[HPforGrownups] CHAPDISC: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 15, The Goblin

[Laura Lynn Walsh]

No: HPFGUIDX 181858


On 2008, Mar 02, , at 20:39, Dana King wrote:

> Questions for Discussion:
>
> 1. The chapter opens with the burial of Moody's eye. Might this
> be viewed as foreshadowing of the death of the trust among the
> trio at the close of the chapter?

To me, it represented closure, instead of foreshadowing.
Moody was gone; his body was dealt with by the Death
Eaters, with the exception of the eye.  The eye was the
only thing left to Harry to bury, but since even the eye was
not really a part of Moody's body, but rather a useable
device, the burial needed to be secret.  I think it foreshadows
the Elder Wand more than the death of trust.  The eye is
buried anonymously, where no one but Harry knows.  The
Elder Wand was buried with Dumbledore, a fact that people
can know and figure out - and which plays and important
part in the rest of the story.

> 2. Hermione's suggestion that it is too dangerous to wear the
> Horcrux is overruled by Harry who insists it must be worn in
> shifts for security. Would the evil influence of the locket
> have been lessened or avoided if Hermione's instinct had not
> been summarily rejected and the Horcrux had been stored on
> their persons in her beaded bag or Harry's moleskin bag?

If the Horcrux is put in Hermione's beaded bag, she is, in
effect, carrying it all of the time.  The same could be said
for Harry's moleskin bag.  In addition, there would be a great
danger in putting the Horcrux in Harry's bag.  What if Harry
were unconscious or somehow unable to retrieve the
Horcrux when it became possible to destroy it?  The question
I have is why does the distribution of wearing the Horcrux
have to be equal?  Since it affects Ron more strongly, why
not shorten his wearing shifts?  It doesn't seem to bother
Hermione or Harry as much.

> 3. Harry's belief about the importance of identifying the
> thief and his hypothesis about Hogwarts being a likely place
> to locate a Horcrux are also rejected. Were the weeks of
> wandering and wondering worse for the trio than the risks
> of following these leads?

I think they might have been more willing to follow these
possibilities if Harry had been able to suggest a reason or
a goal.  If he had suggested talking to the Ravenclaw ghost
or even talking to Nearly Headless Nick about Ravenclaw
or Gryffindor history, Ron and Hermione might have gone
along.  As for identifying the thief, what COULD they have
done?

> 9. The characterization of the Goblins as a separatist, self-
> interested race is very reminiscent of the dwarf races in both
> Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
> Do any other fictional or real-world equivalents or parallels
> come to mind?

The fairies in the Artemis Fowl books are similar.

Laura Walsh
-- 
Laura Lynn Walsh    lwalsh at acsalaska.net
http://llwcontemplations.blogspot.com



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