That's a really excellent analysis, Teddy. It continues to amaze me how much power and depth the HP books awake in their readers, while JKR seems to have been quite unaware of the subtext undermining what she wrote.
Thanks, I like your reading. JKR may also have intended, re: James, to imply that Severus was now instigating the attacks--but she didn't show that, and the fact they occurred "off the radar" for both Lily and authority suggests that James (with map and cloak) must still have controlled the venues...
Love your point about disregarding Caroline Bingley versus disregarding your best friend.
And yes, regarding Lily, I ended by agreeing with Jodel that Jo rather depicted Lily and James as deserving each other.....
Furthermore, Lily was, after all, the queen of judging (and discarding) people by the insults they used under stress. So what insult did she use to/of James, twice, in canon? “Arrogant toerag.” That’s actually a fascinating epithet to apply to James, because “toerag” denoted someone too poor to afford shoes, a vagrant or criminal who had to wrap their feet in rags. A lower class person. So the worst insult Lily could think of to hurl (as Severus’s was “Mudblood”) was to accuse someone of being lower class-an epithet utterly worthy of Petunia’s sister.In retrospect, I'm kind of shocked by how common this view seems to be (just in general). I've recently been rereading a series of books from my childhood, which feature a supposedly noble and heroic character who appears to think "lower-class" is a suitable insult, even if what you find disagreeable has nothing to do with class
( ... )
lower class terri_testingApril 23 2016, 19:01:02 UTC
Yep, if you want to see how ingrained is the view that "poor" equals "undeserving," just look up the derivations of the words "base" and "villain".....
Wonderful essay. Thank for reposting here, I had managed to miss it.
I, who love Jane, think that both Elizabeth and Darcy suffer from pride and prejudice. Pride which starts as self-respect can degenerate in overweening arrogance; class prejudice and prejudice born of a sense of intellectual superiority are only different in the eye of the terminally self-righteous. Darcy is accused - rightly - of 'implacable resentement', but all he did to unleash Eliza's eternal dislike was not to swoon over her beauty at the ball. Petty grudges can be implacable as anything, as JKR's grudge against her chemistry teacher - poor Snape! - can attest
( ... )
Bildungsromanterri_testingApril 23 2016, 19:05:12 UTC
Oh, yes. Most of Jane Austen's novels are; that's why Elinor in S&S is a Mary Sue who is a bit flat, because she suffers but never has to readjust her ideas....
Did you ever read Dan Hemmons on how the HP series was a Nildungsroman? Loved the term.
And yes, Molly would make a good Mrs. Bennett. If JKR ever intended her as Nanny Ogg, though, she wasn't reading Pratchett any better than Austen--NANNY calling someone a scarlet woman?
Re: BildungsromanflyingskullApril 24 2016, 13:05:41 UTC
Elinor is a better Fanny, I think. I never got the impression that Jane A. liked them and she certainly was nothing like them. I think she felt she ought to be like them - bloody family! - and felt she was supposed to admire them, Also her bloody family bugged her all the time about piety.
I love Dan Hemmens critique of JKR. :D
And yes, she wasn't reading Sir Pterry (mayherestinpeace) any better than Austen or DWJ. I always suspected that McGonagall was supposed to be Granny. Can you imagine? Granny Weatherwax smiling fondly at James Potter?
Thing is... How could JKR read those authors well when she has no ethics?
Re: Bildungsromanterri_testingApril 24 2016, 19:52:28 UTC
Granny Weatherwax? Who stands between light and dark and makes the hard decisions??? Just... not.
Um. I didn't think JKR was copying Sir Pterry's characters (so very) badly, I just assumed she was using some of the same stereotypes/archetypes as he did...
There's another possible attempt at a Lizzy/Lily parallel: they're both favorite daughters. Petunia claims her parents favored the (prettier, talented) Lily, and just because she's a spiteful person who locks a child in a cupboard doesn't mean she's wrong about that. (As you say, Caroline Bingley isn't wrong about everything either. Darn complicated world!) Likewise, Mr. Bennet clearly favors his older daughters, especially Elizabeth, and makes snide comments about the "silliness" of his younger daughters. (Well, whose fault is that, poster child for negligent fathers? And complaining about the "silliness" of trying to catch men's attention is rich when he's "forgotten" to save for dowries for any of them, possibly condemning them to lives of penury after he dies unless they manage to catch men
( ... )
Comments 16
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Love your point about disregarding Caroline Bingley versus disregarding your best friend.
And yes, regarding Lily, I ended by agreeing with Jodel that Jo rather depicted Lily and James as deserving each other.....
Reply
Furthermore, Lily was, after all, the queen of judging (and discarding) people by the insults they used under stress. So what insult did she use to/of James, twice, in canon? “Arrogant toerag.” That’s actually a fascinating epithet to apply to James, because “toerag” denoted someone too poor to afford shoes, a vagrant or criminal who had to wrap their feet in rags. A lower class person. So the worst insult Lily could think of to hurl (as Severus’s was “Mudblood”) was to accuse someone of being lower class-an epithet utterly worthy of Petunia’s sister.In retrospect, I'm kind of shocked by how common this view seems to be (just in general). I've recently been rereading a series of books from my childhood, which feature a supposedly noble and heroic character who appears to think "lower-class" is a suitable insult, even if what you find disagreeable has nothing to do with class ( ... )
Reply
Reply
I, who love Jane, think that both Elizabeth and Darcy suffer from pride and prejudice. Pride which starts as self-respect can degenerate in overweening arrogance; class prejudice and prejudice born of a sense of intellectual superiority are only different in the eye of the terminally self-righteous. Darcy is accused - rightly - of 'implacable resentement', but all he did to unleash Eliza's eternal dislike was not to swoon over her beauty at the ball. Petty grudges can be implacable as anything, as JKR's grudge against her chemistry teacher - poor Snape! - can attest ( ... )
Reply
Did you ever read Dan Hemmons on how the HP series was a Nildungsroman? Loved the term.
And yes, Molly would make a good Mrs. Bennett. If JKR ever intended her as Nanny Ogg, though, she wasn't reading Pratchett any better than Austen--NANNY calling someone a scarlet woman?
Reply
I love Dan Hemmens critique of JKR. :D
And yes, she wasn't reading Sir Pterry (mayherestinpeace) any better than Austen or DWJ. I always suspected that McGonagall was supposed to be Granny. Can you imagine? Granny Weatherwax smiling fondly at James Potter?
Thing is... How could JKR read those authors well when she has no ethics?
Reply
Um. I didn't think JKR was copying Sir Pterry's characters (so very) badly, I just assumed she was using some of the same stereotypes/archetypes as he did...
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment