Rereading OotP, part 1
With a pencil and notebook at hand, because I'm just that geeky.
How much do I love JK Rowling? The books are indeed getting darker, power structures are destabilizing and shifting, authority figures and support system figures are disagreeing among themselves and no one is obviously right or wrong, black and white is turning into a mess of grey and it's just a joy to behold.
Okay, I do have one fairly serious grudge against this book. All those lovely couple-y hints and moments, all that great background stuff, and then at the end one half of my OTP is dead as a magic doornail. Hmf.
Other than that little glitch, though, I'm happy. Did I mention the great background stuff? The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black - dude. Sirius must've been a complete mess, psychologically speaking, way before Azkaban. I wonder how dear old Mum took the sorted-into--Gryffindor thing? cause one does get the impression that she would have preferred Slytherin for her darling boy. - Whoa. That might explain why Sirius got so into Snape-baiting, and maybe even be one of the forces behind supporting Remus the werewolf. Mum would hate that. Pick on the Slytherins, hang out with the non-humans. Go, teen rebel, go. Not saying that Sirius didn't genuinely like Remus (see note re OTP above), but, you know.
Love the Sorting Hat. Above all, I love Helga Hufflepuff, who has now emerged as my favorite Founder, whereas I have come to have very little love for the other three. My impression of the sorting from the previous books has been that the Hat places kids into houses depending on which of the character traits that the founder of the house valued is the strongest in the kid - ambition for Slytherin, courage for Gryffindor, intellectual interests for Ravenclaw, and loyalty and perseverance for Hufflepuff. Obviously that wouldn't mean that the kid in question couldn't possess the other traits, too - just look at Cedric, who had the abilities to be accepted by the goblet and the ambition to put his name into it in the first place, and I think the courage part is pretty obvious, too. Everyone would presumably possess one of these traits more strongly than the other three, heigh-ho, on with the sorting.
But OotP sheds a whole new light on the sorting. Now the Hat says that Salazar only wanted to teach the ambitious pureblood ones, Rowena only wanted to teach the smart ones, Godric only wanted to teach the brave ones, and Helga wanted to teach everyone, and her house apparently takes in those who aren't brave enough for Gryffindor, ambitious and/or pureblood enough for Slytherin, intellectual enough for Ravenclaw, etc. Which kind of makes Godric and Rowena come off as elitist slimeheads, too, not just Salazar, but go, Helga. I was halfway expecting some kind of house conflict based on the fact that the Hufflepuffs had essentially been told on the first day of school that they were the sorting "leftovers," as it were, though. And it makes you wonder how foolproof the system is or if the Hat is thinking through the implications of what it's saying, see case for Cedric, above. If he wasn't brave enough, ambitious enough, smart enough, etc, what exactly are the criteria and how are they applied? (If I went to Hogwarts, I swear I'd try to bribe the Hat into placing me in Hufflepuff.) Also makes you wonder - okay, makes me wonder - if there's some kind of selection principle in operation at the other schools. And hey, if Slytherin only wants purebloods, how come Harry nearly ended up sorted into Slytherin, what with his mother being Muggle-born and all? Does the pureblood nonsense only count one generation back, or what?
And the whole thing about how the houses should stand united, that's extremely interesting, especially in the light of what happens later on in the book. Salazar got peeved and took his toys and left. Slytherin isn't integrated into the DA. Divided we fall, people.
How did James get to be Head Boy if he wasn't a prefect? - Okay, Sirius doesn't actually say that James wasn't a prefect, he just implies it. But prefects are usually a boy and a girl, and we know Remus was a prefect, so unless James had an unexpected gender change, something's still wonky.
I like Luna. I also like her unseen father, mainly because I picture him as the Fox Mulder of the wizarding world. And Neville, with his pulsating, spurting phallic symbol cactus! Ooh, my boy's all grown up now... Umbridge is my favorite HP villain, with her pink cardigans and cutesy way of speaking and habit of punishing students in detention with torture devices while frolicking kittens look on.
Ron had a prophetic dream! He dreamed about Quidditch, and then he made the team. Though I imagine it wsn't the first time he'd dreamed about Quidditch.
