art recs :: CoS 10

[pauraque_bk]

I make no secret of my love for kaptainsnot's art. Here are two recent pieces that exemplify something she's really tops at: expressions.

Vanilla Afternoon (G, Snape/Harry)
Look at Snape's face. Sneering, yet there's some strange affection there. The nostalgic old-photograph-ness of it... mm.

Sacrifice (G, Padfoot)
I said: "Superb! Padfoot's expression (whole body, as it should be with a dog) says it all: In his mind, it's Peter."


*

Great discussion on the last chapter. Talk of the reasons Hogwarts may have been founded here and here, and discussion of what Snape found funny about Mrs Norris's petrification here. (On that last one, I have to say, I still don't get it. Is this something we were supposed to really notice? One of the "questions we haven't been asking"?)

Oh, and an observation from jheaton that made me grin:

"Something else to ponder: if Hogwarts was founded in 992 or thereabouts, then the entire British public school system must have been deliberately patterned after Hogwarts."


CoS 10: The Rogue Bludger

We're at the halfway mark -- nine chapters down, nine to go.

Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. (122)

I hate to say it, but doesn't this remind you of Hagrid? Hagrid isn't as bad a teacher as Lockhart, but he did make a similar mistake, with a similar result.

Instead, he read passages from his books to them, and sometikmes re-enacted some of the more dramatic bits. [...] Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their very next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting a werewolf.
[...]
'[...]I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm [...] and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective -- and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks.' (122)

Lockhart confesses to having stolen the brave deeds of others, but can that possibly be the case here? Does the Homorphus Charm a) exist, and b) do what Lockhart implies it does? If Lockhart is saying the man was cured, he thoroughly contradicts the way lycanthropy is presented in PoA. Or does he mean that forcing the man back to human form allowed him to be identified, and imprisoned or killed?

Any thoughts on the significance of Harry acting the part of a werewolf?

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet. (122)

I keep thinking I'm going to mention this, and then not -- there are bells at Hogwarts to signal the start and end of class. I always forget this, and I think other people do as well, possibly because it seems so incongruous. Can't we at least get a bell tower tolling or something?

[Lockhart] pulled out an enormous peacock quill. 'Yes, nice, isn't it?' he said, misreading the revolted look on Ron's face. 'I usually save it for book-signings.'
He scrawled an enormous loopy signature[...] (123)

Someone tell JKR not to use the word 'enormous' twice in as many paragraphs.

Although JKR's narrative is sometimes awkward and rarely poetic, her dialogue is consistently excellent.

There were bright pink patches on [Hermione's] cheeks and her eyes were brighter than usual. 'I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion[...]'
'I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules,' said Ron. (125)

Ron doesn't react to the fact that what Hermione's saying is that she's afraid for her _own_ safety, and shouldn't that come before rules in her friends minds? Harry doesn't seem to pick up on it either. Although he does have a lot of compassionate responses in this book (to Dobby, to Filch), he doesn't appear very affected by how terrifying this must be for Hermione. He does "fiercely" insist that he should be there to protect her (134), but so far I haven't seen any signs of empathy.

[George:] 'I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing[...]' (132)

Quite right, he was too busy laughing at Harry's predicament with the Bludger. In Chapter 7, neotoma commented that Draco must have at least some skill or they wouldn't let him on the team and ruin their chances of winning. At this juncture it seems that he has some skill, but doesn't take the game seriously enough.

'Ah, if Harry Potter only knew!' Dobby groaned [...]. 'If he knew what he means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, us dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He Who Must Not Be Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elves were treated like vermin, sir![...]' (133)

I still haven't answered the question of why this should be so to my own satisfaction, though there was a great deal of useful talk about it back in Chapter 2.

'Another attack,' said Dumbledore. 'Minerva found [Colin] on the stairs.'
'There was a bunch of grapes next to him,' said Professor McGonagall. 'We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter.' (135)

Why grapes? Am I missing something?


Past re-read posts are here.

Comments

[exbentley]

there are bells at Hogwarts to signal the start and end of class.

You've just answered the question I was about to ask the fandom (in general.)

I suppose it could just be magical.

