The theme, was Re: Ginny hexes / kinds of bigotry /etc

[nrenka]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> 
wrote:

> Pippin:
>
> We hear only a passing reference to SPEW in Book Six, so I don't
> see how it's less emphasized than werewolf oppression, which
> Lupin gives as the reason Grayback is able to recruit support,
> and that Lupin has to keep his association with wizards secret.

Yes, but it hasn't been nearly as strong a theme throughout the 
books.  We get the setup for the house-elf situation with Dobby in 
CoS, we get more revelations about the system in GoF with Hermione's 
opening crusade, we have Kreacher at the middle of a plot, we have 
Dumbledore making explicit references to the destruction of a false 
representation of wizardly comradery with house-elves, and we have 
the house-elves as significant players in the plot several times.

I don't see that much evidence pointing to werewolf oppression, which 
shows up first in PoA and does raise its head at least a little many 
times that Lupin is mentioned.  But his page time from PoA on has 
been pretty minimal.  I know it's supposed to be the grand motivating 
issue for Lupin's extreme eeeevil, and if that happens (if) maybe it 
will make more sense in retrospect.  Not betting on it.

> Pippin:
> Voldemort's magic had "run away with him" to use Dumbledore's
> phrase, before he even found out what it was. He was already
> using it to oppress and terrorize others. He was already convinced
> that he was special and different. He doesn't seem to care about
> what his heritage was, only what power he could obtain by using it.
> If he'd discovered that both his parents were Muggle, do you think 
> he'd have dropped out of Hogwarts and decided to recruit an
> army of Muggles instead?

No, because you can't do what he does with Muggles.  But I'm still 
thinking of his reaction to his heritage, finding out it was *Mummy* 
who was magical and the like.  I don't think we can just go "Oh, he 
wanted power and he'd look for it any which way"; I think his 
knowledge of and conception of his heritage has shaped his specific 
actions, and in a way which speaks to some degree of True Belief, not 
just expediency.  Hence picking Harry as the threat, the 'boy like 
him'--that only obtains if he does believe in those criteria, after 
all.

-Nora fends off the attention-seeking dog running around the house