And vice versa, I presume. This chapter very much establishes Harry and Sirius as similiar in their feelings - they loathe being 'ignored' and feeling useless, they desire special treatment and attention and they're both reckless and laugh at danger.
I so love Mira's sum up of this. But it's true--talk about mixed messages. I think Sirius is serious when he says he'd welcome a Dementor attack, and he dies in a similar way, so it's hard to then feel like it was a big tragedy. He died doing what he loved best, fighting without thinking. Love the fact that Harry expected a better welcome. I wish Snape was there to hear that. He stopped expecting any appreciation years ago. (I'll note here that kind of attitude is *exactly* the type of thing always ascribed to Malfoy as proof of how worthless he is, that he expects people to fall at his feet when he enters a room.) The degrading of complaints was very good, though--I believed it. Though I doubt it would have worked coming from anyone not truly sullen.
Love the fact that Harry expected a better welcome. I wish Snape was there to hear that. He stopped expecting any appreciation years ago.
I imagine Snape would exhibit absolutely no surprise!
I'll note here that kind of attitude is *exactly* the type of thing always ascribed to Malfoy as proof of how worthless he is, that he expects people to fall at his feet when he enters a room.
But then of course, arrogance is justified when you have something to back it up. Presumably if Malfoy was as fantastic as he thinks, all his behaviour would be okay! And of course, Malfoy wanting respect (ie not having his name mocked, for example) is completely different to Ron and Harry wanting respect (ie not having their parents mocked, for example.) Because he doesn't deserve respect. Or something. Like the whole 'It's wrong to be arrogantly prejudiced against Mudbloods because Hermione is really smart' message, when in fact, even if Hermione was a hopeless idiot, it still wouldn't mean hating her for her parents would be right.
Hahahahahaha, I can't wait personally! I'm hoping someone will design me a layout with the whole thing emblazoned over it, maybe a Hagrid mood theme and icon set? It was so tight and gripping, after all, and set the scene for Grawp, who was endlessly fascinating! (Actually, Stellamaru wrote eerily canonical Hagrid/Grawp...)
Oh, the first mention of the Fascinating Weapon That Wasn't. Yay!
And...err...do we ever find out why Sirius calls it a weapon when it's really a prophesy? Is he trying for misdirection?
Also, Harry's never really warmed to Molly or even Arthur despite being desperate for parent figures. Interesting. Could be subconsciously sensing how little some of the Weasleys (Ron and Percy as prime examples) would welcome that, on top of his already sturdy position in the family.
Or to put it more bluntly: they're really not good enough. I mean, Molly can be sort of stupid and Arthur is nowhere near as sexy as James. That's hardly worth putting up with their telling him what to do. I mean, his parents were James and Lily--beautiful, young, cool--they were teh best. If you've been fantasizing about parents your whole life, why settle for people so ordinary and sometimes frankly embarassing? Heh--by the end of the book even Harry's own father can't live up to himself! He's got basically no experience whatsoever with flawed
Or to put it more bluntly: they're really not good enough. I mean, Molly can be sort of stupid and Arthur is nowhere near as sexy as James. That's hardly worth putting up with their telling him what to do. I mean, his parents were James and Lily--beautiful, young, cool--they were teh best. If you've been fantasizing about parents your whole life, why settle for people so ordinary and sometimes frankly embarassing? Heh--by the end of the book even Harry's own father can't live up to himself! He's got basically no experience whatsoever with flawed parents.
Ahahahahahahah! I like the way you think, as you know! Please, the Weasleys have never even died for anyone, how on earth can they compete? Plus they weren't a famous prankster or a Sassy Sue, and Arthur's balding and Molly's kind of plump...
'We've been trying to get her down for a month but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas.'
Portraits can do magic, which I don't recall ever being hinted at before (shame the Fat Lady didn't defend herself against Sirius in POA, in that case.)
I took this to mean the real Mrs Black charmed her portrait when it was painted, rather than the portrait charming it's self when they tried to take it down.