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

The Homorphus Charm -- that is something I've always been confused over. It can either mean to keep a man from changing, or to change a man back from his werewolf state, depending on whether it's Latin or Greek -- but both seem just as unlikely. I do think it would have come up in PoA if it were true, or that Hermione, if not Lupin himself, would have brought it up. I think that if anything, it is a way to identify a werewolf -- perhaps certain features are morphed back, but the nature of the beast remains. More of a regressive-transfiguration type of spell than anything resembling a cure for lycanthropy, perhaps using an under-the-surface magical signature of the person to reveal the wolf's identity.

Hm, and I remember finding the comment about grapes amusing, thinking it having to do with Creevy's near worship of Harry. I doubt it was meant to be funny, what with the tragedy at hand, but it made me chortle the first time around. Creevy -- he had grapes with him, he must have been on his way to Harry's feet.

-hugs- I cannot tell you how happy I become when you recommend my art. Your comments are always insightful and make me believe that what I dream of expressing is brought across, and that means everything to me. Thank you!

[pauraque]

More of a regressive-transfiguration type of spell than anything resembling a cure for lycanthropy, perhaps using an under-the-surface magical signature of the person to reveal the wolf's identity.

Yeah, this is about where I was going. Chalk up the rest to Lockhart's imagination, his emphasis on the "saved the village from attack" rather than "killed the werewolf".

Creevy -- he had grapes with him, he must have been on his way to Harry's feet.

Is there some significance of grapes that I'm missing?

Thank you!

Don't thank me, just keep making great art. :*

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

Well, I always had this very vague idea, coming back from Greek myths, of servants and worshipers of a certain emperor, god, what have you -- feeding them grapes. There are sculptures that depict this, and while it might have simply been because of their abundance, it was a common motif. [I just asked someone on AIM about this to check if I was off my perch or not, but they seemed to understand]

Aaah, this was probably not intentional, but it always did strike me as funny, considering the way Creevy fawned over him. The last straw would have been feeding him grapes to the mouth.

Don't thank me, just keep making great art. :*

;] Hey, you're an inspiration! That's enough to give you my gratitude.

[pauraque]

Oh, I guess I see what you mean. "Peel me a grape" and so on.

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

Yes. -shrugs- It's a pretty lame connection, but otherwise it seemed...rather random. It was probably a simple matter of "If Creevy were sneaking off anywhere, it'd be to Potter's". Perhaps he simply didn't want to arrive empty-handed -- and grapes seemed as good a choice as any, its cultural implication just an add-in.

Also, to just make a comment on Draco and Quidditch -- I think it simply serves as yet another reminder that while both Draco and Harry have some sort of fame, Malfoys well known among wizards and Harry being who he is, they have almost opposite reactions toward it. Harry, wishing to be distinguished for his talent or ability as opposed to the scar on his head, actually pours effort into Quidditch, the thing he most excels at. Draco, however, is comfortable with sliding by, for he knows there will always be his name and fortune to keep him out of social shadow. Obvious, perhaps, but it's good to see this represented through something so general as the wizarding sport.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

If people are visiting someone in hospital, it's traditional to take a bunch of grapes as a gift (like flowers, or something). Presumably because they're small and easy-ish to eat. I would think that it's more likely JKR is referring to this in Creevey's case. She could have said that he was bringing flowers, but then all the slashers' alarm bells would have started ringing!

[pauraque]

It's a British tradition? That makes it make more sense, then.

And yes, I think flowers could have been a bit excessive... though not far off, since it's Colin.

[kaptainsnot.livejournal.com]

Aah, that makes a lot more sense, yes. It's interesting, I hadn't heard of it.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's a British tradition. Strange what things don't translate, isn't it? I kinda assumed it happened everywhere

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

It's a tradition familiar to me as an Australian (certainly my immediate assumption was that Colin was hospital-visiting with the trad gift - it is also trad for the bringer rather than the patient to scoff the grapes). Now I wonder if the familiarity is completely derived from literature - no one ever brought me grapes!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I dunno...that seems like a bit much to take out of this incident. I think the kid wants to win at Quidditch as much as the next person. Malfoy would certainly like to have his name mean something, but it seems like he's been insecure about that since Year 1 thanks to Harry. If he were really that secure and happy to slide by I don't think he'd care about Harry so much.

