A bit on DD

[Talisman]

 --- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
> > The Mirror/Socks scene is in PS/SS - seems facile, a joke answer
to a possibly impertinent question.
> But one book later socks are very important indeed.
> They represent freedom from labour, escape from onerous and
unpleasant duty.,snip> Alby-baby has to earn his socks.
> The question may have been impertinent, but the answer may have
been accurate, in a metaphorical sort of way.
> Surely somebody has posited this before? What was the outcome?


Talisman pops her monocle and three corset stays: Could it be? A
soft and furry Kneasy? I don't know what to do with it! Peace,
love, and the triumph of good? And you're looking for people to aid
and abet with this heresy?

Er, well there was a sort of misdemeanor about socks representing
Freedom and World Peace, perpetrated by one MsBeadsley, I believe.
Circa `03? As I recall it was Assumed bodily into one VanderArkian
Heaven or another, though I couldn't say just where. Didn't find it
in his essay section, nor in Fantastic Posts, for that matter.
Perhaps there was a subsequent fall from grace.

I did manage to find a Main List thread on Dumbledore, The Giant
House Elf, though. For your pleasure at 7650 et seq.

For my money the socks-as-freedom metaphor doesn't hold constant
enough to start applying it like calamine. By Book Three we see
that nasty Vernon-soiled yellow pair Harry's been using to stifle a
sneak-o-scope--a sneak-o-scope that's actually got something
important to say. (PoA 76)

These second-hand jaundiced ensemble-wreckers were foisted off on
Harry as one of the Dursley's crappy Christmas gifts. (Harry: "I'll
never wear those socks if I can help it...(PoA 226)) They appear
again in OoP when Harry disingenuously re-gifts them to the already
free Dobby, in what strikes me as a scene which does nothing so much
as belie the largess and thoughtfulness Dobby seems to credit the
boy wonder. (OoP 408)

"Actually old boy, you're not on my gift list. But, here--take
these--I don't want them anyway." Socks as inconsiderate pseudo-
generosity?

Then there's that snappy little skirt set that liberates Winky.
(GoF 376-77) `Course you could get around that by considering
skirt sets metaphors for *unwanted* freedom. Or as Janice has
it, "freedom [that's just] another word for nothing left to lose."
Oh, well. At least there's a matching hat.

Hats? Well, naturally hand-knit hats will stand henceforth for
officious intermeddling. (OoP 255)

And just what is that yellow circus tent Hagrid's been running up?
(SS/PS 65) Perhaps a poncho for a giant house elf.

Oh, but there's definitely a load to figure out about Dumbledore.
As I've said in ancient posts, I do think the series participates in
the Romantic genre, i.e. it is displaced myth. Dumbledore is a
displaced god. Ergo, he has all the prerogatives that come with
godhood, including offing people when it's satisfying or expedient.
And, no he doesn't let anyone else in on the big picture. Strictly
need to know.

I owe you a response from Best of Enemies. Now this Dumbledore
saga. Unfortunately I got caught up in a response to a Main List
thread, which I'm not quite ready to post. It's all about
Dumbledore, though.

Somehow I've committed myself to hosting a group outing to a
primitive cabin in the frozen forest this weekend. And, I'm up for
bedside duty at a hospital tomorrow. This is what happens when you
break your hermetic vows, you end up being everybody's cupcake. Is
there no accountant who can save me?

With sleep deprivation there is a slim chance I'll get the main list
post out before I go hiking into the Ice Age. But I promise you
some thoughts--on Dumbledore AND his baddies--are coming via TOC,
soon.

I know, you've heard it all before. <g>

Talisman, paving the road to Hell, where it's rumored to be good and
toasty.