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deathtocapslockThis is a mercifully short chapter, only 17 pages. Let’s see if we can get through it quickly.
In our last episode, Harry decided not to try to beat Voldy to the Elder Wand. This was a wise decision, since Voldy was actually at the gates of Hogwarts when Harry received his vision, so there was no way Harry could have gotten to the wand first anyway. And really, does anybody believe Harry Potter would have violated Dumbledore’s tomb to get at the wand? Please. “It is to laugh,” as Bugs Bunny used to say.
Uh oh. Now I’m imagining Bugs Bunny as Harry Potter battling Elmer Fudd as Voldemort, with the late, great Mel Blanc doing both voices, and some classical music as a soundtrack, maybe the second movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. That would be hilarious--and so much better and smarter than what we actually got.
Proving that Harry is totally deluded--I mean, like, clinically insane--about himself, he ponders his inaction: “The enormity of his decision not to race Voldemort to the wand still scared Harry. He could not remember, ever before, choosing not to act.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What, do you think we’re stupid, Rowling? Or that we have short term memory loss? Harry just spent three fucking months sitting on his ass, obsessing over the Booby Prizes, while his friends were wandering all over the countryside looking for Horcruces, with no assistance at all from him! That was only three chapters ago! The Chosen One chose to sit that one out. He became the Boy-Who-Lived-Only-for-the-Hallows. Then there was the time he stood there and did nothing while Xeno Lovegood was tortured a few yards/meters away. And you think we’ve forgotten all that already? va32h was right. This book is so bad, it’s insulting.
For some bizarre reason, Ron is doubtful Dumbledore is actually dead. Well, gee, Ron, Harry saw his corpse in his vision. That’s kinda conclusive, y’know? Harry, didn’t you tell Ron about that part? On the other hand, given the similarities of character and behavior between Dumbledore and Voldemort, I can see why Ron might be confused and expect Dumbledore to come back to life, also.
Griphook asks to talk to Harry and says he’s willing to help the Trio break into Gringotts--for a price. The price is the Sword of Gryffindor, which he says was stolen from a goblin by Godric. If he can’t have that, the deal’s off.
Harry asks Griphook for a chance to discuss this, and HRH leave the room. Ron and Hermione argue about the deal, with Hermione being the Good Liberal, pleading the case of the Oppressed Races, and Ron sounding like a right-wing nut, um, excuse me, a Traditionalist, as they’re called on Fox News, saying, “Goblins aren’t exactly fluffy little bunnies, though, are they? They’ve killed plenty of us. They’ve fought dirty too.”
Hey, those fluffy little bunnies can be pretty darn dangerous, as former President Jimmy Carter once found out while out fishing alone. That’s not to mention the HP fanfic I read, in which pink fluffy bunnies were all homicidal maniacs. (Lord of the Wind, by teddylonglong)
Harry suggests Griphook could be lying, and Hermione asks if that really matters. Harry replies, “Changes how I feel about it.” Yes, Harry, because your feelings are what matters. The facts are irrelevant.
Harry comes up with the idea of promising Griphook the sword--after they’ve used it to destroy all the Horcruces. If that takes years, well, too bad. “For the greater good,” and all that. At least he has the decency to feel ashamed of himself, although such feelings don’t count for much if they don’t alter behavior.
The Hs don’t like this plan, but they don’t see any alternative. Ron proves why he’s the living moral compass of the series by pronouncing it “genius.” [/sarcasm]
The Trio and Griphook spend weeks planning the Gringotts break-in. HRH realize they don’t like the goblin, but they keep quiet because they need him. And why don’t they like him? “Griphook was unexpectedly bloodthirsty, laughed at the idea of pain in lesser creatures, and seemed to relish the possibility that they might have to hurt other wizards to reach the Lestranges’ vault.” In other words, he’s just like James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Fred, George, Albus, Gellert, and, um, who else? It’s Okay If A Wizard Does It.
Harry apologizes to Fleur for putting her to all this trouble with the guests, particularly Griphook. She shrugs it off, noting Harry once saved her sister’s life. Bill and Fleur’s hospitality is not really something Harry needs to feel bad about, since it’s apparently their only contribution to the war effort.
Harry feels guilty for something else he’s not responsible for when he starts angsting about the Weasley men being unable to work because they’re in hiding. To paraphrase my favorite line from Tootsie (assume fake Southern accent), “Harry, that is just bullshit.” As Voldemort opponents and blood traitors, they would have had to go on the run whether you had ever existed or not.
I mean, what is it with Harry, anyway? Why does he feel guilty about things he’s not responsible for, but not feel guilty for things he is responsible for, such as committing a series of violent felonies in second year, or slashing Draco open in sixth year?
Maybe that’s it. Maybe by feeling guilty about things he’s not responsible for, Harry never has to worry about acknowledging fault, taking responsibility, apologizing, trying to make amends, and changing to be a better person. If he felt guilty about the bad and wrong things he had done, he would have to do those things to improve himself, and he doesn’t want to. Empty guilt means empty responsibility and empty changes. And empty character, but you’ll never see that acknowledged anywhere in the series.
