On Letters (was Re: Hmmm. What's your favourite *now*?)

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 183059

Montavilla47:
> > But, looking over that chapter, something comes to quickly
> > to mind.  Dudley was as curious as Harry was, and he's 
> > a lot more effective than Harry at getting his parents to do
> > stuff.  I know Harry and Dudley don't like each other, but they
> > have a common goal.  Working together they probably
> > could have come up with a good plan.
> 
> Geoff:
> I think their realtaionship was beyond "don't like". I think the
> only reason he expressed an interest was because Harry, who 
> usually was the "Oliver Twist" of the family was actually getting 
> something which wasn't a cast-off from him.

Montavilla47:
I don't know about that, Geoff.  Dudley and Harry are talking to
each other, which shows that they can carry on a civil 
conversation.  And they both get thrown out of the kitchen when
the first letters arrive, a common outrage that could have built
into cooperation towards a common goal.

Montavilla47 (before):
> > May I remind everyone that Harry turns out to the most talented 
> > seeker in one hundred years at Hogwarts?  This scene is like that 
> > key room, except Harry doesn't have to snatch one special key--
> > any of them would do.
> 
> Geoff: Yes, but there is a subtle difference between jumping up into 
> the air off the floor and trying to grab a letter while being assailed by 
> Vernon and having the flexibility of being on a broom.

Montavilla47:
Quite honestly, jumping into the air and trying to grab one of dozens 
of letters (although why he needs to jump I don't know) seems far 
easier than trying to find and snatch a 2-inch ball in an area the
size of a football field, while flying on a broom and having large
balls hurtling toward your head.

My point was that Harry already possessed two seeker attributes,
speed and fast reflexes, that would later make him a natural 
seeker.  Vernon is older and slower.  And Vernon cannot snatch and
assault at the same time, something Harry could use to his 
advantage.

BUT ALL THIS IS NIT-PICKING!

It's only after reading the books that anyone would really call into
question why Harry can't get the letters--except, as Sister Magpie
notes, JKR is stalling the story.  We already know this kid is magical,
the letters are obviously magical, and we have to spend a chapter
waiting for Harry to figure out what we already know.

I remember thinking that, when I finally did read the first book, that
it would have been better to start the story with the second chapter.

Now, I feel differently, because the first chapter offers that 
tantalizing prospect of ESE!Minerva.  I really loved reading it
with the idea that it was setting the mother of all plot twists.
Even without that, it's fun to go back later and see JKR introducing
the Deliminator, Sirius Black, and other things that come up 
later.

But Magpie's right.  It makes it harder to read the letters section
because we're ahead of Harry the whole time.  

I have this friend who teaches writing and does a lot of reading
for editors and producers (to minnow out promising books or 
screenplays).  He says that first-time writers invariable start their
stories on page 42 of their manuscripts.  So, he usually tells 
them to cut the first 41 pages--and, when they take that
advice, it often makes their stories much more compelling.


> Montavilla47:
> > I agree that the Pevensies are in a better position than Harry.  But Lyra
> > isn't (unless you want to count Pan as her helper).  Sara (the Little 
> > Princess) is quite alone in the world, but she manages to do most of 
> > what she wants through sheer force of personality.  And Dido Twite 
> > was foiling anti-monarchist bombing plots and sailing around the 
> > world as an undersized ten-year-old.
> 
> Geoff: 
> Sadly, I must reveal my literary ignorance.
> :-)

Montavill47:
Well, you know who the Pevensies are, at any rate.  Lyra is from 
the His Dark Materials series (from which The Golden Compass was
made).  When we first see her, she's sneaking to the forbidden
Master's study at Oxford and, within a chapter or two, will foil a 
poisoning attempt. "Pan" is her daemon, a manifestation of her
soul in animal form.  But he is very limited in what he can.  He
cannot, as I recall, move or pick up things, although he can read
and spy in places Lyra can't go.

Sara is from The Little Princess.  When her father dies overseas, she
goes from being the darling of her boarding school to the lowest 
servant.  She survives by deciding to pretend that she is a princess in
disguise.  Eventually she is helped by a kindly neighbor, but she 
spends months surviving abuse, truly hard work, and starvation by
sheer stubbornness.  (Nothing Harry does ever cuts like Sara's 
hardest moral decision.)

Dido Twite first appears in the second book in Joan Aiken's
spawling "Wolves of Willoughby Chase" saga.  The neglected
younger daughter of Simon's landlady in London, she's a total
brat and starts clinging to Simon like a barnacle because he's 
the only person who pays her any attention at all.  

Dido wouldn't hesitate a second before stealing any letter.  And 
if someone tore it up, she'd pick up the pieces and stick them 
back together again.  If Vernon came swinging at her, she'd swing 
right back, and she'd keep swinging until he was the one crying
"Uncle."

I wonder if there's something about gender differences in 
children's books that's coming into play.  All three of those 
aggressive characters are girls.  Is it more acceptable for a 
heroine to be physically aggressive, sneaky, and amoral than 
a male hero?

It's true that Harry, James, and Charlie are more passive than
Lyra, Sara, or Dido (although Dido starts out as a supporting 
character, rather than a heroine like Lyra or Sara).  Simon (who
also starts out as a supporting character) is more active than
the three boys above, but his actions are directed at making
a living, not at making trouble or sneaking around stealing
letters.

Or are heroines more suspicious and sneaky because, 
being politically powerless (until the last century or so),
female characters *had* to eavesdrop and figure things out 
on incomplete information?

Montavilla47
Going on a complete tangent since 2005....