Coolness // Portraits

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182853

Montavilla47 wrote:
<snip> > And Ron's choice of Lavender had nothing to do with the
Prince's book, although you could say it was a vain pursuit... <snip>

Carol responds:
This remark combined with Pippin's comment on Romilda's last name (I
hadn't previously made the Vane/vain connection, obvious as it seems
now that she's pointed out) leads me to wonder about Lavender's name
and its possible significance. Lavender is both a flower (or aromatic
herb), tying the name in with Lily, Petunia, and Narcissa (any others
I'm forgetting?) and a color like her last name, Brown. BTW, a Google
image search for "lavender color" will show shades of pale purple
ranging from pinkish purple through lilac to bluish purple. Her last
name is another color, the very common and rather boring color brown.
Taken literally, "lavender brown" is an impossible combination, like
"pink black." Is Lavender's name supposed to suggest a combination of
enticing (for Ron) and pretty (the color/flower lavender) and common
or ordinary (the color brown), in contrast to Hermione, who admittedly
grows prettier as the books progress, notably after the shortening of
her teeth (which somehow manages to straighten them at the same time)
but is by no means common in terms of her intellectual abilities and
magical talents?

On a sidenote, Romilda's first name means, of all things, "glorious
battle maid," and some site or other points out that her whole name is
an anagram for "I'm a Dan lover"--one of JKR's little jokes, with Dan
used for Harry as Rupert is the name that Slughorn calls Ron ("your
poor friend Rupert")?

Not that I'm saying anything important here, but the etymologies of
the names usually have some relation to the character.

Montavilla47:
> Nor do I see Harry as being concerned about Luna's loneliness...
ever. <snip>

Carol responds:
I think we see the very moment when he first becomes aware of and
sympathetic toward her loneliness, just at the time when he is
suffering himself from the death of his godfather and even before he
remembers that Luna, too, can see Thestrals. She tells him that people
take her possessions and she's putting up notices in hopes of getting
them back:

"An odd feeling rose in Harry--an emotion quite different from the
anger and grief that had filled him since sirius's death. It was a few
moments before he realized that he was feeling sorry for Luna" )OoP
am. ed. 862).

He asks why people hide her possessions and she replies, "Oh . . . .
well . . .  I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people
call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually." 

After hearing these words, Harry's "new feeling of pity intensifie[s]"
(862).

Soon afterwards, she talks about expecting to see her dead mother
someday, and Harry remembers that she, too, can see Thestrals. The
moment is understated, but it's a moment of mutual understanding and
empathy that he shares with no other character. (Neither Hermione nor
Ron yet knows what it feels like to lose a loved one, and he can't
talk about Neville's past with him. Cho's tears and constantly wanting
to talk about Cedric's death are altogether different from this calm
acceptance of death and the afterlife. I don't think that Harry really
understands the importance of this moment or he would not have felt so
bleak and empty as he stood by his parents' graves. And, yet, it's
clear that he has a new respect and affection for Luna that goes
beyond her participation in the MoM battle and her clinging to the DA
because it was "almost like having friends." He can take Luna to
Slughorn's party "as friends" without embarrassment (as long as she's
not wearing her radish earrings and bottlecap necklace) without caring
that the rest of the school views her as odd, and he can genuinely
enjoy her company (and nearly choke on his drink when she talks about
the Rotfang conspiracy). As Ron says, Luna is crazy but in a good way,
and Harry has learned not to judge her by appearances.

I think it would be interesting, though much too time-consuming, to go
through all the Luna scenes in the books and watch Harry's reaction
changing. This scene, though, is the pivotal one, and sufficiently
contrasts with the scene in which Cho (not Romilda) encounters Harry
in the uncool company of Neville and Luna (and Ron's-little-sister
Ginny), all of them covered with Stinksap, to make the point:

"[Cho] closed the door again, rather pink in the face, and departed.
Harry slumped back in his seat and groaned. He would have liked Cho to
discover him sitting with a group of *very cool people* laughing their
heads off at a joke he had just told; he would not have chosen to be
sitting with Neville and *Loony* Lovegood, clutching a toad and
dripping in Stinksap" (187-88). By the same token, when it's time to
"rescue" Sirius Black at the MoM, he would not have chosen Luna or
Neville (or Ginny) to accompany him.

It could not be clearer, at least not to me, that at this point in
Harry's life, the beautiful and popular Cho is "cool" and the nerdy
Neville and Loony Luna are decidedly not.

Harry's gradual discovery that he was wrong about them both is, IMO,
one of the most important, if subtle, lessons on his way to growing
up. And I also think that the reader, at least the sophisticated
reader, is *supposed* to see, as you do, that Harry is wrong about
both Neville and Luna. We're ahead of him, waiting for him to see what
we see.

 Montavilla47:
> I know.  But that only makes me think that Harry was a bit short on
the uptake about Neville's good points prior to HBP. When Harry was so
embarrassed about being seen with Neville, I was frankly a bit
embarrassed for Harry being such a snob--and I choose to believe that
it's excuseable because Harry has a crush on Cho and naturally wants
to impress her. <snip>

Carol responds:
Well, I don't know whether it's excuseable, but the scene certainly
indicates that he has not yet learned to appreciate Neville. In his
case, his bravery in staying with Harry even after his wand and nose
were broken makes the difference. Seeing Neville Crucio'd by Bellatrix
is the turning point at which he actually starts to hand the Prophecy
orb to Lucius Malfoy (cue the cavalry, who arrive just in the nick of
time).

The thing is, we readers understand long before Harry does that
Neville is much "cooler" than Cho. And by the end or OoP, the book in
which we first encounter her, we realize that Luna is "cool," too.

The scene with Romilda occurs *after* Harry realizes, or has started
to realize, their value. Her comment, "You don't have to sit with
*them,*" probably represents the view of the students at large. (Even
Ernie Macmillan in OoP regards Luna as an oddball.) And Neville is
still under the delusion that he's "nobody." 

Most likely, the general perception of Luna never changes, but she's
wholly unbothered by it. And HRH know better, as do the DA members.
Neville, in contrast, has a circle of admirers after he slays the evil
serpent. I don't think, however, that modest, self-effacing Neville
will let his glory go to his head, however genuinely "cool" he has
shown himself to be.

Carol, agreeing that Harry is "slow on the uptake," but that's the
point--he understands their worth eventually and stops judging by
appearances (though with Snape, it takes Nagini and a trip into the
Pensieve for Harry to see the truth)