Gum Wrappers

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 112732

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tonks" <tonks_op at y...> wrote:
> I have been thinking about the gum wrappers that Mrs. Longbottoms 
> gives to her visitors and the one she gave to Neville. He does not 
> throw it away like his grandmother tells him too. Maybe Mrs. 
> Longbottoms tries to get a message to her son. Maybe there is 
> something written on the wrappers that makes sense to Neville. And 
> JKR's desk on her website is full of gum wrappers. At first I just 
> thought she was a smoker trying to quit. But now I think it is a 
> clue.  So any thoughts as to what message might be on the gum 
> wrappers?

I don't think that the gum wrappers contain a message, and this for 
two reasons: 
1. Alice is insane. This is not just a matter of an institutional 
decision, but described for us clearly. She is unconnected to 
reality and to herself. I don't think she is in a mental conditiona 
that would enable her to do something as integrated as saving a gum 
wrapper, writing a message on it, hiding it and then giving it to 
her son.
2. More importantly is the emotional content of the scene - Alice, 
insane and unconnected, tries to reach her son from the fog she is 
in. If this was a disingenous attempt at communicating (and why 
couldn't she just talk to him?), it would rob the scene of its 
emotional impact. Also, it would mean that she is not insane, or not 
as insane as she seems, which would make her an extremely cruel 
mother - having her son believe her insane when she is not.


Naama