GOF Chapter 3: The Invitation
Jan. 17th, 2011 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockThis is the obligatory Dursley chapter, in which we are treated to the home life of this family and learn how inferior they are to wizard families.
Dudley takes up a whole side of the square kitchen table. Ahem, I doubt a square kitchen table (as opposed to a dining room table) was designed to seat 8 people, 2 on a side. His parents excuse away his teachers' accusations of bullying. As opposed to the Weasleys who never receive reports making such heinous accusations against the twins (we'll see the school does occasionally owl their parents, but I don't see any awareness that some of what the twins do is bullying behavior). (This starts the theme of parents dealing with wayward sons in this book.) Dudley is forced into a diet of fruit and vegetables rather than his favorites. From the descriptions we get of the food Harry eats at Hogwarts I get the feeling Harry's favorites are closer to Dudley's than to the health foods, nor does he limit his intake. But somehow Harry remains thin, regardless of whether he gets starved by Petunia or stuffed by Molly or the House-elves.
Changing the food choices of the entire family is a good thing! However adjusting Harry's serving size to Dudley's (perceived?) emotional needs isn't. I don't begrudge Harry for working around a diet he doesn't need, but then I also sympathize with Dudley who does. Changing eating habits of years is hard.
This is also the place to say Dudley must have grown up as an emotional wreck. Knowing that his parents were capable of such physical and emotional deprivation of someone in their care - what if he ever failed to please them? I think a big part of his misbehavior is both making sure his parents know he *isn't* Harry as well as wanting the reassurance that they still love him, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Of Harry's 4 sources of help only one sends food he appreciates. Odd that even Hagrid managed to send an edible birthday cake. But how edible is it (or any of the others) 3 weeks later?
Harry is surprised that the Weasleys wrote directly to the Dursleys. Vernon is embarrassed that they didn't know how many stamps to use. But really, how hard is it to find out? Didn't they go to the post office to buy the stamps? What does it say about the exchange rate between Galleons and pounds that a family so poor finds it reasonable to spend on so many stamps for one letter? Molly's letter sounds as if she is trying too hard to make the Quidditch World Cup sound special and to make Arthur sound important. And of course she doesn't have enough imagination to realize that sending a letter by owl isn't normal for the Dursleys.
Harry is offended on Molly's behalf when Vernon calls her 'dumpy'. Since Molly likes Harry nobody is allowed to notice she is overweight.
I must say that the scene where Harry threatens Vernon with Sirius looks a lot less humorous now that I have seen Harry enjoy torturing a man for punishment, and Sirius engaging in Muggle-baiting.
If I am correct in my understanding that Ron is claiming that he and Molly wrote their respective letters at about the same time, then I am impressed with the UK post. Molly's letter arrived on Saturday morning. Pig arrived the same morning. Considering the speed of owls elsewhere, it looks as though Ron's letter was sent earlier that morning. So a letter got delivered the morning it was sent?
I am less impressed with the Weasleys. They plan on taking Harry regardless of the Dursleys' consent. One could argue that eventually Molly and Arthur realized their sons were not exaggerating when they said Harry had been imprisoned and starved, but seeing how Arthur views the treatment of Muggles, both in this book and in COS, I doubt this made a difference.
Harry is happy specifically because Dudley is suffering and he isn't. The seeds of the bully of HBP and war criminal of DH.
Dudley takes up a whole side of the square kitchen table. Ahem, I doubt a square kitchen table (as opposed to a dining room table) was designed to seat 8 people, 2 on a side. His parents excuse away his teachers' accusations of bullying. As opposed to the Weasleys who never receive reports making such heinous accusations against the twins (we'll see the school does occasionally owl their parents, but I don't see any awareness that some of what the twins do is bullying behavior). (This starts the theme of parents dealing with wayward sons in this book.) Dudley is forced into a diet of fruit and vegetables rather than his favorites. From the descriptions we get of the food Harry eats at Hogwarts I get the feeling Harry's favorites are closer to Dudley's than to the health foods, nor does he limit his intake. But somehow Harry remains thin, regardless of whether he gets starved by Petunia or stuffed by Molly or the House-elves.
Changing the food choices of the entire family is a good thing! However adjusting Harry's serving size to Dudley's (perceived?) emotional needs isn't. I don't begrudge Harry for working around a diet he doesn't need, but then I also sympathize with Dudley who does. Changing eating habits of years is hard.
This is also the place to say Dudley must have grown up as an emotional wreck. Knowing that his parents were capable of such physical and emotional deprivation of someone in their care - what if he ever failed to please them? I think a big part of his misbehavior is both making sure his parents know he *isn't* Harry as well as wanting the reassurance that they still love him, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Of Harry's 4 sources of help only one sends food he appreciates. Odd that even Hagrid managed to send an edible birthday cake. But how edible is it (or any of the others) 3 weeks later?
