Narcissa / Divorce / Kill Or Not? / Returning With Slytherins?/ Myers-Briggs

[kempermentor]

No: HPFGUIDX 185622


> > Kemper earlier:
> > Phineas refers to Hermione as 'The Mudblood' in The Prince's Tale
> > Snape cuts him off and commands, "Do not use that word!"  
 
> > Carol responded:
> > Maybe Phineas Nigellus is just the product of his own generation
and upbringing. He reminds me of people in the South who routinely
used the "N" word, refined to "Nigra" by about the 1950s, because it
was the word they had been taught.

> Magpie countered:
> I've heard that argument more than once for Phineas, but there's no 
> indication that "Mudblood" was ever anything but a slur, or that it 
> used to be more common than it is now in the WW, which is not a 
> metaphor for any one place.
> ... The fact that he 
> also says "filthy Half-blood" seems to imply he still associates 
> Muggle-tainted blood as dirty, even if he doesn't care to argue
about it with Snape. 

Kemper now:
I agree with Magpie.
But even if 'Mudblood' was a label used in yesteryear, it's an
apologist argument for the present.   Phineas knows it's an epithet.
Why not call Mung a 'filthy theif' or 'a pile of dung'?  It would be
an understandable attack on Mungs character.  But Phineas' use of
'Filthy Half-Blood' is meant to disparage Mung's humanity. 

Phineas' portrait has been in the presence of Dumbledore for some
years so I have no doubt that he is aware of the offense of the term
(and similar ilk) in today's WW.

I agree that even though Phineas is a bigot, there are other
interesting characteristics to him which makes him interesting and
somewhat complex... which I don't find The Fat Lady to be.

Kemper