Gum Wrappers

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112880

"Tonks" 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?
> 
Naama responded:
> 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.

Carol adds:
I agree with Naama, especially about the emotional impact of the
scene. Alice can't even talk, much less write a message, even if she
could have anything to say that would be important after fourteen
years in a mental ward, and there's no indication that she gives the
wrappers to anyone besides Neville. She is like a one-year-old baby
who wants to show someone that she likes him by giving him some small
possession that she doesn't know is worthless to the visitor (a
pacifier, for example). She senses somehow that Neville is connected
to her and cares about her, so she gives him the only thing she has to
give, wrappers from the gum she has chewed. (Apparently she's
forgotten how to blow bubbles since there's no blue residue on the
ceiling, but she probably likes the taste of the gum. My guess is that
it's the one pleasure in her life, along with rare visits from the son
she's almost forgotten.)

It appears that Frank is even more severely damaged than Alice:
There's no indication that he can even move from his bed. My guess is
that if Alice were as badly off as Frank, Neville would want to stop
visiting them (if his grandmother would allow it). Seeing them both as
living corpses would be too much to bear. At least he has this one
small human interaction with his mother to look forward to--and maybe
dread as well--each time he sees her.

At any rate, I find the scene very touching, especially Neville's
gesture of putting the gum wrapper in his pocket as if to say that it
isn't worthless; it's a gift from his mother. We're meant to
sympathize with Neville and to understand him a little bit, as Harry
begins to do in that scene. Harry pities him and sees that in some
ways Neville is worse off than he is. I for one hope that Harry will
develop more respect for Neville, even possibly a real friendship.
certainly Neville deserves that after the DoM.

Carol, who thinks that any message in the gum wrappers would ruin the
most emotionally powerful moment in the series so far