[HPforGrownups] Quidditch is a Clue (IMO) WAS: Locket Horcrux as a Snitch?

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 157754

Let's try this again.  If you get individual emails, you'll have already
received a prematurely released post.  Please ignore it.

 Randy wrote a thought about Quidditch:

"What if Quidditch is a kind of clue! I have thought about this for
a while but not been able to fully define it.

There are 7 players in a Quidditch Team

3 are Chasers
2 are Beaters
1 is a Keeper
1 is a Seeker

There are 7 DADA (one is Potion's teacher so far) teachers

You could say a metaphor for each one may exist (IMO).

3 are Chasers
(Quirrell chases the Stone, Lockhart chases fame and fortune, Maybe
Snape chases after recognition (a bit of a stretch I admit)

2 are Beaters (Umbridge and Moody/Crouch)(ie. hurt Harry in lessons)
1 is a Keeper (Slughorn keeps a secret about Horcruxes)
1 is a Seeker (Lupin seeks acceptance) (IMO)

* * *

These are metaphors but the idea of burrying clues into Quidditch is
still very strong to me. Maybe I am just reading the clues wrong."
 .

Debbie:
I have been beating the 'Quidditch as Metaphor' drum for years.  In my view,
Quidditch provides both character metaphors and plot metaphors.  As you
suggest, the Quidditch positions are character metaphors (including the
Seeker, which is a metaphor for Harry himself). However, the difference is
that the character metaphors refer to *Harry's* team.  For example,
characters such as Hermione act as Harry's chasers, keeping him in the game
(like Quidditch, generally only the Seeker can win the game for the team;
the chasers' job is to keep the team close enough to win.  Trying to
match the positions to the DADA teachers is a bit of a square peg, round
hole exercise, as most of them (all but Lupin and, IMO, Snape) are not on
Harry's team.  Harry's team plays fair (most of the time); the Slytherins,
OTOH, play dirty, just like Voldemort.

In another example, the Keeper is a guardian and protector of the
hoops.   Any metaphorical match for the keeper should exercise that role.
Dumbledore has fulfilled a keeper role for Harry (whose Seeker position is a
metaphor for himself) over the first several books.  Of the DADA professors,
the character that most fulfills that role for Harry is Snape, not
Slughorn.  Slughorn is keeping a secret, but that's a different kind of
keeping.

The plot metaphors that I see are parallels between the Quidditch matches in
each book and the plot in that book, particularly vis-a-vis Voldemort.  Some
of it is detailed here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/48192
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/88055

I have to admit that the plot connections are more difficult to identify in
HBP than in earlier books.  School rituals are becoming increasingly
unimportant to Harry as he comes to grips with the task he has taken on
vis-a-vis Voldemort, and JKR herself has become tired of writing Quidditch
scenes (which I would find very boring without the metaphors).  However,
there are a number of parallels.  First and foremost is the fact that
 Quidditch in HBP emphasizes, even more than the other books, who is and
isn't a team player.  This parallels the central mystery of HBP:  which team
is Snape playing for?

Here are some examples of the "team" parallels:

* Even before the season began, Hermione hexed McLaggen at the Quidditch
tryouts.  She doesn't even play Quidditch, but she is fulfilling the Chaser
role of providing support to the [Seeker/Captain].  McLaggen immediately
justifies her actions by dissing the Weasleys; he would not be a good team
player.   And Zachariah Smith's commentary at the first match highlights
this fact; friendship and comaraderie does often make a team play better.

* The first match begins with Captain Harry administering a (faked) dose of
Felix Felicis to his Keeper to shore up crumbling self-confidence of his
defensive anchor.  The climax of the book begins with Harry instructing his
*team* to share the remaining Felix Felicis to defend Hogwarts.

* Draco, OTOH, lets his team down in the first match by skipping it
altogether to work on the vanishing cabinet, foreshadowing his actions on
the Astronomy Tower, where Draco lets down the DEs by failing to kill
Dumbledore even though he is in his grasp.

* Gryffindor loses the second match because of teammate McLaggen's actions.
First, instead of doing his job as a team member should, he tried to do
everyone else's job., harassing Harry with new strategies, providing
unwanted advice and unsought criticism to other team members.  But he failed
to pay attention to his own duties.  Worse, McLaggen misfired a Bludger
right at Harry, putting his captain out of commission.   Some team player!
Likewise, Dumbledore is killed by the actions of a *teammate* in the Order
(though the jury is out, of course, on whether or not Snape is, or was,
Harry''s teammate.

* Harry himself doesn't always appear to do what's best for the team.  His
tryout of Sectumsempra on Draco earned him a date with some old records and
forced his team to play the last Quidditch match without a Captain.  Harry
loses his *captain*, Dumbledore, on the Tower and must go on for the first
time without his team.

I'll do Book 7 now, too.  JKR has said there will be no Quidditch matches in
Book 7, and Harry won't be coming back to school.

"You know, that was the last Quidditch match. I knew as I wrote it that it
was the last time I was going to be doing a Quidditch match. To be honest
with you, Quidditch matches have been the bane of my life in the Harry
Potter books. They are necessary in that people expect Harry to play
Quidditch, but there is a limit to how many ways you can have them play
Quidditch together and for something new to happen. And then I had this
moment of blinding inspiration. I thought, Luna's going to commentate, and
that was just a gift. It's the kind of commentary I'd do on a sports match
because I'm — [laughs]."

http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-2.htm


Debbie


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]