Hexing in the WW was :Re: Which Harry Potter character

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 185995

Potioncat:
I'm replying to several posts, but I'm using this one as base because 
Alla had the good sense to change the subject line.  ;-)


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/185986
>
> > > Magpie before:
> > > Only if by "standing up to bullies" you mean insulting or 
hexing 
> > people 
> > > who have said something you don't like. 
> > 
> > Potioncat then:
> > Ginny and Hermione are real witches aren't they? Hexing, cursing, 
and 
> > retaliating against anyone who crosses them. I'm not sure how 
much of 
> > their character is "standard drama" of teenaged girls-with-a-wand 
and 
> > how much is standard folklore-based witch.
> 
> Ceridwen:
> 
> This is shifting the discussion.  This particular quotation is about
> standing up to bullies.  Hexing, cursing and retaliating against
> someone who crosses them is not all "standing up to bullies."  

Potioncat:
Magpie was making the point, I think, that Ginny was not standing up 
to bullies--pretty much the same point Ceridwin is making.

Yes, I was shifting the discussion a bit. From the subject line, it's 
not the first time. ;-)

I'm neither defending their behavior, nor complaining about their 
behavior. I think it's in keeping with our folklore of what witches 
do. In our fairy tales, and in our (US) court documents, witches are 
reported to hex people and their crops and animals just out of spite 
or jealousy. I think JKR was pulling from that literary background.



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/185987
> Kemper now:
> Hey Potioncat, I'm unclear as to your meaning.  Are you saying that
> it's culturally accepted in the WW to hex people who annoy you? 
> 
Potioncat:
No, I'm saying in the folklore that JKR drew upon, it was the 
standard. On the one hand, JKR took ordinary kids and put them in a 
magical world. But she also slipped in some very witch-like moments 
from our culture. 

In one of the books Arthur says that someone at work was attempting 
to hex him. I don't remember which book, and I couldn't tell if the 
wizard was mad at Arthur or just fooling around. 

So while much of the time the characters appear very much like us in 
the RW, other times we get the witches and wizards that we were more 
familiar with from literature.




>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/185988

> Alla:
> 
> Not Potioncat, not going answer for her, but really want to change 
the 
> name of the thread now so I will say that absolutely it is much 
more 
> culturally accepted in WW to decide the argument with the wand than 
in 
> the Muggle world. Muggles do not have wands, while wands are pretty 
„« much extension of who the wizards are, yes?

Potioncat:
Agreed. I think wizards and witches are quicker to use wands than say-
--we (real we) would use knives or guns or fists---or even our words.

The scene that comes to my mind is Severus and Sirius at 12 GP, wands 
out and poor Harry trying to separate them.




http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/185990

Pippin:
> Ginny's certainly guilty of acting like an immature schoolgirl. But
> that's what she *is*. 

Potioncat:
Yes! That's what I mean. Give a bunch of hormonal teenage-girls wands 
and this is what you'll get back. I've seen some intense teenager 
drama in RL. Not a pretty sight! I wouldn't want to add magic to the 
mix.


Wow! I never get this sort of reaction to a post! As soon as I figure 
out what I did, I'm going to do it again!