CHAPDISC: DH20, Xenophilius Lovegood

[Jerri/Dan Chase]

No: HPFGUIDX 182905

Thanks, houyhnhnm for a great summary and questions.

>Xenophilius raises his eyebrows.
>"Are you referring to the sign of the Deathly Hallows?"

And, finally the first time reader of DH starts to understand what the
title is all about!  I think it is significant that JKR chose to end
this chapter here, and give the reader a chance to pause and think
about the term before rushing on to the next chapter and learning
more, but also being plunged into action.

>Chapter 20 Questions
>
>1.  Is Hermione's intransigence toward Ron justifiable?
>Why is she so unforgiving?

Hermione's tendency to hold grudges is the major part of her
personality that I dislike.  I suppose in part JKR put in in to
contrast with Harry's tendency to be forgiving.

>2.  We finally get an explanation for the sudden appearance of
>DEs in Tottenham Court Road-the Taboo.  Was it satisfying?
>Did it feel contrived that H and H continued to use the euphemism
>after Ron's defection (saving themselves from the DEs even if they
>didn't know about the Taboo).
>Could there have been a Taboo on the name in VWI?

While I find it a reasonable explanation of the Tottenham Court Road 
issue, I have a problem with the "Taboo" as a whole.  Going back to 
the first book, when DD says, in part:  " . . . - for eleven years I 
have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: 
Voldemort." and later he says "fear of the name increases the fear of 
the thing itself" or something like that (lines given to Hermione in 
the medium not to be named).  If there was a Taboo on the name in VWI, 
then it was rational and proper not to use the name.  Even if there 
wasn't a "Taboo" on the name in VWI, if a "Taboo" on a name is 
possible, then there is still a rational reason to avoid saying names 
which one thinks appropriate for a Taboo in the future.  (And if Lord 
V. wanted to find and terrorize people who might be against him, why 
not put Taboo's on other names, like Dumbledore or Harry Potter?)

>4.  Does Harry's emphatic rejection of youth as an excuse for
>behavior hark back to a lingering dissatisfaction with Sirius and
>Lupin's excuse for his father?

I do like Harry's tendency to think that youth alone isn't an excuse 
bad behavior.  He doesn't seem to expect other's to excuse him for his 
mistakes because of his youth.

>5.  Harry tries out his new wand on spiders.  Why spiders again?

I think JKR thinks spiders are suitably witch/wizard creepy creatures.

>7.  Why does Ron not know where to find the Lovegoods' house
>when he has grown up in the same neighborhood?

JKR doesn't seem to have the Weasley's know much about their 
neighbors.  After all, Mr. Diggory doesn't seem to know Arthur's kids 
either, and they also in the same neighborhood, at least within 
walking distance.

>9.  Xenophilia, literally love of the stranger, is the Greek word for
>hospitality.  Was Xenophilius Lovegood's markedly inhospitable
>behavior intentionally ironic?  Is he a lover of strangers or merely
>a lover of the strange?

Well, I think he is primarily a lover of the strange, and especially 
of his daughter, Luna.

>10. The Lovegoods are the only Ravenclaw family into whose
>home we are admitted.  Do they typify Ravenclaw?

I feel pretty sure not.

>11. What did you think of the non-appearance of Luna?

At first it seemed OK, but as the chapter progressed I did start to 
wonder.

>12. Any question you want to add.

I have one, but decided that I had better hold it until chapter 21.

Jerri