Harry and Charlie

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 183196

Jerri:
> In a Dahl world one doesn't ask "how can James enter a giant peach and 
> talk to Grasshopper, Centipede, and Earthworm", or how can the great 
> glass elevator move from side to side as well as up and down, and fly 
> through the air, etc.  And I can't see anyone worrying about Mike 
> Teavee or Veruca Salt who gets pushed into the garbage chute by 
> squirrels, because she is a "bad nut", etc.  And the events at 
> Matilda's school make Snape and Fake/Moody seem like nice people, but 
> the reader isn't apt to wonder why Child Welfare hasn't been called 
> in.  The books are a type of fantasy that the reader knows doesn't 
> follow real world rules.
> 
> However, in Harry's world, or actually JKR's world, in spite of the 
> magic sometimes things seem so "real" and the rules of that world seem 
> to be spelled out.  And when the "poetic justice" causes the DA 
> members to hex Crabbe, Goyle and Draco on the train and turn them into 
> slug like objects, and step on them we can feel outraged, although we 
> don't when the squirrels are dumping Veruca into the chute.
> 
> Anyway, it seems to me that JKR's magical world is sort of mid-way 
> between some magical worlds, like Tolkien's or perhaps that created by 
> Mercedes Lackey, where the "rules" seem consistent (at least to me), 
> and the Dahl type magical worlds where the reader knows from the start 
> that rules are made to be broken.

Montavilla47:
I think what JKR tends to do is veer from one side to the other.  There are
times in her stories where it seems obvious that we're supposed to be
reading HP like we'd read a Roald Dahl story--and take no more mind of 
Draco being bounced up and down than Veruca Salt dropping in the nut 
bin.  

But something odd happens with her characters--and I find I end up
sympathizing with people I know I'm not supposed to.  It really started 
with Marietta in OotP for me.  Seeing her at the end of the book with her
balaklava was a little edgy for me, like seeing the overhead view of the
"naughty" kids in CatCF, still bearing the scars of their transformations.

So, it was Roald Dahl-ish, but not over the top.  It was when, in HBP, 
that Harry noticed with satisfaction that she was still scarred that I got
uncomfortable with the amount of punishment that was being ladled
out.  But partly, that was due to the sympathy I got for her when she
was obviously unhappy about signing the parchment.

Oddly, it was HBP that changed me from being mildly amused at the 
horrible things that happened to the Dursleys to annoyed.  I read
through the chapter when Dumbledore shows up to lecture them
on polite behavior and child-rearing in complete sympathy with the
Dursleys.  

It's not really a matter of how horrible the punishment is, because
getting hit in the head with mead glasses is annoying, but not 
as bad as getting a pig's tail grafted onto your body and having
to go to the surgeon to get it removed.

It just struck me as very hypocritical for a guy to show at 
11:00 o'clock at night and then lecture anybody on what's
proper and what isn't.  

And, having crossed the line from sympathizing with the good
guys, and sympathizing with the bad ones, I looked back
and saw that there were a lot more of these odd jujitsu
passages, where the person who is supposed to look bad
ends up looking nicer than the heroes.

But, it would be easy for JKR to have made her "bad" characters
so unsympathetic that I wouldn't even notice.  So, kudos to her
for creating sympathetic bad guys.