CHAPDISC: DH2, In Memoriam

[mz_annethrope]

No: HPFGUIDX 176705

> CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 
2, 
> In Memoriam

mz_annethrope: Thanks for the well considered questions.

> Questions:
>    
> 1. Harry believes the teacup in the hall is a prank.  What was 
your 
> reaction the first time you read this?

I thought Dudley must have left it because Petunia and Vernon 
wouldn't have. It seemed like a weird sort of rapprochement. I 
didn't think it was a prank. Tea? Shouldn't it have been a rat trap? 

> 2. Harry ruminates on Hogwarts' inattention to teaching healing 
> charms.  Is this a flaw in the curriculum?  Do you suspect that it 
> might be taught at NEWT level?  Is this a post-Hogwarts curriculum 
as 
> Auror training is?  

Oooooh. The Hogwart's curriculum is inadequate in so many ways. I'm 
suprised that all the students learn is "science" but in the most 
rudimentary way. Course work is rote memorization and following 
exact instructions. It seems aimed at producing drones in the 
workforce. No wonder the twins are poor students--they're bored to 
death. There's no literature, art, music, language, shop, or even 
sport aside from Quidditch. Wizarding society doesn't seem to value 
these things much. With the exception of DD and Barty Crouch.

I'm surprised the students didn't learn basic healing charms. After 
all, I got first aid in school. And though they didn't teach us 
medicine in high school I did have Anatomy and Physiology.

On the other hand, it seems the students must have picked up a bit 
of healing from Herbology and Potions. These are probably more 
important to healing than flashy charms.

> 3. On a related note, why does Harry think Hermione will know 
healing 
> charms?  Is he right?

He thinks she knows everything because she always has her head in a 
book. Hermione is prescient to bring Dittany with her while the Trio 
are on the lam, but she doesn't seem to know all that much about 
healing. Come to think of it, why does Harry even consider healing 
charms when neither he nor anyone else is not allowed to perform 
magic at Privet Drive until he's 17? (Now wondering why Tonks is 
allowed to perform charms at Privet Drive.)
> 
> 4. When Harry discovers the mirror shard, it brings back the old 
> memories and feelings, but he suppresses them quickly.  How does 
this 
> demonstrate the progress has Harry made in controlling his 
feelings?  
> Has he made much progress?

Yes and No. Harry tried to be the stereotypical male--the only 
emotions he allows himself to show are anger and rage. He improved 
in the last book at suppressing these, more so in this one. But I 
think the feeling that Harry is trying to control here is pain. He 
always tries to do that and not much has changed at this point.

> 5. Apart from the books, JKR is quite specific about what Harry 
> packs.  Why do you think she wanted to name each item?  Several 
> reappear, but not all.

He's not going to return so he's packing for the road. He takes what 
he thinks he'll need (books), what might come in handy depending on 
the circumstance, and special mementos that he doesn't want to lose 
(photos, letters, map). The intentional packing shows a higher level 
of maturity than we've seen in him before, when he's always thrown 
things together and left them in his trunk to rot.
 
> 6. Already as a child, Dumbledore seems to be inclined to withhold 
> information, as we find in Doge's tribute. He is referred to 
as "more 
> reserved" when Doge returns from his travels.   Do we attribute 
this 
> to personality or to "family secrets?"  In other words, is he 
trained 
> to be secretive or would he have been anyway?  (All speculation 
> welcome!)

He learned secrecy at his mother's knee. So did Aberforth. He seems 
deeply ashamed of his family circumstances (everybody knew his 
father was in Azkaban so he wasn't going to deny that)and as he grew 
up he did plenty of things to be ashamed of. Let's not forget he 
grew up in Victorian England, which wasn't the most open of cultures.

My guess is he is motivated partly by shame and partly by desire to 
promote himself and receive universal admiration. The shameful acts 
keep compounding so it becomes harder and harder to reveal himself. 
If he reveals this then he will have to reveal that because all of 
his sins are inter-related. Better to keep them all under wraps and 
then everybody but the DEs will admire him.

It's interesting to me that the two most important characters aside 
from Harry opt either for a deathbed confession (that must be 
analyzed clinically afterwards) or for a post-mortem. The death bed 
confession reveals both the best and the worst of the character, the 
post-mortem only the worst.