Honestly, Harry, Hermione, and Ron really are well-suited to each other. Like Scarlett O’Hara during Reconstruction, they’re willing to lie, steal, cheat, or kill to get what they want. Instead of the Golden Trio, they should be called the Toxic Trio. Like, nuclear waste, dioxin, or ebola virus toxic. The Bible thumpers are right about these books corrupting children, but not for the reasons they think.
Lupin turns up and tells them about his son Teddy’s birth. They all have wine to toast the baby, and Remus asks Harry to be godfather.
After Remus leaves, Bill corners Harry and tries to get Harry to tell him what he’s planning with Griphook. When Harry refuses, Bill warns him that goblins don’t think like humans about property rights and business transactions. Harry feels uncomfortable, “as if a small snake had stirred inside him.” More snake-slandering, as if anything negative in Harry’s life has to be described in serpentine terms. Clearly, what’s really going on is that Harry is subconsciously acknowledging that he would be nothing without the “snaky” part of himself, i.e., Voldy’s soul piece, and that bothers him so much he has to pretend his “snakiness” is not just foreign, but ugly and bad, too.
There’s a possibly unintentionally funny line when Bill tells Harry wizard-goblin relations have been problematic for centuries, “...but you’ll know all that from History of Magic.” Hah, hah, you poor, deluded fool, Bill. Harry slept through that class. He admitted in chapter 16 of DBP that he probably never even opened the textbook. What planet have you been on, Bill, to think Harry was a serious student rather than the dumbest of jocks?
Even more interestingly, Bill warns Harry about the goblin belief “that wizards cannot be trusted in matters of gold and treasure, that they have no respect for goblin ownership.” Gee, I wonder where they could have gotten that impression? Wizard-goblin relations in the Potterverse remind me of the relations between white Americans and American Indians: The “superior race” is happy to exploit the knowledge and skills of the “inferior race” when it suits them, and often induce cooperation by making promises they have no intention of keeping, but don’t hesitate to slander, steal from, and kick the “lesser beings” to the curb once their usefulness has been exhausted.
Before Bill cuts him off, Harry starts to tell the most bald-faced of lies by saying, “I respect--” and lives! Friedrich Nietzsche was right, and there’s your proof, ladies and gentlemen. God has to be dead, or Harry would surely have been struck down by a thunderbolt for even attempting to suggest he respected goblins.
Bill warns Harry that he would be better off trying to break into Gringotts than trying to renege on a promise to a goblin. Harry wryly thinks that he’s on his way to becoming just as reckless a godfather to Teddy as Sirius was to him. *sob* That’s--that’s so touching, Harry. Your father and godfather would be so proud of you. It’s so sad you’re not going back to Hogwarts, where you could take up their mantle of terrorizing the campus for fun.
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Date: 2014-01-23 03:39 pm (UTC)Bunnies seem to pop up when a hidden truth is being revealed. Lavender's pet bunny's death and the fact that Sybil's prophecies CAN be real ones. Remus 'furry little problem' that people thought meant his pet rabbit and how dangerous werewolves really could be. The bunnies in the pet store when Ron was getting a rat tonic and Crookshanks made his first attempt on Scabbers. Harry's thoughts about pulling a rabbit out of the Sorting Hat before his sorting and the bit about how he would do well in Slytherin (which apparently was meant to foreshadow Voldy's soul bit).
Now I'll need to go find the passage to look for the 'hidden' truth, as it is never what seems like the obvious truth. Presumably it is in what Bill says about respect. Or probably in the way Harry is planning to 'cheat' (from a goblin's viewpoint) Griphook being just the same as wizards throughout history.
PS - LOVE the idea of Voldy as Elmer Fudd. Both bald, even tho' Elmer has more nose. But I'm giggling over Voldy telling us 'be wery, wery quiet' while he's hunting 'wabbit's' - er - I mean Harrys.
snerk! Voldy's Harry Hunting! No wonder Harry escapes so well - all that practice with Dudley. Besides, when was Elmer ever a match for Bugs?
no subject
Date: 2014-01-23 10:51 pm (UTC)I don't have a copy of the book, but I put his words in quotation marks, so that must be a direct quote. I didn't use quotes for paraphrases or my interpretations, just JKR's own words.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-23 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-23 10:14 pm (UTC)No, that could be fair. Highlight 'choosing', not 'not'.
I don't think he consciously, deliberately chose to do nothing all those previous times. He just sort of drifted into it. With the camping trip he probably didn't say to himself 'now I will sit on my butt and do nothing for months' ... This new thought could be seen as a good sign - some actual planning! Or is it self awareness? ☺:)
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Date: 2014-01-23 10:54 pm (UTC)Please see my answer to hwyla above. I put Harry's words in quotation marks. Both the words and the emphasis are in the original text. Rowling emphasized "not" in that sentence, not me.
I don't think he consciously, deliberately chose to do nothing all those previous times. He just sort of drifted into it.