'None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!' Mrs Weasley raged at the twins... 'Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy -' She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden.
Mr. Weasley, like all fictional men with domineering wives, Wears the Trousers When It Comes Down To It.
On top of that, Molly's wrong to put Percy in that category. According to GoF, after Percy got his Apparation licence, he Apparated every damn where just to show that he could.
Well, we don't know exactly what she wanted to say about Percy since she cuts herself of. But while Percy apparated too, he at least didn't do it on top of other people or charm everything he sees.
Presumably, knowing Percy, he probably always *acted* like he was apparating for a reasn. Like he'd say, "Right I'd better apparate upstairs so that I don't hold the family up on the way out," or whatever. So part of the twins teasing would be to point out that he's just doing it because he can and it's fun when he'd be trying to cover that up. Every kid must over-apparate a little bit, but Percy would be oversensitive about looking stupid about it, whereas the twins would just do it openly.
Certainly, Percy didn't need to apparate down the stairs and most young wizards and witches probably get a bit overexcited when they get their license, but at least Percy never hurt anyone (the twins knocked a charmed trunk into Ginny, making her fall down the stairs).
I don't know the meaning of "flint" in this context. I came up with some fanwanked reasons why Sirius brought up the animagus thing but am too distracted now to repeat them, having already made one comment listing them an entry or two back. (Frankly, that aside could have been mostly due to JKR wanting to establish that Snuffles isn't safe anymore, even if in the last couple of books the dog form was treated as a perfectly good disguise
( ... )
A flint is a author mistake - plot inconsistency, editing problem. I think it's so called in this fandom because of JKR having Marcus Flint (the Slytherin captain) in school a year later than he should have been. Interestingly she recently addressed this, saying that she'd rather Marcus made the mistake than her
( ... )
Ah. Somehow the last time you mentioned a "flint" I was wondering if it was an Our Man Flint reference or something -- seemed to be in that kind of a context.
Molly Weasley is a topic worth considering at some length. Given that we've seen female Aurors and learned that the last Minister of Magic was a woman, and later on we learn that witches have been headmistresses of Hogwarts as well, and given that the girls at Hogwarts aren't sorted out of the more interesting classes and relegated to magical equivalents of home economics, I think it's safe to infer that witches have the same career options wizards do in the HPverse. (Given that the threat of physical force is ultimately what tends to keep women in a subservient social position in most societies, and that we've seen that magical ability is not determined by gender and is all-important in the wizarding world, it makes perfect sense that this would be so.) Which leads me to conclude that Molly Weasley is a fulltime homemaker by choice. (A point often missed in the feminist
( ... )
I just got my comp back after a virus, so forgive the late reply. You make some extremely interesting points. I think your assessment of Molly's character, in particular, is very sharp, and to clarify; if I gave the impression that I viewed her as some weak little flower who the men all boss, that's not my intention. I agree, her motivation seems to be territory, and I doubt she questions this any more than The Order seem to. As to general feminism in the WW and by extension, JKR's books, this essay is far more indepth than my comments could be and kind of explains things from my perspective (I didn't write it. But I do agree with it.) http://www.livejournal.com/users/no_remorse/47266.html
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I so love Mira's sum up of this. But it's true--talk about mixed messages. I think Sirius is serious when he says he'd welcome a Dementor attack, and he dies in a similar way, so it's hard to then feel like it was a big tragedy. He died doing what he loved best, fighting without thinking. Love the fact that Harry expected a better welcome. I wish Snape was there to hear that. He stopped expecting any appreciation years ago. (I'll note here that kind of attitude is *exactly* the type of thing always ascribed to Malfoy as proof of how worthless he is, that he expects people to fall at his feet when he enters a room.) The degrading of complaints was very good, though--I believed it. Though I doubt it would have worked coming from anyone not truly sullen.
Actually, a really ( ... )
Reply
I imagine Snape would exhibit absolutely no surprise!
I'll note here that kind of attitude is *exactly* the type of thing always ascribed to Malfoy as proof of how worthless he is, that he expects people to fall at his feet when he enters a room.
