CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 6: Talons and Tea Leaves

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189547


Sherry:
5. Did you think Trelawney was a true seer or a hoax? Did you expect
any of her predictions to come true, even the simple ones? Do you think any of them did come true later? Just the predictions in this first lesson.

Pippin:
I thought she was a hoax. Now I see  her problem as a lack of confidence. Since she suppresses any predictions that seem to be unlikely, she  predicts only things that could have been predicted by other means. This invites clever skeptics like Hermione and Dumbledore to think that she's faking, but IMO, she's not actually clever enough to do that. 

I did expect her predictions to come true. I have no trouble believing that anyone who sees a Grim will die -- just like everyone who doesn't see one. <veg>

Sherry:
> 9. How did you like Hagrid's first lesson? Do you think he had
> potential to be a good teacher? Would you have enjoyed this first class?

It certainly was an interesting class -- but much more enjoyable to read about than it would have been to experience. 

Hagrid trained the thestrals and did an amazing job with Grawp, so there's no doubt in my mind that he has potential as a teacher. That said, I think I'd have been terrified by this first class. It seems to me that Hagrid's problem isn't lack of skill but a misplaced focus. He's more invested in showing off his beloved creatures (why else bring in six at once!) than in making sure his pupils learn the skills to deal with them. 

Binns, Lockhart and Trelawney  share a similar but more egotistical fault: they're all more interested in showing off what they know (or pretend to know) than in actually teaching. 

Lupin's classes show us how a dangerous situation  could have been avoided. Imagine the chaos if his class had been confronted with six boggarts at once! 

> 
> 11. What are your thoughts on Draco's actions in this lesson? Should
> he have listened more to Hagrid's instructions? Does he have any blame in the fact that he was injured? Should 13-year-olds be taught to interact with dangerous creatures?

Pippin:
There's no doubt Draco was defiant and inattentive. But that's hardly unusual behavior for a thirteen year old. It's Harry's default mode in Potions, but despite that he never gets hurt, IIRC. 

We have to give Snape some credit for that IMO, though I'm sure Harry would have been happier to be ignored rather than have Snape laying into him on every mistake. Of course even that doesn't work with Neville. My guess is that for all the errors Neville makes in following directions,  it's  accidental magic caused by Neville's nervousness   which makes all those cauldrons explode.

Anyway, as Snape's example shows, the time to discipline a student for being inattentive is *before* he has an accident. 

Students in potions, transfiguration, DADA and CoMC are explicitly warned that these are dangerous subjects. That's fully a third of the usual twelve courses, not to mention Quidditch. Witches and wizards, IWO, are expected to cope.  Until the rest of the WW is willing to commit to creating a society where young wizards have no need for such skills until later in life, young wizards will have no choice but to study them.

> 
> 12. Did you agree that Hagrid should be disciplined for this lesson or that Buckbeak should be executed over what happened to Malfoy? Did you guess the significance Buckbeak's execution would play later in the book?

Pippin:
I usually read the books too quickly on my first go to spend much time speculating over what was going to happen. But I don't remember thinking that Hagrid should be disciplined or that Buckbeak should have been executed. Now that I think of it, it's a sort of catch-22 -- if Buckbeak was behaving like a normal hippogriff, then Hagrid should have  anticipated the problem and intervened sooner. That's what Lupin or Snape would have done. 


Sherry:
> 13. And one for fun. Because I laughed a lot in this chapter, did you have a favorite funny line in this chapter?

Pippin:
I love the following exchange:

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, searching for her page. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."
"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly.
"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep," said Hermione coolly.


Pippin, very glad Yahoo!mort seems to have restored HPFGU to its un-madeover state. And thanks, Sherry, for all the questions. I wish I had more to add on the rest of them.