I thought it was just supposed to be another ha-ha moment to Malfoy, that his obsession with Harry (which would trump his interest in Quidditch no matter how much he wanted to win) not only made him miss the Snitch but get yelled at by his captain. Plus the very thing that should be keeping Harry from winning ends up helping him, because it distracts the other Seeker. It's a good way of integrating the bludger into the narrative of the game so one thing leads to another.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Ron doesn't react to the fact that what Hermione's saying is that she's afraid for her _own_ safety, and shouldn't that come before rules in her friends minds?

Um...crap, I never picked up on that either, just lumped it in with Hermione's idealism--I guess because she speaks in the third person without (here or anywhere else) giving any indication that she fears for herself personally, other than that one facial expression.

[pauraque]

Hermione's not extremely demonstrative in general. I usually feel like I have a better handle on what Ron is feeling at any given moment; he never hesitates to speak up.

I think Hermione's often torn in this regard. She tries to hide herself from her friends, yet she's upset when they don't get her subtle signals.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Sheesh. In her own way, she's as bad as Cho.

[pauraque]

Well, it's not for nothing that she's able to explain Cho's actions. It doesn't bug me with Hermione, though, maybe because it's more subtly done.

[seventines.livejournal.com]

What I'm interested in is why clothing or lack thereof is bound up with the enslavement of the house elves: "This, sir?" said Dobby, plucking at the pillowcase. "'Tis a mark of the house-elf's enslavement, sir."

Why clothes? That's a funny spell. Does it imply that house-elves did not wear clothes before they were enslaved? Or that something about the clothes they wore was significant and had to be contolled? It seems more sinister than a simple uniform.

Re: the grapes. Harry was in the infirmary. It's usual to bring grapes to someone in hospital. I don't know why. It used to be traditional to bring a bottle of Lucozade as well (this probably doesn't pass cultural boundaries) until it was pointed out that bringing a bottle of sugary fizz to someone who was ill might not be a good idea.

[pauraque]

Back in Chapter 2, neotoma mentioned that Brownies (the legendary creature house-elves appear to be based on) have the same thing of leaving when given clothes. The comment's here.

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

That's almost certainly the literary origin. I keep being tantalized by a reason based in my theories, but can't quite solidify it. Something regarding the fact that subservience/dominance in elves is closely tied to sexual maturity. Clothes could have been worn only by sexually active house elves, only by those who had any sexuality to conceal, i.e. the patriarchs and matriarchs, the dominant memebers of the society.

An unclothed state is then a mark of subservience, and a possibly a cultural-psychological reinforcement of that state. But the wizards were also prudes and disturbed by their servants running around totally naked, so the covered them up in not-clothes.

Something like that.

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

Did I mention my answer to this question (http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/n/a/nakedcelt/brownie.jpg.html)? I think I did...

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

Which part, exactly? If you mean it's a reference to brownies, I agree. If you mean that House Elves are naturally nudists and clothing them is part of their subjugation, I'm not sure I can get behind you, since clothing them is what _frees_ them. What do you mean, exactly?

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

Well, the impression I got from the brownie stories, and tried to express in that picture, was that giving them clothes is offensive because it suggests they are dependent on your bounty; they'll work for you for a pittance, say a bowl of milk or whatever, but they insist on their own independence.

In which context, it's worth noting that only Dobby welcomes clothing and refers to his place in the Malfoy household as "enslavement". I think it's a place to start in trying to understand why the other house-elves "don't want freedom"; what they don't want is to have their freedom served up to them as a gift by oh-so-magnanimous humans. They find it patronizing.

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

Hmm, mm-hm. It's a good point, but I'm still not sure if it applies to house elves as it does to brownies. Brownies leave if you insult them by leaving them clothes. House elves don't have a choice in the matter, they _must_ take the clothes, and they _must_ leave service.

Winky doesn't feel offended, or patronized when she's given clothes and freedom, she is distressed by a connection that is severed.

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

I think there's at least an element of offended dignity in the Hogwarts house-elves' response to Hermione in the kitchen scenes in GoF, though.