But then of course, arrogance is justified when you have something to back it up. Presumably if Malfoy was as fantastic as he thinks, all his behaviour would be okay!
And of course, Malfoy wanting respect (ie not having his name mocked, for example) is completely different to Ron and Harry wanting respect (ie not having their parents mocked, for example.) Because he doesn't deserve respect. Or something.
Like the whole 'It's wrong to be arrogantly prejudiced against Mudbloods because Hermione is really smart' message, when in fact, even if Hermione was a hopeless idiot, it still wouldn't mean hating her for her parents would be right.
That's *really ( ... )
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Oh my god.
I just realized we're going to get to that chapter and I will have to read it again.
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I'm hoping someone will design me a layout with the whole thing emblazoned over it, maybe a Hagrid mood theme and icon set?
It was so tight and gripping, after all, and set the scene for Grawp, who was endlessly fascinating!
(Actually, Stellamaru wrote eerily canonical Hagrid/Grawp...)
Reply
Oh, the first mention of the Fascinating Weapon That Wasn't. Yay!
And...err...do we ever find out why Sirius calls it a weapon when it's really a prophesy? Is he trying for misdirection?
Also, Harry's never really warmed to Molly or even Arthur despite being desperate for parent figures. Interesting. Could be subconsciously sensing how little some of the Weasleys (Ron and Percy as prime examples) would welcome that, on top of his already sturdy position in the family.
Or to put it more bluntly: they're really not good enough. I mean, Molly can be sort of stupid and Arthur is nowhere near as sexy as James. That's hardly worth putting up with their telling him what to do. I mean, his parents were James and Lily--beautiful, young, cool--they were teh best. If you've been fantasizing about parents your whole life, why settle for people so ordinary and sometimes frankly embarassing? Heh--by the end of the book even Harry's own father can't live up to himself! He's got basically no experience whatsoever with flawed
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Ahahahahahahah! I like the way you think, as you know!
Please, the Weasleys have never even died for anyone, how on earth can they compete? Plus they weren't a famous prankster or a Sassy Sue, and Arthur's balding and Molly's kind of plump...
Reply
Portraits can do magic, which I don't recall ever being hinted at before (shame the Fat Lady didn't defend herself against Sirius in POA, in that case.)
I took this to mean the real Mrs Black charmed her portrait when it was painted, rather than the portrait charming it's self when they tried to take it down.
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This has crushed my dreams of Phineas Nigellus executing a killing spree of the Order from within his frame.
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She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden.
Mr. Weasley, like all fictional men with domineering wives, Wears the Trousers When It Comes Down To It.
On top of that, Molly's wrong to put Percy in that category. According to GoF, after Percy got his Apparation licence, he Apparated every damn where just to show that he could.
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Molly Weasley is a topic worth considering at some length. Given that we've seen female Aurors and learned that the last Minister of Magic was a woman, and later on we learn that witches have been headmistresses of Hogwarts as well, and given that the girls at Hogwarts aren't sorted out of the more interesting classes and relegated to magical equivalents of home economics, I think it's safe to infer that witches have the same career options wizards do in the HPverse. (Given that the threat of physical force is ultimately what tends to keep women in a subservient social position in most societies, and that we've seen that magical ability is not determined by gender and is all-important in the wizarding world, it makes perfect sense that this would be so.) Which leads me to conclude that Molly Weasley is a fulltime homemaker by choice. (A point often missed in the feminist ( ... )
Reply
You make some extremely interesting points.
I think your assessment of Molly's character, in particular, is very sharp, and to clarify; if I gave the impression that I viewed her as some weak little flower who the men all boss, that's not my intention. I agree, her motivation seems to be territory, and I doubt she questions this any more than The Order seem to.
As to general feminism in the WW and by extension, JKR's books, this essay is far more indepth than my comments could be and kind of explains things from my perspective (I didn't write it. But I do agree with it.)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/no_remorse/47266.html
Reply
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