Broken potionvial WAS: Re: Bad Writing? (was: JKR and the boys)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 163214

Ceridwen:
> He thought he "might at least have scraped an E", and bottled his
> sample and took it to Snape.  He put it down, turned away, and 
> heard a crash.  Malfoy laughed, Snape said his line, Harry 
> determinedly went back to bottle more, only to find that Hermione 
> had done him a favor by cleaning out his cauldron.  Yup, I read the
> entire scene, and after doing so, I realized that I had not read
> that Snape had dropped it, the scene leaves it open for Harry to
> have messed up big-time as people sometimes do when they are cocky.

Magpie:
> I see the point in saying the other way makes the scene weaker, but
> I can actually see it being fine if it a) underscores Harry's own 
> bad luck and cockiness tripping him up and b) shows more of what 
> was just described, that Snape is refraining from doing anything to
> Harry after the incident. So rather than making a scene either way
> (either by destroying the Potion or by making a big deal about 
> Harry's clumsiness) Snape underreacts to Harry's mistake: Whoops. 
> Another zero for you.

Jen: I don't read Harry feeling cocky in this passage.  He talks 
about being able to perform better in potions without Snape's 'taunts 
and snide remarks', something he thinks about again during OWLS and 
which appears to have at least a grain of truth given his 'E' in 
OWLS.  Then he mentions feeling satisfied about 'scraping an E'--not 
a statement of overconfidence.  Harry doesn't say something 
like, "any other teacher might give him an 'O' but Harry just hoped 
to scrape an 'E' with Snape."  A phrase like that would place the 
blame for his grades soley on Snape instead of Harry recognizing he 
plays a role as well.  Instead Harry feels satisfaction that he can 
actually do well in potions when Snape is ignoring him and hopes that 
fact will translate into a better-than-normal grade (which is 
idealistic given how angry Snape is, but I don't read it as a cocky 
attitude).

> Neri:
> At most they [accidents] can be red herrings, made to look like
> they were intended by the character but aren't really. However,
> unless Draco or Snape confide in Book 7 that it was accidental,
> which I very much doubt, the dropped flask wouldn't make any red 
> herring or any other plot point that I can see. In any case Snape
> is quick to take unfair advantage of it for his private revenge, so
> accidental dropping would hardly even make him look better. It 
> would merely make the story weaker.
 
> Ceridwen:
> This incident could be used to underscore that Harry needs to stop
> being prideful, or that he needs to learn that he needs other 
> people.  He has been thrown off on his own at the Dursleys' and so
> is not trusting of others, and (this is actually a good thing), he 
> is a normal teenager with the normal arrogance of innocent youth.
> Unfortunately, he needs to get over those things, both of them,
> before confronting LV.  So, instead of making the story weaker, it 
> refers back to the main point of the story, the need for Harry to 
> prepare to face Voldemort.  In my opinion, of course.

Jen:  Whether Snape non-verbally pushed the vial off, physically did 
so or Harry simply didn't set the vial securely on the desk, Snape's 
remark and grade were the moment Harry had been waiting for, a 
payback he knew was coming for the Pensieve incident.  It's hard to 
believe Snape would have accepted a second bottle from Harry and 
reversed his decision if Hermione hadn't cleaned up the rest of the 
potion.  We'll never know but Snape doesn't have this kind of track 
record with Harry in Potions as Neri pointed out when looking at the 
incident of the first zero Harry received.  

Linking Vernon and Snape in Harry's mind was meaningful for the 
moment imo because both can be cruel and act vindictively even as 
they rationalize to themselves they are 'helping' Harry.  It just 
occurred to me Vernon trying to stamp out the magic and Snape trying 
to stamp out Harry's pride might be an intentional parallel.  Neither 
are helping Harry but both believe they are.  Snape fanning the flame 
of Harry's rage does him no favors by separating him from his power 
and it will be up to Harry to realize this and learn to resist that 
particular temptation.

> Neri:
> > To my (admittedly limited) knowledge of informal English, "oops" 
> indicates authentic startle, while "whoops" is ironic or otherwise 
> insincere.

Jen:  Magpie and Ceridwen answered this point thoroughly and I agree 
with Magpie that technically 'whoops' is directed toward someone 
else's accident and 'oops' is said after one's own accident.  In my 
own experience people tend to favor one word or the other for all 
instances though.  For example I use 'oops' for my own mistakes as 
well as other's accidents and that may be because I hear that phrase 
where I live much more often than 'whoops'.  Both 'whoops' and 'oops' 
can be used sarcastically and sarcasm is conveyed by tone rather than 
the use of one word over the other.