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

I'm following this discussion with interest, having been brought to it from sedesdraconis's house-elf sociobiology post. I gather you don't mind being friended, so I'm doing that, now I'm up to date with your CoS posts. I think I may go back later and work through the PoA set, but not tonight!

[pauraque]

Don't mind at all. Welcome. :)

[seventines.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point. I wonder are we entirely dependent on learning boundaries between safe/unsafe from our parents going "darling, don't do that", if you know what I mean. I can't imagine the Dursleys spending much time protecting Harry - but then again the fact that he has survived until 11 without killing himself suggests that they must have intervened occasionally.

Equally, you could argue that a child who was never told not to do dangerous things would be more frightened - having learned the hard/painful way what the consequences of risky actions might be.

You've made me think a bit here. I'll go off and mull it over for a while :D

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine the Dursleys spending much time protecting Harry - but then again the fact that he has survived until 11 without killing himself suggests that they must have intervened occasionally.

I think maybe most of Harry's lessons with regard to danger came from watching/overhearing Petunia overprotecting Dudley. Harry, observing from the sidelines, can see that the majority of what Petunia dithers on about isn't really dangerous at all. Combine that with the fact that nobody seemed to particularly care about Harry's safety, and you might get a fairly cynical kid who knows danger when he *sees* it, and doesn't worry about it unless he does.

I was always kind of struck by his lack of fear in POA--it's as if he honestly couldn't care less that a madman was looking to kill him. He'd deal with Sirius if Sirius showed up, and until/unless that happened he had other things to worry about. I think that could be a weakness in his personality--he doesn't seem to really recognize that danger can exist, and threaten him personally, even when it isn't right under his nose.

I also think there's a part of Harry that simply doesn't *recognize* his own fear, possibily because there were no adults in his life to identify the emotion for him. He's all about doing what has to be done (rescuing the stone, rescuing Ginny, rescuing Ron, competing in the Triwizard tournament). The closest he seems to get is severe nerves and the worry that he might fail--it never occurs to him that a thing is simply too dangerous to *do*. IMO Harry is *far* more sensitive to and fearful of embarrassment than he is actual danger.

[seventines.livejournal.com]

The Hermione thing isn't really so surprising. It's boys aged 11-16 that clutter up the casualty deparments as a result of impulsive and dangerous actions. Girls tend to be less impulsive and better able to see the consequences of their actions.

But Harry is particularly bad at seeing that personal danger (which he's slow to recognise) is often dangerous for one's friends as well.

[pauraque]

Casualty department=emergency room?

[seventines.livejournal.com]

Yes. I forgot :) They're not even called casualty here any more. I'm just still scarred from losing three participants from a research project due to broken wrist & broken toe (Skateboard related) and broken leg (fell out of tree). So I ended up with too many Hermiones and not enough Harrys. Alas. I really love teenagers, or I wouldn't work with them. I guess.

[pauraque]

He does get extremely nervous before each Task in GoF, and often before important Quidditch matches. But I think you're right, he doesn't recognize/name it as "fear" per se, nor (as I recall) does he consider backing out of things once he's agreed to them.

Also, those two cases are both games -- artificial danger. People certainly get hurt at Quidditch and in the Tournament, but death isn't a primary risk. You're right, he doesn't react with that kind of anxiety when he thinks Sirius is after him.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

Ack - I should've been more specific -- I didn't mean Harry rescuing Ron during the Triwizard tournament, I meant in POA when Harry and Hermione followed him when the 'grim' broke his leg dragging him into the Whomping Willow/Shrieking Shack.

And I agree that the Triwizard Tournament was a game, but contestents had died in the past, and Harry was only 14 and therefore lacking in some of the training that the others had. While it was artificial danger (or was supposed to be) I think Harry was in more danger than Fleur, Cedric or Viktor, who were all of age *and* the legitimate choices of the cup.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I believe grapes are a traditional "visiting the sick" food. Easy to eat and juicy.

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

Any thoughts on the significance of Harry acting the part of a werewolf?

Just one. "Meep."

Although he does have a lot of compassionate responses in this book (to Dobby, to Filch), he doesn't appear very affected by how terrifying this must be for Hermione.

