[HPforGrownups] Re: Ministry and Dementors/

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 176674

Magpie:
Yes, because Dementors are monsters, basically, while Werewolves are
supposed to be like people instead of monsters. (Dementors are "Dark
Magic"--worse than just animals going after their natural prey
somehow, so that association with them says something hinky about
you--magic *isn't* always neutral.) It's not that I don't *see* the
difference. But it's still just arbitrary, imo, that the use of this
kind of punishment is supposed to be so ghoulish as to suggest that
the ministry has an *underlying corruption* rather than just that
they did something dangerous.

Debbie:
IMO, the books make clear that the Dementors are foul dark creatures because
they feed on the soul.  In JKR's world, the soul is presented as the most
important thing one owns, and the darkest of Dark Magic involves tampering
with the soul; nothing is presented as worse than a Horcrux.  Thus,
Dementors are the darkest of dark creatures, as Lupin tells us in POA when
he makes clear that in the WW having one's soul sucked is much worse than
death.  JKR's treatment of death and souls seems (unlike lots of other
things) quite consistent throughout the series, starting as early as PS/SS,
when Dumbledore referred to the afterlife as the next great adventure
(admittedly, I bring all of my Christian upbringing to my analysis, but JKR
draws on those same sources).

Magpie:
As is the case where the Twins lock
Montague in a Vanishing Cabinet and nobody cares what happens to
him. That comes back to bite them, but was it a sign that perhaps
the good guys were showing some underlying corruption there? No, it
doesn't seem so. The Ministry needed a scolding and a wake-up call
about that, but the Twins didn't.

Debbie:
I personally share your unease about JKR's treatment of Montague and I have
sharp differences with JKR on the issues of vengeance and comeuppance
humor.  However, even if JKR adopted my views on these events and treated
them as actionable offenses (though I'm not convinced that what the twins
did would not have earned them punishment if they had been discovered), the
books make clear that they would be nowhere close on the scale to anything
tampering with someone's soul.  Students seem to frequently be doing things
that land other students in the hospital wing, with the perpetrator getting
nothing more than detention.

Debbie
thinking Dementors are like mosquitoes whereas the Twins are more like
bumblebees


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