Double standards and believing

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 120972


Del wrote:

> People don't believe in LV's resurrection : bad.
> Hermione doesn't believe in heliopaths : good.
> 
> Luna believes in crumpled-horned snorkacks : bad.
> Luna believes in resurrection and life after death : good.

Many interesting examples snipped (I'd love to discuss them, but 
time does not permit) but I'll just address these, which concern 
Luna Lovegood.

I'm not altogether sure whether you're saying that list members make 
these judgements, or whether the text implies them; however, I think 
there's some misdirection by JKR going on here.

I think the superficial reader is encouraged to think with Hermione 
that Snorkacks and Heliopaths do not exist, but that in a future 
book Luna will turn out to be right about something (I'm guessing 
something to do with Fudge) despite Hermione's rationalistic 
objections.

Why are we led feel that scepticism about snorkacks and heliopaths 
is "good" (I would say "justified" might be a better term) while 
there may be something in Luna's beliefs about death?

- the creatures are mentioned in The Quibbler, and where it is 
possible to verify its stories (Stubby Boardman is Sirius Black) 
they are not reliable;

- The Quibbler fits in with a known type of paper (called 
Supermarket Tabloids in America, I believe) in the experience of 
readers, who know that this type of paper is not to be believed;

- the reader, along with Harry, can hear whispering behind the veil, 
and Luna alludes to that in support of her contention about the dead;

- Luna's social reactions are often slightly inappropriate.  
Although this ought not to reflect on her credibility (and in 
certain types of literature would be a sure pointer to a 
supernatural acuity of vision) it does do so for many of her peers, 
and it is hard for the reader not to be influenced by this.

I find it intriguing that JKR has introduced a theme which allows 
Hermione to seem like the Dursleys in her dismissal of things 
outside the range of her understanding.  It has the odd effect of 
making all the magic we have so far encountered somehow mundane, 
just another branch of technology.

David