Family and Other Loyalty

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 177782

Montavilla:
><snip>
> 1. We can agree with Harry, and enjoy that Marietta 
> has been well and justly punished for her betrayal.
> <snip>
> As far as Option 1 goes, I find it weird, because the
> punishment is so close to actual practice--I can't
> help thinking of the women who are scarred with 
> acid, usually for committing adultery.  It's also
> much like shaving the head, which was a common
> punishment for women who sleep with enemy
> soldiers (with the obvious difference that hair 
> grows back fairly quickly).  
> 
> Now, maybe I'm bringing in RL stuff that JKR never
> intended to apply, but it beats me how someone 
> who worked for Amnesty, Int... an organization that
> works to expose and stop these practices, would
> not make that connection.
><snip>

lizzyben: 

Just wanted to add that at the end of OOTP, Harry sees Cho & Marietta
on the train - and the text makes sure to mention that Marietta is
wearing a balaclava. A balaclava is a kind of ski mask that covers the
entire face, leaving only the eyes visible. Marietta is so ashamed of
her scars that she hides her face from the world. 

Attacks on the face are uniquely dehumanizing, because they remove our
individual identity. If you picture a balaclava, it looks exactly like
a burqa, hiding all individual features. 

In many countries women were specifically attacked & given facial
scars as *punishment* for not wearing a burqa that hides their face.
Here, a girl is given permanent facial scars as punishment for not
following the rules, and made to cover & hide her face from shame -
and that's a good thing. 

Lealess;
> And then I'm left reeling, because if she thinks
> that's a just punishment, then the  extra glimpses 
> of Marietta aren't about justice--or making us 
> question justice, but seem more like spitting on 
> the corpse of a hanged man.
> Then I end up questioning what the intent is--
> and from that, what the intent is with all the 
> moments of justice and punishment, including
> the times that Draco starts a fight and ends up
> reaping a tenfold penalty for it, or when the 
> children mock Umbridge by making the 
> clopping sounds, or Montague ending up with
> some unspecified, but also permanent damage
> from being shoved into the Vanishing Cabinet,
> or Rita Skeeter held captive for days and then 
> blackmailed into becoming Hermione's tool.  

lizzyben:

What really clinched it for me was how DH makes sure to tell us that
Zacharias Smith ran cowardly before the Battle, pushing away
first-years on his way out. There was no need for that sentence - it
was just kicking & demeaning Smith the same way Ginny had enjoyed
kicking & demeaning Smith. For his apparently horrible crime of
questioning Harry Potter. So, we weren't supposed to question the many
hexes against Smith or the way Ginny rammed into the booth during
Smith's commentary. We were supposed to laugh along with the heroes. 


Montavilla:
> Again, if that's a deliberate strategy on JKR's part,
> it's brilliant.  If not, then it's simply that I have 
> a real problem with her sense of the world.


lizzyben:

I think there's a large element of "revenge fantasy" to the novels,
and that JKR has fun dishing out this revenge w/o always considering
the consequences & implications of it.