[HPforGrownups] Re: Dumbledore on the Dursleys in OotP /some Star Wars.

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 151179

Doug Pratt:
> Well, Merlin is not a 100% Good Guy in the Arthur legends; he is
> problematic. Not to say a little crazy. Let me recommend a wonderful
> short story called "The Last Defender of Camelot," which shows Merlin
> to be quite unlike Dumbledore, and seems to me to be faithful to the
> Merlin we see in the Arthurian legends. It was written by Roger
> Zelazny, and is part of a collection of short stories called "Unicorn
> Variations," which anyone who appreciates stories or chess should own.

Magpie:
Oh yes--sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Merlin was always good.  I meant 
Merlin in terms of just his arranging the living arrangements Harry has 
early in his life, which to me seem very Cinderella like, with Harry then 
delivered from them and returned to Dumbledore.  I don't think Merlin ever 
even comes across as as benevolent as Dumbledore does early on--but then, 
there's so many different re-tellings of that story.  Cinderella has her 
fairy godmother who's not a political figure with an agenda.

Pippin:
Pippin:
But what makes it obvious that we're supposed to take Harry's line?

Magpie:
The way it's written, is the best I can do, especially knowing PS/SS could 
have been expected to stand on its own.  Even if Harry's wrong it seems like 
we're supposed to take this as a reasonable possibility, that Dumbledore 
would feel this way.  Canon doesn't show Harry having great insight into 
Dumbledore usually, but in PS/SS I think he has the most of all the Trio.  I 
think he's really supposed to be the kid hero who's just learned something 
and that's why he's explaining something to Hermione, who is there to raise 
the possible reader objection so Harry can answer it.  I don't think Harry 
is suggesting here that Dumbledore intentionally set things up to test him, 
just that Dumbledore believes he'd earned the right to face Voldemort on his 
own. Whether or not he did it intentionally.  So even if Harry's wrong, I 
think Harry's pov is presented as reasonable.

Pippin:
As for DD's apparent digression into Elf rights,  IMO, it's vital that Harry
understand that Voldemort's non-human allies see him as the lesser evil,
though Iike much else he was told in that interview, Harry does not
yet fully understand this.

Magpie:
Actually, what bothers me about the house-elf part is how it sounds like the 
flipside of Hermione's problems with SPEW, making Kreacher's feelings just 
the result of Wizard behavior.

Alla:
Oh, don't get me started. Please, please, Pippin it is by no means
directed at you, you know I really like you and respect you, but
every time I remember Dumbledore's "let's blame the dead man" act
(IMO of course), I just get so angry.

Magpie:
Yeah, unfortunately, if it's condescending for Dumbledore to take full 
credit for Sirius' death it's equally odd for him to be explaining all the 
ways Sirius was responsible for his own death--which leads back to my 
problems with the house elf stuff again, making Kreacher something less than 
a character with his own motivations and passions that have nothing to do 
with wizards.  I mean, I don't think Sirius' treatment of Kreacher had 
anything whatsoever to do with why Kreacher turned him in.  I think Kreacher 
was loyal to the Blacks and horrified at the way their house was being used, 
and thought Sirius broke his mother's heart.  I took Kreacher's feelings 
very seriously.

Sandy:
Sandy, who thinks making Harry a Prefect would have been a contrivance too,
but would have made better sense than Ron.

Magpie:
I wrote a long thing once on Ron as Prefect but in a nutshell, Hermione is 
the obvious natural choice, but Harry has shown some natural leadership 
qualities--ironically mostly in OotP when he's not Prefect.  Probably Dean 
and Seamus could have handled the job well enough.  Ron's likeable--younger 
students may have quite preferred to go to him with problems rather than 
Hermione.

But I have to feel for Ron, because while I think he could have been fine 
despite not being the greatest choice ever (the job doesn't seem all that 
hard), from the beginning he's totally not supported and everybody all but 
says it should be Harry.  You can see him pretty much give up on the job 
early on.  The way everything's handled right from the beginning--everyone's 
focused on Harry, talking about how it should have been Harry, but since 
it's not we all agree not being chosen for Prefect shows how cool you are. 
Then he's got the twins to deal with (and the Percy example to avoid at all 
costs) and also Hermione, who by nature takes charge and tells him when he's 
doing stuff wrong, this after she completely fails to conceal her confusion 
at the idea he could even have the badge instead of Harry.  And Hermione has 
her own problems as Prefect I'd guess, just the opposite ones of Ron.

So yeah, I don't think Ron's being Prefect is that much of an issue in 
itself-I do think that part of the job is about teaching the kid something 
(including Hermione) so that they're improved by it.  Maybe it did Ron some 
good.  I can just totally empathize with his struggles with it.  It mirrors 
his problems with Quidditch where he's also not quite up to the job as some 
would be and seems all too aware of it.

-m