CHAPDISC: DH33, The Prince's Tale

[Sherry]

No: HPFGUIDX 184814

> CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter
> 33, The Prince's Tale
> 
> Note to everyone: Please pardon the length of this summary. The
> chapter is 28 pages long (Scholastic edition).

I found your summary excellent! It would be hard to write a short one
for such a long chapter, so filled with crucial information.
> 
> 2. Voldemort gives the Hogwarts staff one hour to "dispose of [their]
> dead with dignity" and treat the injured while he waits in the
> Forbidden Forest. Assuming that he means what he says, how do you
> think he expects them to "dispose of" the dead?

IF he really does mean it, he probably expects the staff to cremate
the remains of their dead (especially after he robbed Dumbledore's
grave, he may assume that they want to avoid any contemptuous
treatment of those warriors' bodies).
> 
> 4. Harry blurts out "Dumbledore!" and the door to the stairway
> leading to the headmaster's office opens. When and why do you think
> the password changed and who or what changed it?

Sirius Snape, the recent occupant of the office, was the one most
likely to have made the change. He probably made the change soon after
he became headmaster, choosing Dumbledore's name because both he and
Harry (providing for Harry's access to the office in his absence)
associated the room with Dumbledore. On the other hand, the Death
Eaters wouldn't have expected him to apply that password, so the risk
of their access to the office was very slight.
> 
> 7. Since Lily has no way of knowing about prejudice against Muggle-
> borns in the WW, why do you think she's worried that being a Muggle-
> born might "make a difference"? Given Severus's remark that Lily can
> do "loads" of magic, might the two children be talking about magical
> ability rather than prejudice against Muggle-borns? If not, why would
> he make that remark in that context?

Your suggestion that they were talking about magical ability is very
wise! Lily would likely have worried that as a Muggle-born with no
prior experience around magic, she would struggle more than a pupil
born and raised in a Wizarding family.
> 
> 10. Why does Petunia call Lily a "freak" (the same word that she uses
> in SS/PS some twenty years later)? What justification, if any, do you
> see for her view that sending "weirdos" like Lily and Severus to
> Hogwarts will protect the "normal people"? Do you see any connection
> with the Statute of Secrecy?

She is trying to make excuses for the fact that she is not going to
Hogwarts. This is revealing of the world view that she was already
developing--she assumed that one person had to be "better" and the
other "worse;" they could not simply be different.
> 
> 11. How in the world did the Muggle Evanses get through the barrier
> onto Platform 9 3/4 (or is this scene a Flint)?

Someone in the Magical world worked a spell that let them follow Lily
through the gate so they could see that their little girl was all
right. They would hardly be the first parents to worry about their
child going to school alone for the first time.
> 
> 14 What's the significance, if any, of Lucius Malfoy's patting
> Severus's back? Why include that detail?

Lucius' gesture illustrates that Severus finds not only acceptance,
but welcome in the Slytherin House that he has found nowhere else;
this insight helps readers to understand why Severus places so much
importance on Slytherin, even when that loyalty interferes with his
feelings for Lily.
> 
> 20. Why did JKR choose these particular memories for this chapter?
> Why did *Snape* choose them?

She chose these elements because they illustrate the main steps in the
route Snape took from his dedication to self-advancement and
Voldemort, to his turning against Voldemort and secretly fighting for
Harry. Snape chose them because these pivotal moments in his progress,
and nothing less, could persuade Harry that he was truly out to help
Harry defeat Voldemort. Severus himself, with his apparent emotional
blind spots, may not have realized how much insight his memories also
cast on his internal feelings.

Sherry (Amontillada)