Deathly Hallows, chapter 19
Jun. 15th, 2009 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockThe Silver Doe
* What is it with the Potters and animals of the deer family? James's Animagus form is a stag, and now we find out that Snape associates Lily with a doe. Though according to Dictionary.com, a doe can be the female of, among others, deer, antelope, goat and rabbit. I think I prefer to think Lily is a female rabbit. Or a goat. So that she can be paired with Aberforth's goat.
* A wreath of Christmas roses? What's that? Is it some kind of English custom to have roses on Christmas?
* Harry imagines someone is calling out to him in the distance. It is Ron, of course, who would rather call out to Harry than Hermione, because he is so much more important to Ron than her.
* Why is Hermione reading A History of Magic? Doesn't she remember it by heart already?
* Why is Harry wearing the Horcrux again? Wouldn't it be safer in his pouch? I would have imagined that Harry and Hermione would have realized how stupid it was to wear the Horcrux around your neck. But I need not wonder. Whatever stupid thing Harry can think of doing, he will do it.
* Oh, so it's bitterly cold in the Forest of Dean, is it? As someone who hails from Lapland, I snap my fingers at your bitter coldness. Apparently wizards can manufacture tents that are as spacious as a real house but not tents that are warm.
* Harry feels as though he is recuperating from some brief but serious illness, an impression reinforced by Hermione's solicitousness. That's because he must turn everything into high drama. One would think that after meeting Voldemort so many times, another confrontation would not faze him, but apparently it was enough to make him lose his sleep.
* Harry is wearing all the sweaters he owned, but he is still shivery. Apparently wizards can't make warm clothes either. Or maybe they are Dudley's cast-offs, which makes me wonder why Harry has continued to wear them even after he came to money? Or is it fanon that he wears them? I can't remember.
* Or maybe it's not wizards who can't make warm clothes. Maybe it's the English. At the very least they can't make warm houses. I once read a Finn who had lived in England write that he had never felt so cold in Finland as he had felt in an English house.
* Harry was on the point of taking out the Marauder's Map, so as to watch Ginny's dot for a while. Creepy, or what?
* So Harry follows the deer. Without telling Hermione where he is going. Is the boy stupid, or what? Oh, but he knows this is no Dark Magic. Of course it isn't, it's a Patronus. Doesn't mean a Death Eater couldn't have cast it.
* By the way, how does Snape know where Harry and Hermione are?
* He thinks the doe is going to speak to him. Which she would do only once she had led him deep into the forest.
* Oh, now Harry considers whether the doe has led him into an ambush. Our glorious hero. Stupid as a sock. (And possibly quite as smelly, too, if he has continued to bathe as often as he did at Hogwarts.)
* I'd like to know why the sword must be at the bottom of a pool.
* Harry remembers that "their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart". Well, if you consider foolhardiness to be daring and nerve, then it's true, as far as that goes. But chivalry? Maybe from someone like Neville, but Harry? Our resident drama queen?
* The description of Harry drowning? Well, let's just say that Rowling reveals another kind of scene she can't write to save her soul.
* Even Ron realizes how stupid it was to dive while wearing the Horcrux. You know, the stupider Harry acts, the more Ron grows on me. Not that he is much better, but at least no anvils of how great and noble he is are dropped constantly on me.
* Harry thinks Ron is supposed to be the one to destroy the locket. "Supposed to"? So now Harry wants to abandon being a hero. Of course, JKR only wrote it this way so that we could have the affecting scene of Ron's insecurities being thrown on his face. Puh-leeeze. As if the readers weren't already perfectly aware of what Ron's insecurities are. Must it always be anvils, JKR? They are so heavy.
* Please, no more Harry intuiting (is that a word?) things.
* Harry shouts and bellows and yells at Ron to stab the thing, but Ron does not listen. Yet he still stubbornly insists it's got to Ron who destroys the locket.
* Okay, so I don't really understand why Ron is so fazed with the locket-Harry and Hermione. Surely he has got the two brain cells that are required for him to realize the locket is preying on his fears.
* Now this Hermione I like. Looking demented, putting Harry and Ron in their places. "Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!" Sweet, sweet words. If only she remembered them when Harry was being his usual self. *cheers Hermione on*
* Ah, the magical Deluminator appears. Or rather, Deus Ex Machina, as I prefer to call it. One of many in the series. And of course Dumbledore would know Ron would need it. The man can't stop meddling even after he is dead.
* Ron's pyjamas are maroon. Somehow I'm not surprised. Molly must really hate him, only she can't admit it to herself, so she takes it out in this passive-aggressive way. (I think this last piece is the most interesting bit of the chapter.)
* What is it with the Potters and animals of the deer family? James's Animagus form is a stag, and now we find out that Snape associates Lily with a doe. Though according to Dictionary.com, a doe can be the female of, among others, deer, antelope, goat and rabbit. I think I prefer to think Lily is a female rabbit. Or a goat. So that she can be paired with Aberforth's goat.
* A wreath of Christmas roses? What's that? Is it some kind of English custom to have roses on Christmas?
* Harry imagines someone is calling out to him in the distance. It is Ron, of course, who would rather call out to Harry than Hermione, because he is so much more important to Ron than her.
* Why is Hermione reading A History of Magic? Doesn't she remember it by heart already?
* Why is Harry wearing the Horcrux again? Wouldn't it be safer in his pouch? I would have imagined that Harry and Hermione would have realized how stupid it was to wear the Horcrux around your neck. But I need not wonder. Whatever stupid thing Harry can think of doing, he will do it.
* Oh, so it's bitterly cold in the Forest of Dean, is it? As someone who hails from Lapland, I snap my fingers at your bitter coldness. Apparently wizards can manufacture tents that are as spacious as a real house but not tents that are warm.
* Harry feels as though he is recuperating from some brief but serious illness, an impression reinforced by Hermione's solicitousness. That's because he must turn everything into high drama. One would think that after meeting Voldemort so many times, another confrontation would not faze him, but apparently it was enough to make him lose his sleep.
* Harry is wearing all the sweaters he owned, but he is still shivery. Apparently wizards can't make warm clothes either. Or maybe they are Dudley's cast-offs, which makes me wonder why Harry has continued to wear them even after he came to money? Or is it fanon that he wears them? I can't remember.
* Or maybe it's not wizards who can't make warm clothes. Maybe it's the English. At the very least they can't make warm houses. I once read a Finn who had lived in England write that he had never felt so cold in Finland as he had felt in an English house.
* Harry was on the point of taking out the Marauder's Map, so as to watch Ginny's dot for a while. Creepy, or what?
* So Harry follows the deer. Without telling Hermione where he is going. Is the boy stupid, or what? Oh, but he knows this is no Dark Magic. Of course it isn't, it's a Patronus. Doesn't mean a Death Eater couldn't have cast it.
* By the way, how does Snape know where Harry and Hermione are?
* He thinks the doe is going to speak to him. Which she would do only once she had led him deep into the forest.
* Oh, now Harry considers whether the doe has led him into an ambush. Our glorious hero. Stupid as a sock. (And possibly quite as smelly, too, if he has continued to bathe as often as he did at Hogwarts.)
* I'd like to know why the sword must be at the bottom of a pool.
* Harry remembers that "their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart". Well, if you consider foolhardiness to be daring and nerve, then it's true, as far as that goes. But chivalry? Maybe from someone like Neville, but Harry? Our resident drama queen?
* The description of Harry drowning? Well, let's just say that Rowling reveals another kind of scene she can't write to save her soul.
* Even Ron realizes how stupid it was to dive while wearing the Horcrux. You know, the stupider Harry acts, the more Ron grows on me. Not that he is much better, but at least no anvils of how great and noble he is are dropped constantly on me.
* Harry thinks Ron is supposed to be the one to destroy the locket. "Supposed to"? So now Harry wants to abandon being a hero. Of course, JKR only wrote it this way so that we could have the affecting scene of Ron's insecurities being thrown on his face. Puh-leeeze. As if the readers weren't already perfectly aware of what Ron's insecurities are. Must it always be anvils, JKR? They are so heavy.
* Please, no more Harry intuiting (is that a word?) things.
* Harry shouts and bellows and yells at Ron to stab the thing, but Ron does not listen. Yet he still stubbornly insists it's got to Ron who destroys the locket.
* Okay, so I don't really understand why Ron is so fazed with the locket-Harry and Hermione. Surely he has got the two brain cells that are required for him to realize the locket is preying on his fears.
* Now this Hermione I like. Looking demented, putting Harry and Ron in their places. "Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!" Sweet, sweet words. If only she remembered them when Harry was being his usual self. *cheers Hermione on*
* Ah, the magical Deluminator appears. Or rather, Deus Ex Machina, as I prefer to call it. One of many in the series. And of course Dumbledore would know Ron would need it. The man can't stop meddling even after he is dead.
* Ron's pyjamas are maroon. Somehow I'm not surprised. Molly must really hate him, only she can't admit it to herself, so she takes it out in this passive-aggressive way. (I think this last piece is the most interesting bit of the chapter.)
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Part Two
Date: 2009-06-15 01:42 pm (UTC)Possible Reason 1 - The sword had to be won by an act of bravery - like pulling it out of a rock - not just left lying around for someone to pick up. When instructing Snape, Dumbledore should have made it clear that there had to be some large obstacle to overcome. (I don’t remember what was said) Snape could even have replied that he knew just the thing for a hero such as Potter. JKR would stop the inevitable comparisons to Excalibur if it was obviously tongue in cheek. Plus it wasn’t *that* dangerous a resting place. Snape had seen Harry swimming underwater at length in the Second Task, so why should he, or Dumbledore, think Harry would be so very THICK AS PIG SH*T as to wear a Horcrux round his neck while retrieving it?
Possible Reason 2 - Snape was hoping that Harry would drown.
- “Now this Hermione I like. Looking demented, putting Harry and Ron in their places. "Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!" Sweet, sweet words. If only she remembered them when Harry was being his usual self.”
This Hermione seems to surface with Ron or relating to Ron. I think this sometimes emotional, but ferociously strong Hermione is the real one. It might get a bit old, but I think it’s healthier. The timid, scared of standing up to anyone, cringing Hermione is the one which deals directly with Harry and is pathetic. She’s a far more capable person than him, but puts on this weak act which sticks in my throat because he’s the ‘Chosen One’ (it better have nothing to do with gender)
- “Ah, the magical Deluminator appears. Or rather, Deus Ex Machina, as I prefer to call it. One of many in the series. And of course Dumbledore would know Ron would need it. The man can't stop meddling even after he is dead.”
I wish Dumbledore had left Ron Sirius’ mirrors. The way it was written, Harry led Sirius to his death for no reason, as he had them all the time. This made at least one reader despise his intelligence even more. It would be better if they had nothing to do with Sirius. Dumbledore could just think (rightly) they'd be useful, rather than know Ron's character inside out, despite hardly ever talking to him. Yes, they would still be Deus Ex Machina, but far better than suddenly learning that an already established object had a completely new, and 'amazingly useful at that moment in time' function. At least the mirrors, one of which Ron would give to Harry, would be introduced as a method of communication. Harry could just call for Dobby in Malfoy Manor.
- “Molly must really hate him, only she can't admit it to herself, so she takes it out in this passive-aggressive way.”
I don’t think she hates him in particular, I think Ron’s insecurity (did JKR ever mention it?) is more to blame for his feelings in this chapter. As for the pyjamas, I just think she’s a nagging domineering woman who colour coordinates her children and expects everyone to fall into line. Growing up is not an option. Why do you think Bill spent time in Egypt and grows his hair long despite her reaction, or Charlie lives in Romania, or Arthur has a shed? Her reaction to Ron becoming prefect was that everyone in the family had got a badge. Saying that in front of the twins was impressive in its tactlessness. I’m sure they all love her, even as adults, but in small doses.
Re: Part Two
Date: 2009-06-15 03:48 pm (UTC)He could have gone out after information, so we weren't sitting in a tent in a vacuum. He could have been out on an fact-finding mission when the doe showed up and come back early in the nick of time. He could have stormed out exactly as he did, got over his sulks and come back to apoogize -- exactly as he did. But something ought to have made the stupid deluminator an integral part of the story rather than something tossed in only when it was needed, and then forgotten about.
ETA: after all. We knew the Mellenium Falcon existed *before* it showed up in the trench. *That's* what made its appearance so efffective.
Re: Part Two
Date: 2009-06-15 09:21 pm (UTC)Somehow I prefer this explanation. ;-D
because he’s the ‘Chosen One’ (it better have nothing to do with gender)
It may not have anything to do with gender on conscious level, but the gender politics of these books are such that I wouldn't rule that out either.
I don’t think she hates him in particular, I think Ron’s insecurity (did JKR ever mention it?) is more to blame for his feelings in this chapter.
Oh, I don't think Molly really prefers Harry to Ron. It's just Ron's insecurity when it comes to Harry speaking out of the locket. I was merely referring to the pyjamas. I think there's something very unhealthy about the relationship Molly has with her children and with Ron in particular.