But where is our subject? I read "more reserved" as meaning that DD 
was jocular before Ariana's death and quiet afterwards and not that 
he suddenly clammed up.

> 7. We see Dumbledore writing as a Hogwarts student to luminaries 
such 
> as Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot and Waffling.  We know Bathilda has a 
> role later in Rita Skeeter's expose; any speculation on how much 
of 
> early Dumbledore's correspondence she shared?

Rita probably got everything out of her, and being a historian 
Bathilda knew a lot. But Rita ignored the correspondances that any 
decent biographer would have analyzed and only published the 
sensational tidbits. Sensation sells and scandal is all Rita cares 
about.

> 8. Doge just happens to be gone when Dumbledore and Grindelwald 
> become friends.  How much did/didn't Doge know about their 
friendship?

He knew nothing.

> 9. Doge mentions the Grindelwald/Dumbledore duel, but clearly is 
> reporting from second-hand (at best) sources.  Are we looking at a 
> duel that grew in legend?  Is Rita Skeeter right?

Hmmm. Well, the most important part--the capture of the Elder wand--
went unreported. You could say the duel grew in legend because an 
important part was omitted in the legend and the rest substituted 
for the whole.

> 10. Following his perusal of Doge's tribute, Harry realizes he was 
> very bad at asking questions.  Is this a JKR sop to readers' 
> frustration with his lack of curiosity, or do you think she had 
> always planned for Harry to have this realization?

I think what it says is that Harry failed to ask DD personal 
questions and now he regrets it. It's a set up for the revelations 
we'll receive.

I think there are three issues concerning Harry's lack of curiosity. 
One is that he learned at his aunt and uncle's knee not to ask 
questions. Two is that JKR (to my annoyance) uses Harry's lack of 
curiosity to keep the reader in the dark. I can't believe he doesn't 
know about the Trace. But Harry does ask questions occasionally. He 
even asks questions of Snape during Occlumency lessons. Which leads 
to three: Harry doesn't ask personal questions. He realizes he 
doesn't understand girls in OotP, but he doesn't seem interested in 
people until he gets hold of the Prince's Potions book. Then he gets 
very interested because the Prince is a mystery and an object of his 
desire. Getting to know the Prince correlates nicely with DD's 
teaching him the most important matter for a general--know your 
enemy. By knowing his enemy he can defeat Voldemort in DH. But along 
the way he has to get to know the other enemy who proves not to be 
as much an enemy as he thought and the friend who proves not to be 
much of a friend. This knowledge--summed up in "know thyself"--
enables him to choose to fight The Enemy.

> 11. Harry suspects that Dumbledore didn't answer frankly the one 
> personal question he asked.  What's the likelihood Dumbledore 
would 
> have answered any of Harry's personal questions frankly?

Zilch.

> 12. Rita Skeeter clearly lies in her interview, calling her 
> relationship with Harry Potter "close."  Did this mislead you on 
the 
> first read, or did you suspect some of what she found was true?

Dunno. I wasn't expecting the way it played out. Good job, JKR.
 
> 13. The uses of dragon's blood is mentioned more than once in this 
> chapter and has been known since book 1, yet it never figures into 
> the denouement. Any speculation?  

This is the sort of little unessential detail that lends an air of 
realism to this book, which is a Fantasy. It reminds me of 
Huckleberry Finn and Jim going down the river and hearing a 
startling noise which proves to be nothing. Or of Tolkien's 
backstory in LotR.

> 14. Rita refers to Dumbledore's relationship with Harry 
> as "unhealthy."  While she is mining for sensation, how much of 
this 
> do you think has a ring of truth?

Well I thought she was accusing DD of pederasty. The unhealthy 
relationship rings true, but not for the reasons Rita implied.

> 15. Doge's tribute is glowing, and Rita Skeeter's report 
insinuates 
> sensational scandal.  Which one is more honest?  Do both withhold 
> certain truths?  

As for Doge I'm reminded of Gandalf assessing Pippin's acount 
looking into Palantir and saying something to the effect of "A fool 
you've been, Peregrin Took, but an honest one."

> 16. What was your reaction to the flash of blue in the mirror the 
> first time you read the book?

When are we going to see DD and under what guise?

mz_annethrope (waitng for a more professional biographer of DD--say 
Luna Lovegood)