Harry is surprised that the Weasleys wrote directly to the Dursleys. Vernon is embarrassed that they didn't know how many stamps to use. But really, how hard is it to find out? Didn't they go to the post office to buy the stamps? What does it say about the exchange rate between Galleons and pounds that a family so poor finds it reasonable to spend on so many stamps for one letter? Molly's letter sounds as if she is trying too hard to make the Quidditch World Cup sound special and to make Arthur sound important. And of course she doesn't have enough imagination to realize that sending a letter by owl isn't normal for the Dursleys.
Harry is offended on Molly's behalf when Vernon calls her 'dumpy'. Since Molly likes Harry nobody is allowed to notice she is overweight.
I must say that the scene where Harry threatens Vernon with Sirius looks a lot less humorous now that I have seen Harry enjoy torturing a man for punishment, and Sirius engaging in Muggle-baiting.
If I am correct in my understanding that Ron is claiming that he and Molly wrote their respective letters at about the same time, then I am impressed with the UK post. Molly's letter arrived on Saturday morning. Pig arrived the same morning. Considering the speed of owls elsewhere, it looks as though Ron's letter was sent earlier that morning. So a letter got delivered the morning it was sent?
I am less impressed with the Weasleys. They plan on taking Harry regardless of the Dursleys' consent. One could argue that eventually Molly and Arthur realized their sons were not exaggerating when they said Harry had been imprisoned and starved, but seeing how Arthur views the treatment of Muggles, both in this book and in COS, I doubt this made a difference.
Harry is happy specifically because Dudley is suffering and he isn't. The seeds of the bully of HBP and war criminal of DH.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 01:05 am (UTC)You've got to divorce the source of Harry's instructions from the actual end product that he produced. Because it's the latter - ONLY the latter - which is examined in determining his Potions grade!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 01:42 am (UTC)You've got to divorce the source of Harry's instructions from the actual end product that he produced. Because it's the latter - ONLY the latter - which is examined in determining his Potions grade!
But the manner in which he chopped the ingredients, the exact manner that he added them to the cauldron, the amount of time and manner that he stirred the liquid, and his knowing just how much to fan the flames, were all based on someone else's research.
If only the final product matters, then by that logic going out and purchasing a commercially-prepared version of the potion and presenting it to one's instructor should be just as acceptable.
No, what Harry did with the HBP textbook was no more than sous chef work, but he created a masterpiece that he passed off as totally his own invention, and allowed his teacher to believe that he was a master chef.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 02:54 am (UTC)As is the case for ALL of the students' potions, yes.
No, what Harry did with the HBP textbook was no more than sous chef work, but he created a masterpiece that he passed off as totally his own invention ...
But NONE of the students' potions were their 'own invention'! They ALL brewed their potions according to instructions from a textbook!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 04:08 am (UTC)But they are all on a level playing field; by following the standard recipe with no changes, either they will all achieve a uniform result, or some potions will be superior to others. Those with superior potions will have demonstrated that they have superior potions-brewing abilities than those who achieved only mediocre results.
Harry, OTOH, is utilizing totally different recipes, recipes that Snape spent time and talent in improving. Snape should get credit (and hopefully did as a student) for those changes, Harry shouldn't be reaping any benefit from Snape's work.
Harry's classmates are playing on a level field of a standard textbook they all share; Harry has placed himself in a totally different ballpark by utilizing recipes the others don't even have access to. It is not his classmates fault that they don't have access to corrected recipes, they only have the old recipes.
Harry will consistently end up with a better result than his classmates because of sheer dumb luck in stumbling upon the HBP's old textbook, not because he is genuinely talented in potions, and he compounds the wrongness of the deed by allowing the teacher to believe that Harry came up with the innovations on his own.
That is cheating.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 05:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 06:01 am (UTC)Was it more of a round about way of showing us Snape or something about him? Ya know because we're stuck in Harry's POV and seemingly we have to stay there for a majority of the 7 books.
So was it the only way of connecting us the Character of Snape and his youth.
That maybe JK didn't really care how the potion book got there, only that it needed to be there.
She basicly just gave Severus a brain fart; or Author Stunned him so he'd forget about the book and where he last put it.
Like I said in another post, I just don't see him being the kind of person to leave that book for anyone to get, or any random student to use.
So, it's sort of like 1 reason for the book being there is she need Harry to get it so we could learn about young Snape and his dark magic and killer potion skills.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 02:19 pm (UTC)Watson - yes, it could be to present ambiguities about the character. Good at his schoolwork, makes up "fun" (if you aren't Crabbe or Filch) spells, a ticking time bomb included (Sectum Sempra.)
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 07:57 pm (UTC)I'll buy that.
She may have thought she was trying for some depth, to "muddy the waters" in having the HBP, an unknown earlier student who is giving Harry help, turn out to be Snape, who secretly is helping Harry.
But what we ended up with is what you describe, something that comes off as yet another slap in Snape's face. At the end of the day, what was really gained by having the old, annotated textbook be Snape's, rather than some random unknown student?
(Harry was still cheating by using it, no matter who the book had belonged to!) LOL