Symbolism of Invisibility Cloak WAS: Re: a whole lot of parts

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185304

Alla wrote:
> 
> But see, this is part of what confuses me about the symbolism of the 
> Cloak and it is supposed attractiveness. **Is it** the moral of the 
> cloak indeed? I mean, it is what you said, Rowling admires courage, 
> so I am not sure that she would have wanted to set up the most 
> admired brother of the tale as coward, if it makes sense.
> 
> Maybe she wanted to say after all that the reckless courage is a bad 
> thing, or that courage to meet death, but only when your time comes 
> is the highest courage of all?

Carol responds:

I'm not entirely sure about the moral of the cloak, either, but I
think we can talk fairly confidently about its appeal or
attractiveness. We see James and his friends using it to sneak around
Hogwarts, not merely to sneak food from the kitchen as DD thinks (the
Twins manage that feat without a cloak) but to perform mischief,
particularly running with a werewolf on full moon nights. Harry also
uses it for rule breaking (though usually with better intentions) and
occasionally for spying (listening in on Snape's conversation with
Draco). HRH hide under it when they enter Hogsmeade in DH, trying to
escape the detection of DEs. DD has no use for it except as a
Hallow--he can make himself invisible in other ways, presumably an
extra-strong Disillusionment Charm. (LV, he claims, would have no
interest in it for the same reason.)

Invisibility Cloaks, admittedly not this particular one, are also used
by the Order to hide the Order member guarding the entrance to the DoM
and by Barty Crouch, Jr., to murder his father.

What, if anything, do all of these examples have in common? Only that
the wearer is trying to escape detection. Both wrong-doers and those
hiding from wrong-doers find it useful. In the WW at large, both Dark
Wizards and Aurors would find an IC useful, as would spies. Parents
could use it to keep an eye on their children, children to spy on
their brothers and sisters (or friends or enemies). Kids at school
could use it to conceal mischief or rule-breaking, as both MWPP and
HRH did. I'm sure that the IC has other uses that I'm not considering.

I see no specific connection with courage or any restriction of its
appeals to Gryffindors. (Barty Jr. was a Slytherin; Tonks, who appears
to have used one on guard duty in OoP and possibly HBP despite her
Metamorphmagus abilities, was a Hufflepuff; Rowena Ravenclaw, whether
she used one or not, would certainly have found an IC useful when she
stole her mother's diadem. Since she's the Ghost of Ravenclaw, she
must have been in that House.)

So, was Ignotus the best of the three brothers or just obsessed with
hiding and getting away with things (specifically Death in the Tale of
the Three Brothers--probably the "real" Ignotus, Harry's ancestor, had
a good long life, but I very much doubt that he spent it under the
IC). He seems a suitable ancestor for James Potter, in any case. And
maybe Tom Riddle's obsession with immortality, his fear of death, is
another form of the obsession with death that caused *his* ancestor,
Cadmus (IIRC), to create the Resurrection Stone. (It's unlikely that
Antioch, the brother who created the Elder Wand had any descendants,
thanks to his murderer, the person who started the wand's bloody history.)

Sorry if I've wandered from the topic, Alla! I was following my own
wandering thoughts

Carol, who thinks that Cadmus should have been the brother who sowed
discord (as Ignotus is the "unknown" or hidden brother) and still
puzzling over the symbolic significance of Antioch