True. Possibly it's a reflection of Harry's maturity level? Because I just this morning was reading "The Dark Mark" in GoF, and in that scene Harry does consider that Hermione has more to fear than Ron or himself. (If Ron does, I don't think we're party to it.) Of course, Malfoy had just pointed out as much. Maybe he's just thick.

Why grapes? Am I missing something?

I wondered that too! The problem is grapes seem to symbolize everything from blood and sacrifice to the chains of materialism. I did find this one nifty verse though:

For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

Ha ha, want some grapes, little boy?

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that I totally agree Hagrid and Lockhart's teaching fiasco's were the same, though I can't deny they had the same result.

Hagrid never really lost control of Buckbeak save when a student specifically did the exact thing he had said not to do at the begining of the class. I don't see Hagrid's mistake here, except to be momentarily distracted and not stop Draco in time. But even afterwards, he was clearly in control of Buckbeak.

So, I don't know, it seems like it would be saying it was a teacher's mistake if the student not listening to the blow torch demonstration burned their hands off because they used it wrong. They were a moron and the reason we go over general safety is because the teacher can't watch 20 people at the same time.

So Hagrid went over general safety and Draco was a moron and got is armed wrecked.

To me, that differs radically from Lockhart who clearly understood nothing about the pixies or how to handle themm and he was the person who released them into the room in the first place. He never had any control over anything and if some pixie had gouged out a kids eye or something, he's be totally at fault. Esepcially for leaving the class room

Now, Hagrid in GoF, I don't know. The Blast ended thingies were dumb IMHO, and I don't understand, why if there's a ban on exrimental breeding, Hagrid's not in trouble. Besides that they were unknown, and dangerous. Ins't that kinda like Snape creating new potions and forcing the students to test them out on themselves?

But then you're not doing GoF yet are you ^^

[pauraque]

As I said, I do agree that Hagrid isn't as incompetent as Lockhart, but I don't think it was particularly responsible of him to bring in a bunch of hippogriffs (there _was_ a whole herd of them in the book) and expect these 13-year-old kids not to get hurt. He may be able to control them, but he's a big guy and an animal expert.

I also think he made the error for a similar reason Lockhart brought in the pixies: He wanted to impress the kids on his first day.

[hermione-like.livejournal.com]

Any thoughts on the significance of Harry acting the part of a werewolf?

I'm wondering if it's some sort of symbolism for Harry and his own inner demons--a way of JKR comparing Harry to werewolves. Lupin, for example, literally transforms into his demon, but Harry's inner demons are more subtle. For instance, Harry took on some of Voldemort's powers when he was attacked the first time, and Harry questions who he is throughout CoS because of almost being put in Slytherin. He is just finding out he can speak Parseltongue as well, and people are accusing him of being the Heir of Slytherin. Harry really starts wondering here if he is bad or if he could turn evil, since the Sorting Hat thought so (according to him).

Obviously, there's also the tie to PoA because that's where Harry's relationship to Voldemort evolves even more. We already know he's angry and sad that his parents were killed, but it becomes even more personal with Sirius on the loose, and then later on hearing that Sirius suspected Lupin, the werewolf. I'm sure others have thought of this, although I've never seen it brought up, but I think Lupin's being a werewolf factored into Sirius thinking Lupin was the traitor (and not just the fact that no one thought it was Peter). Voldemort would want dark creatures to help him so why not try to manipulate some into helping him? Knowing that Lupin is a werewolf might have affected his thoughts on that.

Going back to CoS then, until Harry (and we the readers) come to know Lupin, we think werewolves are bad. They're regular people who transform and do bad things, but who knows if they even remember hurting people in their werewolf state? Harry questioning if he is the Heir of Slyterin is very similar to that--did he do something that he wasn't aware of? And then we get it again when it's revealed it was Ginny who did everything but was not aware of it.

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

Why grapes? Am I missing something?

Well, fresh fruit in the late fall/early winter in Scotland would be a treat indeed. PErhaps grapes is a favorite of Harry's. Colin is a Big Name Fan of Harry ( even Dumbledore says so)and was probably trying to court him with a treat. ( As children do- I saw boys and girls buy little treats for people they wanted to be friends with.)

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

Grapes is a tradional "British" gift to those in hospital. I think JKR was playing on that.