Rereading and taking notes really is a lot slower than just reading like a maniac to find out what's going to happen. More later, I expect. :)
How much do I love JK Rowling? The books are indeed getting darker, power structures are destabilizing and shifting, authority figures and support system figures are disagreeing among themselves and no one is obviously right or wrong, black and white is turning into a mess of grey and it's just a joy to behold.
Okay, I do have one fairly serious grudge against this book. All those lovely couple-y hints and moments, all that great background stuff, and then at the end one half of my OTP is dead as a magic doornail. Hmf.
Other than that little glitch, though, I'm happy. Did I mention the great background stuff? The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black - dude. Sirius must've been a complete mess, psychologically speaking, way before Azkaban. I wonder how dear old Mum took the sorted-into--Gryffindor thing? cause one does get the impression that she would have preferred Slytherin for her darling boy. - Whoa. That might explain why Sirius got so into Snape-baiting, and maybe even be one of the forces behind supporting Remus the werewolf. Mum would hate that. Pick on the Slytherins, hang out with the non-humans. Go, teen rebel, go. Not saying that Sirius didn't genuinely like Remus (see note re OTP above), but, you know.
Love the Sorting Hat. Above all, I love Helga Hufflepuff, who has now emerged as my favorite Founder, whereas I have come to have very little love for the other three. My impression of the sorting from the previous books has been that the Hat places kids into houses depending on which of the character traits that the founder of the house valued is the strongest in the kid - ambition for Slytherin, courage for Gryffindor, intellectual interests for Ravenclaw, and loyalty and perseverance for Hufflepuff. Obviously that wouldn't mean that the kid in question couldn't possess the other traits, too - just look at Cedric, who had the abilities to be accepted by the goblet and the ambition to put his name into it in the first place, and I think the courage part is pretty obvious, too. Everyone would presumably possess one of these traits more strongly than the other three, heigh-ho, on with the sorting.
But OotP sheds a whole new light on the sorting. Now the Hat says that Salazar only wanted to teach the ambitious pureblood ones, Rowena only wanted to teach the smart ones, Godric only wanted to teach the brave ones, and Helga wanted to teach everyone, and her house apparently takes in those who aren't brave enough for Gryffindor, ambitious and/or pureblood enough for Slytherin, intellectual enough for Ravenclaw, etc. Which kind of makes Godric and Rowena come off as elitist slimeheads, too, not just Salazar, but go, Helga. I was halfway expecting some kind of house conflict based on the fact that the Hufflepuffs had essentially been told on the first day of school that they were the sorting "leftovers," as it were, though. And it makes you wonder how foolproof the system is or if the Hat is thinking through the implications of what it's saying, see case for Cedric, above. If he wasn't brave enough, ambitious enough, smart enough, etc, what exactly are the criteria and how are they applied? (If I went to Hogwarts, I swear I'd try to bribe the Hat into placing me in Hufflepuff.) Also makes you wonder - okay, makes me wonder - if there's some kind of selection principle in operation at the other schools. And hey, if Slytherin only wants purebloods, how come Harry nearly ended up sorted into Slytherin, what with his mother being Muggle-born and all? Does the pureblood nonsense only count one generation back, or what?
And the whole thing about how the houses should stand united, that's extremely interesting, especially in the light of what happens later on in the book. Salazar got peeved and took his toys and left. Slytherin isn't integrated into the DA. Divided we fall, people.
How did James get to be Head Boy if he wasn't a prefect? - Okay, Sirius doesn't actually say that James wasn't a prefect, he just implies it. But prefects are usually a boy and a girl, and we know Remus was a prefect, so unless James had an unexpected gender change, something's still wonky.
I like Luna. I also like her unseen father, mainly because I picture him as the Fox Mulder of the wizarding world. And Neville, with his pulsating, spurting phallic symbol cactus! Ooh, my boy's all grown up now... Umbridge is my favorite HP villain, with her pink cardigans and cutesy way of speaking and habit of punishing students in detention with torture devices while frolicking kittens look on.
Ron had a prophetic dream! He dreamed about Quidditch, and then he made the team. Though I imagine it wsn't the first time he'd dreamed about Quidditch.
Rereading and taking notes really is a lot slower than just reading like a maniac to find out what's going to happen. More later, I expect. :)