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

[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.