CHAPTER DISCUSSION: COS 14, Cornelius Fudge

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189176

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> 1.	I am pretty sure JKR was going for comic effect with the Mandrakes, but when I was rereading this chapter I found myself strangely disturbed by imagining young wizards and witches cutting the parts of the beings that seem so humanlike in their behavior. What part of the Mandrakes is being used in the potion? Are they going to be really and most sincerely dead before or during the process?

Carol responds:
I agree that JKR was going for comic effect with the Mandrakes, making them act like human teenagers with their parties and their acne (IIRC). Since Mandrakes are associated in my mind with Donne ("get with child a mandrake root"), and since the class is Herbology (not CoMC, which HRH haven't yet attended), I was unbothered by the fate of the Mandrakes. It was all an extended joke on JKR's part (not particularly funny to me--I don't always share her darkish and idiosyncratic sense of humor, but rather clever). After all, this is the WW where even animals--mostly reptiles and amphibians and occasionally insects but even unicorns--can end up as potion ingredients. Plants in the WW do sometimes seem to have a consciousness, usually one unfriendly to humans, for example, the Venomous Tentacula, but they're still just (magical) plants. 
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> 2.	"Travels with Trolls" is one of the items Harry finds on his bed after the villain who stole the diary went through his trunk. What was the reason for Lockhart to assign it as one of the books for class, what did you think he was hoping students will learn from that book?

Carol:
The only thing Lockhart wanted his students to learn was how brave and wonderful he, Lockhart, supposedly was. If they accidentally learned something about Trolls (or Vampires or Banshees) along the way, that was simply his "expertise" on the subject coming through and proof of his genius as a teacher. Actually, though, I don't think he gave that aspect of the reading assignment a second thought. He just wanted them to buy (and preferably read) all his books, providing him with royalties and extending his fame.
 
> 3.	What was your first impression of Cornelius Fudge?

Carol:
Good question! I wish I could remember. We'd been led to believe through Hagrid's depiction of him as dependent on Dumbledore for advice that he was incompetent. I think I thought of him as weak and as a moral coward. Certainly, it wasn't a favorable impression. (The only time I actually liked Fudge was in "The Other Minister" in HBP, where he comes across as sympathetic and well-meaning and not altogether inept or corrupt.)
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> 4.	 I know it will come as no surprise to anybody but I found myself if not sympathizing with Lucius Malfoy (his tone showed to me that he had little if any concerns about the plight of Muggleborns), but at least definitely cheering him on and hoping in vain that somebody in the later books had guts to act decisively and throw Dumbledore out of school for good. Did you think that Board of Governors provided effective checks and balances to Dumbledore's powers?

Carol:
I definitely don't share that sentiment; Lucius Malfoy is one character who's clearly a villain from start to finish (though perhaps a bit less odious when he's lost his power and getting a taste of his own medicine from Voldemort). I'm quite sure that if it hadn't been for Dumbledore and his arrangements with Fawkes and the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry would not have survived his encounter with Diary!Tom. I don't know what to think of the Board of Governors. The mere fact that it included Lucius Malfoy and could be intimidated by him seems to show that it was ineffective. (DD, of course, shows that not even the MoM itself can keep him away from Hogwarts for long, and certainly, they'd be foolish to send him to Azkaban.) Probably, DD himself is the only one who can keep his powers in check--and it's his own fault that he ultimately becomes the victim of Voldemort's curse. He should have listened to Fake Moody: "Constant vigilance!"

> 5.	If you remember your first reaction, did you believe that Hagrid was guilty?

Carol:
Not of opening the Chamber a second time and Petrifying all those students, including Hermione--which meant that he probably wasn't guilty the first time, either. I didn't, of course, suspect Tom Riddle, but it was pretty clear that Hagrid was innocent and Fudge was grasping at straws. I may have sensed that Lucius Malfoy had something to do with it, but I don't think I put two and two together. I only knew that he was taking advantage of the situation to try to bring down DD.
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> 6.	 What did you think about Hermione being a victim? Was it a clue for you that  the monster target Muggleborns? Was Hermione rash in her actions and put herself at risk? Did readers worry how Ron and Harry would manage without her? Why do we think Rowling wanted them to manage without her?

Carol:
We already knew that the monster targeted Muggle-borns. After all, it was Slytherin's monster and he had planned to purge the school of "unworthy" students. Justin Finch-Fletchley feared that Harry (the supposed Heir of Slytherin) would attack him for that reason. All the other victims, including Colin Creevey, were also Muggle-borns (or "the Squib's cat"). Hermione was taking a calculated risk, as shown by her borrowing of Penelope's mirror, but she, being a true Gryffindor, thought that the risk was worth it (and certainly she provides the clue that Harry and Ron need through the crumpled paper in her hand later in the story). I did worry that they couldn't manage without her, and I'm not sure why JKR did it. Possibly, it was to show that Harry and Ron were brave and resourceful even though they weren't as clever as Hermione and to pave the way for Ron's love for Hermione (he seems to be more concerned about her than Harry is). And, of course, we're supposed to believe that Muggle-borns can be highly talented wizards and witches who belong in Hogwarts, so we're supposed to feel all the more strongly that the Heir of Slytherin is wrong and evil (which he is, don't get me wrong). Also, JKR has to get Hermione out of the way, just as he later gets Ron out of the way with the fallen wall, so that Harry can face the monster alone. It would have been extremely unwise and dangerous for her to enter the CoS with the boys given that she's a Muggle-born.
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> 7.	Who did you think stole the diary from Harry? Was Ginny among the suspects?

Carol:
I had no idea--certainly not Ginny. JKR's red herrings fooled me completely and I overlooked the clues, even after she was taken into the CoS.

Carol, thanking Alla for the lively discussion questions