CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 30 (Grawp)

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 117153


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "meriaugust" <meriaugust at y...> 
wrote:
> > 5.    Hagrid calls Grawp "harmless" even though Grawp caused 
> Hagrid's injuries.   He needs to be tied down. Harry doubts he 
could 
> ever be permitted to mingle with humans.   Is this a signal to 
> reassess Hermione's conclusion in GoF that wizarding attitudes 
> toward giants is "just prejudice"?  Do Grawp's circumstances cause 
> or contribute to his wildness?
> 
> Meri: Grawp knows what he was raised in: a brutish, violent and 
> uneducated world where strength rules. Even by the end of Order he 
> was learning a bit. So maybe there's hope for him. It's that old 
> nature  versus nurture debate, or as DD puts it, it isn't what we 
> are born but what we grow up to be that matters. Hagrid was raised 
> around humans, so he's been effectively civilized. Give Grawp a 
> little time and maybe he could fit in, too. 
> 
Now Iris:
I agree.
Moreover, I don't think JKR used Grawp only as a narrative device. 
OK, tell me that I'm obsessed with metaphors, and that I'm always 
writing the same thing, but this could be what Grawp is actually. 
He has a name that isn't a name, a body that looks like a huge heap 
of earth and rocks, and he behaves like an animal.
In Spanish baroque literature, he would be "un bruto". That word 
designates a creature that is not civilised, that is not educated, 
and has no consciousness. It's an untreated material that is waiting 
for somebody to improve it, a chaos.
That's the way I see Grawp. He's a chaotic entity; he belongs at the 
same time to the three reigns, animal by his behaviour, vegetal and 
mineral by his aspect.
Now, what does Hagrid want for him? He wants to make him more human, 
he wants to make him improve. And he naturally asks Harry and 
Hermione to do it, because they represent what Grawp needs: 
consciousness, intellect, and the ability to reason. Hermione is 
named after Hermes, one of the most spiritual gods in the Greek 
pantheon. And Harry's second name is "Potter": wouldn't he be 
perfect to fashion Grawp and make him become more human?
Another detail, I don't know if you'll agree: Grawp's name sounds to 
me like "Grow up". Just what Harry has to do.
Harry is still a teenager. But Grawp is there to make him grow up, 
because now Harry has to care for him. Grawp is like the prophecy. 
He gives Harry responsibilities, and Harry will have to grow up to 
fulfil them plainly. 
Of course, this is only a supposition. We have to wait and see what 
JKR does with Grawp's character in the two next books.
One last comment: the untreated and chaotic material is where the 
alchemical work necessarily starts. It could be interesting, if we 
consider how important Alchemy seems to be in the series. But this 
is just my opinion
 we still need two pieces of the puzzle.

Two Knuts for Grawp,

Amicalement,

Iris