Apropos of the discussion last chapter about Harry's mental disorders, that sounds like depression. His sitting around and fantasizing about the EW for three months rather than acting in any way is classic depressive behavior.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-24 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-25 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-24 09:51 pm (UTC)If the sword rightfully belongs to them, then the sword rightfully belongs to them. It doesn’t matter if they’re nice or mean.
/The Hs don’t like this plan, but they don’t see any alternative/
Because, of course, Dumbledore never told them how they could destroy Horcruxes. This plan wouldn’t be considered necessary if the Trio knew of other ways to destroy Horcruxes. But for some reason, in all of his sessions with Harry in HBP, Dumbledore never deemed it important to tell him how a Horcrux could be destroyed.
/“Griphook was unexpectedly bloodthirsty, laughed at the idea of pain in lesser creatures, and seemed to relish the possibility that they might have to hurt other wizards to reach the Lestranges’ vault/
Um, when? When was Griphook ever “bloodthirsty” or sadistic until this book? Back when Harry met him in PS/SS, he didn’t come across either of those things. He wasn’t a “fluffy little bunny,” true, but he didn’t give any indication of being actively malicious. Is this supposed to justify Harry’s plan to cheat him? Because if so, then that’s just backpedaling and character assassination.
/he’s just like James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Fred, George, Albus, Gellert, and, um, who else?/
Aw, how could you forget Tom? ;)
/Bill and Fleur’s hospitality is not really something Harry needs to feel bad about, since it’s apparently their only contribution to the war effort./
Which is funny, considering that we had that recent Pottermore post that describes how Fleur received an award for her part in the war effort.
/Why does he feel guilty about things he’s not responsible for, but not feel guilty for things he is responsible for, such as committing a series of violent felonies in second year, or slashing Draco open in sixth year?/
Because the narrative doesn’t. And if the narrative doesn’t, how can Harry?
/Remus asks Harry to be godfather/
Even though Harry is seventeen. Even though Harry has no experience raising children. Even though Harry is on the run. Even though people around Harry die on an frequent basis. Even though Harry is the most wanted man at the moment, singled out by the Dark Lord himself.
Yeah, Remus, he’s the PERFECT person to appoint as guardian to your son, should something happen to you and your wife! *facepalm*
/Harry feels uncomfortable, “as if a small snake had stirred inside him.” More snake-slandering, as if anything negative in Harry’s life has to be described in serpentine terms./
Which is interesting considering that this is where Harry is feeling remorse or guilt, hence his feeling uncomfortable. When, of course, the whole problem with Voldemort, who’s the person most obsessed with snakes in this series, is that he can’t feel remorse.
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Date: 2014-01-29 12:32 am (UTC)Quote: Aikaterini: Even though Harry is seventeen. Even though Harry has no experience raising children. Even though Harry is on the run. Even though people around Harry die on an frequent basis. Even though Harry is the most wanted man at the moment, singled out by the Dark Lord himself.
Yeah, Remus, he’s the PERFECT person to appoint as guardian to your son, should something happen to you and your wife! *facepalm*
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When you think about it Remus is acting just like James (and Lily?) here. They chose a slightly older boy who however was considerably less mature than Harry. Even though they have been warned that one of their friends is a DE spy. And then they make a plan that intends to have that very godfather running around playing DE bait to lead the DEs away from the SecretKeeper Peter.
I have Lily in question here because I'm not positive that she had full information here to make a decision. I'm not even convinced SHE even had any say in it at all.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 09:34 pm (UTC)He would if he thought it was what Dumbledore wanted him to do. And if he still couldn't, Hermione could.
"Uh oh. Now I’m imagining Bugs Bunny as Harry Potter battling Elmer Fudd as Voldemort, with the late, great Mel Blanc doing both voices, and some classical music as a soundtrack, maybe the second movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. That would be hilarious--and so much better and smarter than what we actually got. "
Pfft. Elmer Fudd alone could run circles around these two dummies in DH. Calling in Bugs Bunny would be like taking out a couple ants with a nuke. Of course raising the competence level will improve the story. ;)
"Harry comes up with the idea of promising Griphook the sword--after they’ve used it to destroy all the Horcruces. If that takes years, well, too bad. “For the greater good,” and all that. At least he has the decency to feel ashamed of himself, although such feelings don’t count for much if they don’t alter behavior."
I would have no problem with this deal if the Trio had just been honest with Griphook about what they needed. They didn't even have to mention Horcruxes if they wanted to maintain secrecy, just explain that the sword was the only weapon capable of defeating Voldemort and that they would return the sword as soon as their mutual enemy was gone. Given that Griphook has already paid a tremendous price to resist the DEs and is currently scheming to help them break into Gringott's, despite the goblins' pride in their bank's reputation for nigh impenetrable security and his present predicament being due to his refusal to do something unbecoming of a goblin, this should be a STRONG clue that he'd be very receptive to any course of action likely to wipe out his primary enemy.
Seriously, it's like HRH have come to regard secrecy and deception as virtues in their own right instead of means to an end.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:50 pm (UTC)Um, yes; we're talking Dumbledore's acolyted here. Duh!