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 06:15 am (UTC)Oh. Well, if all you're doing is just putting up your 'opinions' as wishful thinking, uhm, okay, wow, it's such a nice and pretty opinion, even if it isn't correct, thanks for showing it to us!
You really want canon? Here is canon in reference to the Half-Blood Prince book being used. In terms of Harry being unable to stop snape from seeing into his mind and seeing that the book was being used.
"Do you want to know what I think, Potter?" said Snape, very quietly, "I think you are a liar and a cheat and that you deseve deention with me every Saturday until the end of term, what do you think, Potter?"
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 06:43 am (UTC)That accusation that Harry is a 'cheat' from Snape - ex Potions teacher - lends a lot of weight to the side of those who hold that Harry was a cheat. I still don't think it's *proven* - Snape's unbalanced when it comes to Harry - but I'm on much thinner ground now, I think.
My next step would be to go and find examples of where Snape has lied to Harry before, and then propose that in this case, too, he was lying when he said that he thought Harry was a cheat.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 02:51 pm (UTC)Snape's unbalanced? He is angry and bitter but to me a lot of the time he is telling the truth. And the old saying is, the truth hurts sometimes. Snape is apparently trying to make his own point with a stray opinon.
Well, first thing is, Snape says Harry's a liar.
Harry was telling a lie, anyone with half a brain can see he is - he used a false book to hide the fact that he just use the Septem Sempra spell on Draco. He did not give Snape the correct copy that Snape asked for, he gave Ron's book if I remember rightly. That makes Harry a liar. Plus he lied about the name in the copy he did present to Snape, which was neither his nickname or his book. Again, Harry is telling a lie about the name in the book as well.
So where does Snape get cheat from?
Now I don't know for sure, is there any other instance where Snape calls Harry a cheat?
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 11:37 pm (UTC)I don't see how lying is connected to balance. Snape is unbalanced because of his bitterness towards Harry, his transferring his enmity of James on the boy, his inability to see the boy for the father. But that's separate from his ability to tell the truth.
Harry was telling a lie, anyone with half a brain can see he is ... So where does Snape get cheat from?
Yes. Since Snape was correct when he called Harry a 'liar' there's good reason to believe him when he calls Harry a 'cheat' in the same sentence. And Snape's an ex Potions teacher. And we have to assume that Snape is 'getting the cheat from' Harry's use of the Prince's book in Potions class (I tried to find something more immediately that could explain the 'cheat' accusation but failed. :-().
All of which is good canon evidence - the only real canon evidence?! - that Harry was, indeed, cheating in using the Prince's book.
(Hermione had called Harry a cheat too, in one place, but she didn't substantiate the accusation, plus she was quite emotional about it.)
Now I don't know for sure, is there any other instance where Snape calls Harry a cheat?
I looked for any occurrence of the word 'cheat' in the book, I only found a few; as I recall, two times from Hermione, once from Snape.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 08:43 pm (UTC)Well, to cut you some slack -- yeah, I'm actually doing that! -- one could argue that Snape's statement just reflects Snape's opinion, nothing more.
But Snape is a professor, and Harry does go out of his way to hide the fact that he's utilizing someone else's notes from Slughorn, and when Snape demands to see the book Harry -- who at that point has no idea that the HBP is really Snape -- goes out of his way to hide the book and present Ron's textbook in its stead...
All signs that Harry himself knew that what he was doing was considered cheating, and that Snape calling him a cheat isn't just Snape being petulant.
But you know me, I'm a Snape fan! LOL
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 11:53 pm (UTC)Well, like I remarked to karentheunicorn's comment, we have Snape calling Harry a 'liar' two words before he calls him a 'cheat'. And the 'liar' part is most definitely fact. Therefore it seems most likely true that Snape is equally correct in calling Harry a 'cheat'.
And he *was* a Potions teacher, who would know all of the 'rules' for Potions classes.
But you know me, I'm a Snape fan! LOL
As it stands I think we have to accept Snape's judgement that Harry is a cheat; I think that follows from the 'liar' bit.
If I wanted to say otherwise I think the onus would be on me to go and find canon examples where Snape has lied to Harry before; then I could come back and say he was lying in this case.
But as it stands, we *know* that Snape *wasn't* lying for part of that sentence, so I think I'm on very thin - or shattered - ice.