Prank and various responsibilities WAS: Re: Marietta
justcarol67
justcarol67 at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 4 03:15:01 UTC 2007
No: HPFGUIDX 169746
wynnleaf:
> > Yes, we can be fairly sure that Snape *did* want to know more
about what Lupin was doing. But Sirius specifically said that Snape
was doing this because he wanted to get them expelled.
> <SNIP>
>
>
> Alla:
>
> I am just responding to this, because to me it is a very good
> example of how JKR cleverly put blanks in the prank night.
>
> Sure, Sirius says that, but there are ellipses "..." just everywhere
> in those two paragraphs where it matters IMO.
<snip>
>
> "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against
my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been
telling Dumbledore A year that I am not to be trusted. He has his
> reasons... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly
> killed him, a trick which involved me--"
>
> Black made a derisive noise.
> "It served him right," he sneered. "Sneaking around, trying to find
out what we were up to... hoping he could get us expelled...."
Alla:
>
> So, what do I see here? I see ellipses after he had his reasons. It
means to me that it is possible that Snape hatred of Marauders goes
deeper and for much more personal reasons.
>
> Sure, it is possible that pensieve scene gives those reasons, but I
think it is possible that we will learn more about it.
>
> There are also ellipses in the last sentences, so I think it is
possible that Snape wanted to do something else besides to get
Marauders expelled.
>
> Oh, cannot wait till book 7 is here.
>
Carol responds:
I don't understand. JKR wouldn't use ellipses to indicate omissions in
Lupin's or Black's speeches since she's giving them exactly as they
were spoken. The ellipses seem to indicate pauses and hesitancy, but
Lupin wouldn't be protecting Snape, whom he doesn't know is listening
in and whom Harry and Ron, at least, already hates, nor would Black
protect Snape for any reason. Themselves, maybe! Especially Black
since the Prank was his idea. Or James since Lupin wants Harry to
think well of him and may not want to specify Snape's reasons for
hating MWPP since they don't reflect well on James. ("Well, you see,
James and and Sirius had recently ambushed him, and James humiliated
him by using his own spell against him and exposing his grey underwear
to the whole fifth-year class, so he wasn't feeling very well-disposed
toward us.")
I could give you many examples of ellipses used in the Potter books to
indicate hesitation or a voice trailing off (as black's does here0,
but I can't think of any place (with the possible but unlikely
exception of the Prophecy) where she's used them to indicate
omissions. they're not quoting someone else and leaving something out.
And Lupin characteristically speaks in the same hesitant way (at least
in PoA), for example, when Harry asks him to teach him about
Dementors: "I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting Dementors,
Harry. . . . Quite the contrary. . . ." (PoA Am. ed. 189, ellipses in
original). (Aside here: He mentions "certain defenses one can use"
against Dementors, so a Patronus isn't the only method. He might also
have had in mind the unknown method that snape teaches in HBP.)
JKR does sometimes use ellipses before a word to suggest that it's not
the word the speaker originally intended to say (or she'll precede the
word with "ah," especially if the speaker is Snape), but I don't think
that's what's happening here.
Carol, noting that Lupin is very secretive all year long, not just in
the Shrieking Shack, and it's not Snape he's protecting
More information about the HPforGrownups
archive