[HPforGrownups] Yo-Yo, Thimble, Mouth-organ

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 152729

On 5/22/06, Tonks <tonks_op at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  Well to get us off of our usual topic of "you know who", lets talk
> about  LV. When DD visited him in the orphanage Tom had taken these
> things and was hording them. Does anyone have any ideas what these
> objects might mean?  Why did Tom take these particular objects? Do you
> think that they have any special significance to the plot?  Why did JKR
> choice these objects.  You all know I love the symbolism of things in
> the books, any of that in these?
>
> I guess it could just be that those objects were special to the child
> that Tom took it from and as such he wanted to make them suffer.  I
> wonder if there is more to it than that.  I wonder if they represent
> anything to him?  DD tells Harry that LV likes to collect things
> (reminds you of Slughorn).
>
> Thoughts anyone? Let's go into the depth of LV mind and of Tom Riddle's
> mind as a child. What will we find there?
>
..
.
Clare responded:
A yo-yo is the simplest of childhood toys.  A thimble is something  which
women used and collected, my great-grandmother (who would have lived in  the
same time as LV's grandmother collected them - it was a time when mothers
made many of their children's clothes.  A mouth-organ - father's teach their
sons - my son has received one from his Welsh grandfather and another from
his Scottish great-grandfather. Music was only available to those who made
it themselves.

They could be symbols of missing experiences and missing  relationships.
Nobody gave him toys, his mother never made his clothes, his father never
passed on a musical tradition.
...
I think it is illustrative of character but not necessarily of plot.

..
.
Kemper now:
Besides the obvious implication of trophies that serial killers collect from
their victims, I think these specific trophies could symbolize life's
needs.  But before that, these trinkets could be the only items
from the parents the children lost.  So, mini-LV took their loved ones.
Also, you have:

Yo-yo: play/joy
Thimble: work/safety
Mouthorgan: creativity/variety

So mini-LV, snatches away from his victims their loved ones, joy, safety,
and variety.

That's all I got.

-Kemper


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