Quotes of the Week 5

[rattlesnakeroot]

Some thought-provoking quotes from Beedle the Bard, not from the stories, but the Intro, commentary, and footnotes. (JKR writes that certain footnotes were written by her to explain things to Muggles, but some of them seem to come from Dumbledore, while others may have been written by Hermione ) Since these are spoilers, I'll put them under an LJ-

Comments

[lunas_ceiling]

I can't believe I just typed a whole long comment here and lost the whole thing, arrgggh! I am going to have to repost it tomorrow. For now, I would say some of these amaze me. My post was on all the commentary on "The Wizard in the Hopping Pot," the message of love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek and the whole sanitizing childrens tales to either spread hate or prevent children and often adults from learning the true messages in childrens tales. Call me cynical but I think people can miss the message whether the characters are boiled in a vat of oil or frolicking around a bunny meadow.

[rattlesnakeroot]

I look forward to reading your comments on that!

I agree - as a Snape fan who has debated Snape's Worst Memory a million times, when a writer glorifies bullies to the point that many readers can't tell who the victim is anymore, then that is just as confusing as a writer who makes everything all goodness and light. JKR takes the idea of "gray areas" to an extreme to make her point, but some people remain lost in the fog.

[rattlesnakeroot]

I also don't see Beatrix Potter as all that horrible. I find her books really eccentric in the British tradition, and I've always thought JKR was influenced by her! So to me all that sounds as if JKR is distancing herself for some reason (maybe due to the use of the name "Potter" - Beatrix had that first!)

But here's the beginning of "A Tale of Mr. Tod," a fox (who reminds me of Lucius Malfoy since he carries a big cane) tries to trick Mr. Badger ("Tommy Brock") out of his house. I don't think this is writing "down" to children:

A Tale of Mr. Tod

I have made many books about well-behaved people. Now, for a change, I am going to make a story about two disagreeable people, called Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod. Nobody could call Mr. Tod "nice." The rabbits could not bear him; they could smell him half a mile off. He was of a wandering habit and he had foxy whiskers; they never knew where he would be next

[cynodd]

I was very confused about why she decides to vilify Beatrix Potter, who it's clear she's pointing to with her Beatrix who writes fluffy children's tales. Beatrix Potter didn't take other tales and sanitize them. She just wrote her own, much-loved animal tales based on her own experiences and love of drawing her own animals. Why the hating on her?

[a_waffling]

1. "Beedle's story is quite explicit about the fact that the second brothers lost love has not really returned from the dead. She has been sent by death to lure the second brother into Death's clutches, and is therefore cold, remote, tantalizingly both present and absent."
~ Dumbledore writing about the "Tale of Three Brothers," making a slightly unexpected remark considering Harry's walk in the forest with his own entourage of cold, remote, present, and absent spirits, who could be seen as "luring him" to his death. Or maybe they were there to help him. Contradiction much?

Well, as this is Albus Dumbledore writing: I see no contradiction. He was less than truthful that often that I don't see any reason to believe him in this case.

[rattlesnakeroot]

How odd that Dumbledore would write that in his comments, but then put on the horcrux ring for the precise purpose of trying to see his loved ones again!

He sounds as if he felt abandoned when he wrote that, so he was thinking of the departed as cold and remote. But Harry certainly seems to have an opposite experience in the Forest.

I have a hard time believing that JKR is using Dumbledore there to be expository, since she has said she wept over "The Forest Again" and that Harry needed his "heroes" to walk with him! I don't know - it just strikes me as an odd thing for Dumbledore to write.

[rattlesnakeroot]

But yes - I see your point. Maybe Dumbledore is writing what he thinks he should for future generations, instead of being honest about how much he would like a chance to use the Stone.

[a_waffling]

The way I read it: in his commentary he wants to make believe that the hallows don't exist, and even if they should exist they would be useless.

As even Harry observed: DD rarely talked about personal things, and the one time he did (concerning the mirror of Erised) even Harry gets it that DD probably lied.

[aredwitch]

Clearly Dumbledore for all his power in executing spells, has no talent for literary analysis. Your first commentary highlights more contradictions in JKR's thought. She is following traditional stories but chooses to preach in the margins, but her modern sensibility is at odds with the older stories that she is drawing upon.
I cannot imagine why Malfoy would waste his time trying to get a book banned when Muggle Studies is on the curiculum. Should he not tackle that first?

[rattlesnakeroot]

Clearly Dumbledore for all his power in executing spells, has no talent for literary analysis

*LOL* So true!

I cannot imagine why Malfoy would waste his time trying to get a book banned when Muggle Studies is on the curiculum. Should he not tackle that first?

*LOL* That's funny ~ and the book says that he's just trying to get that "story" banned, not the entire book. Do you think Malfoy's attorney had a look at it? (I probably shouldn't write that or people will go nuts on me.)

[lunas_ceiling]

*LOL* That's funny ~ and the book says that he's just trying to get that "story" banned, not the entire book. Do you think Malfoy's attorney had a look at it? (I probably shouldn't write that or people will go nuts on me.)

Don't even get me started, I will probably go nuts but not on you:)

[rattlesnakeroot]

Aw, c'mon ~ let it out, Luna'sCeiling! You can't hold back like this! :)

[anonymous]

When I read "The Warlock and the Hairy Heart," I thought I was reading a Stephen King story. I honestly couldn't find one redeeming thing in that one at all. It was like a cross between Voldemort and his Horcruxes, and Romeo and Juliet.

Kristin

[rattlesnakeroot]

That's the least effective story because why on earth do kids need another story about a sociopath who can't love? We know from Tom Riddle's story that he's hardly to blame if he grew up without his mother in an orphanage. So was the Warlock with the Hairy Heart really capable of loving, or just another psycho? Obviously he was, so what do we learn from that? Psychos don't make good lovers? *lol*

[cynodd]

(JKR writes that certain footnotes were written by her to explain things to Muggles, but some of them seem to come from Dumbledore, while others may have been written by Hermione )

For some reason this footnote confusion really bugged me. I don't think any are by Hermione, although a case could be made. Hermione ought to know to make that clear if she did it. And why is JKR essentially inserting herself in as a character in the story? I think she forgets that she's not actually Hermione.

[kamion]

Spoiler alert
Spoiler alert

ALL THE NOTES ARE FROM ROWLING
seems even the whole book is written by her.

[rattlesnakeroot]

Technically, yes - she wrote it out, so thank you! :)

But some of the footnotes are signed by JKR, some are not signed by anyone, and some are written in Dumbledore's voice:

Page 39: "By the time I became Headmaster, however, Professor Kettleburn had mellowed considerably..."

Page 42: "My response prompted several further letters from Mr. Malfoy..."

[cynodd]

I thought the point was that Hermione had produced her own translations in a separate volume--she didn't add notes to the ones Dumledore left. She wrote her own, but it's Dumbledore's notes that were being used.

Kristin