore would have told him. I think that Sirius
underestimates how much Harry would obsess about this (and oddly
enough HE doesn't go to Harry after Harry shuts himself off from
everyone). I think that Sirius cares about Harry a lot, but doesn't
know him very well. Harry probably didn't seek him out again because
he thought he'd get the same answer. Also, Harry at this point in the
book, was more interested in wallowing in misery than going to anyone
for help.

Lissa: I REALLY like that point that Sirius doesn't know Harry.  Not 
really.  They've had very limited contact, until OotP, and by OotP Sirius 
was losing himself.  I also think Sirius isn't always sure how to 
communicate with Harry.  Molly is somewhat right- he does think of Harry as 
a hybrid of James and Harry.  Interestingly, he seems to relate better to 
Harry in OotP when Lupin is around.

As for Harry himself, I agree with the point that he's becoming more 
independent.  He also screams out to Ron and Hermione that HE'S the one 
who's done all these things earlier in the book.  I think he's wrestling 
not only with his ego, but his expectations for himself.  I mean, this kid 
has been fighting his reputation for the last four years... and he's been 
winning.  He HAS done a lot: he made it through the teacher's obsticle 
course guarding the Stone, he killed Tom Riddle and defeated the basilisk, 
he's mastered advanced magic for his age and drove off dementors, freed 
Sirius, and won the Triwizard tournament.  But at the same time, even as 
his ego tells him he's been doing so well, his heart tells him he hasn't 
done it alone.

OotP is a tough time for Harry.  15 is a tough, tough age because you're 
just figuring out who you really are, and who you really want to be.  Harry 
is fighting against so many people's conceptions of him: he has to be The 
Boy Who Lived, James's Son, Molly's Adoptive Son, Good Student, Seeker... 
the question he's trying to answer is "who IS Harry Potter?"  I think 
because he's feeling the pull of those forces, he feels like he needs to do 
this on his own.

Additionally, he doesn't understand the link between himself and 
Voldemort.  He's never experienced it like this before, and to see himself 
attack Arthur Weasley, whom in some ways is as much of a father figure to 
him as Sirius- probably more so because he's, well, normal- fills him with 
revulsion.  He can't stand himself, ergo, he assumes others will not be 
able to tolerate him.

Couldn't come up with a truly good answer to #3.

 > 4) Why does Alice give Neville the gum wrapper? Is she starting to
 > recognize him? Is there something strange about the gum, or is it
 > all she has to give?

Del:
Your guess is as good as any :-)
One possibility I like is that she gives them to Neville because it's
Neville who gives the gums to her in the first place. Maybe Neville
learned from Uncle Algie that his mom was a Drooble Gum addict, so he
started early on to give them her favourite treats as a way to tell
her he loved her. And now she's giving them back to him as a way to
tell him she loves him too. The gums wrappers would be a *symbol* of
the love they have for each other but that they can't share any other way.
I have of course not a single shred of canon to support my theory. I
just *like* the idea.

Lissa:
Del, I absolutely love this thought.  And it wouldn't surprise me if you're 
actually dead on.

I don't think there's any significance plotwise in gum wrappers.  In fact, 
I don't want there to be.  I DO think there's symbolic significance, and 
Del's put it beautifully.  To have some plot significance... to have Alice 
trying to tell Neville anything besides she loves him... totally changes 
that scene.  And I think what we're seeing in that scene is one of JKR's 
"everyone's capable of love" type themes.

Without a doubt, this scene was the most powerful in the book to me.  So 
beautifully done- so poignant and not overdone at all, and so heart-wrenching.

Lissa






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