Chapter One: The Other Minister

[sillydawn]

Chapter One:The Other Minister
In this chapter, the muggle Prime Minister remembers his encounters with Cornelius Fudge, and a summary of past books is briefly given. Fudge visits him again, explaining the most recent events and saying there is now a war as Voldemort and his followers terrorize Muggles, killing many, including Amelia Bones and

Comments

[isabela113]

1. I thought this scene was one of the most fascinating in the book. Since Sirius' escape made it on the Muggle new in POA, I've wondered how exactly the two governments interact. In a lot of ways I think it is there to tell us just that. More or less pure exposition.

2. On this point, I have to say that the most interesting thing was that I read this book in London, after the July 7 bombing and the July 21 attempted bombing. JK Rowling has, remarkably, captured the mood of fear and suspicion that pervades London now. (By chance there was also a small but destructive tornado in, I believe, Birmingham which was a bit wierd.) What was striking to me was just how relevant the book is.

3. What is happening, I think, is the systematic destruction of the Order and its allies, much like Moody describes in OotP. I bet we'll see a lot more people we know targeted and picked off in Book 7.

4. There's probably a lot of "leave well enough alone" in the interaction between the Muggle and Wizard governments. What does the PM know about cauldron bottom legislation and the like?

5. Agreed. Very, very creepy.

6. I assumed that "if he can't be killed" referred back to 1981. As in, the Killing Curse didn't work on him then, so he can't be killed.

9. I am not wild about Scrimgeour. It isn't that I think he is evil, but he is a politician in the worst sense of the word. Despite having great credentials for fighting a dark wizard, he seems far more concerned with image than with action.
At the risk of wandering off into touchy territory, I am going to say that, despite JK's claims that she is not being political one could claim that there are similarities between Scrimgeour and perceptions of George W. The detention of Stan Shunpike can certainly be read as a comment of Guantanamo and other instances of detention without trial.

[rainpuddle13]

3. This is once again echoes the events that lead up to WWII. I've always thought the events of HP and the events of WWII paralleled with incredible accuracy. It really comes home to roost in this book because of the aggressive attacks, not at the heart of the Order, but all around it and the neighboring Muggle world. It has a two fold effect - a show of power that puts the Order on defense and a distraction because the Order has no idea when or where the next attack will occur. All of it is a smoke screen for what is truly going on - we know it's something big, but we have no clue what it is.

[isabela113]

I hadn't thought of it in the context of World War II, but you're very right. At least we know that we will find out the truth behind it all in the next book. :-)