Laughing All the Way to the Bank

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 176015

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> Maybe I'm a hypocrite; I don't know. I didn't feel the same way about
> Umbridge and the Centaurs (and I hate Umbridge!) 

Ken:

Is this a reaction to classical Centaurs reputation as rapists? If so I've 
never really bought that about these Centaurs. For one thing would
even a Centaur want ... you know ... *Umbridge*??? Another thing is
that the Potterverse does not imitate folklore exactly. There is no 
evidence that Vampires are killed by wooden stakes or Werewolves by
silver in the Potterverse. The best use of folkloric elements in fantasy
and science fiction, in my opinion, is to have the folklore turn out to be
based on fact but not exhaustively so. It is enough that there are 
Werewolves and Centaurs, they do not have to conform to folklore
in every detail. Finally, these Centaurs seem to have a very low do/say
ratio. They actually do very little of what they say and threaten.

As an aside, I read something about Centaurs today that surprised
me. Now that DH has come and gone I have been indulging a long
held, never satisfied interest in ancient Mesopotamian history. This
lead to a study of Sumerian star names and that lead to a web 
discussion of a constellation (I forget which) that the Greeks
borrowed from the Sumerians and had turned into a Centaur. Or
at least that is how it is always portrayed even though one expert
claimed it couldn't have originally been a Centaur because it is
always shown as holding a bow "and Centaurs don't use bows".
I don't know if that assertion can be corroborated but Rowling's
Centaurs certainly use bows.

One of my favorite laughs came in two parts when Ron used the line
"always the tone of surprise" on Hermione and then she returned it
to him later. Harry's Dirty Harry like taunt to Voldemort had me splitting
a gut when I first read it. I fear that my biggest laugh may not have 
been intended as such since it is a rather critical plot element and the
story line teeters a bit because of it. It came when Voldemort hides 
the the die-dem in a room filled to the rafters with centuries worth of
junk that other students and teachers have hidden there and actually
believes that he is the only one to have penetrated the Room of 
Requirement's secret. At times this evil genius makes Crabbe and Goyle
look like Einstien and Hawking!

As I reread it I see that Ron mentions the absurdity of Voldemort not
realizing that anyone could, many ones had, get into the RoR. Presumably
the author knows then too and that her plot to an extent hangs on
that absurdity.

Ken