pauraque_bk | PS 17

For me the highlight of Chapter 16 was this line of discussion, including talk of the obstacle course, and Why McGonagall Is Everso Evil.

PS 17: The Man with Two Faces

It was Quirrell. (209)

This, of course, is what makes the book worthwhile. Harry is wrong; his perceptions have deceived him. Snape is good but not nice. Quirrell appears a pitable but harmless wreck, but turns out to be a snake in the grass (rather like another pitiable, stammering wreck his father once knew).

It didn't take long for Harry to learn that there is more in himself than is readily apparent; it takes until this moment for him to work out that the same is true of others. This is a core issue that he's still grappling with through the end of OotP.

'You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school at Hallowe'en like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone.' (210)

The implication here is that V isn't all that interested in killing Harry, just in getting the Stone -- Harry is a nuisance, not a primary foe. I wonder if Quirrell is misrepresenting V's state of mind (or if V has been lying to Quirrell), or if V's obsession with Harry only takes form after this incident.

'But Snape always seemed to hate me so much.'

'Oh, he does,' said Quirrell casually, 'heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead.' (210)

Hm. Quirrell seems too young to have been at school with Snape et al. And as Quirrell mentions a bit earlier, Snape didn't tell the other teachers why he was refereeing the Quidditch match, so I'm not sure why Quirrell knew... well, maybe because he was aware of Snape countering his curse at the other game. But in any case, Quirrell appears to have an easy familiarity with Snape's state of mind.

'I met him when I travelled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it[...]' (211)

This is a fairly Satanic (LaVeyan, not devil-worshipping) sentiment. Amoral. Self-centered. Not opposing the forces of good, but refusing to acknowledge them at all.

'What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!'

[Voldemort:] 'Use the boy... Use the boy...' (211)

Well, clever old Voldemort. I think the idea here is that he's aware of Harry's thoughts.

[Voldemort:] '[...]I have form only when I can share another's body ... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds[...]' (213)

V only becomes a psychologically realistic character in CoS, when we learn of some of his motivations. Here, he's simply a manifestation of Evil, The Devil, given life by individuals who are tempted by his promises.

Later, when V is read more realistically, he becomes more the archetype of the Hitler-like charismatic madman, whose true danger is not his own power or his own insanity, but his capacity to seduce sane men to his cause.

[Voldemort:] '[Your parents] died begging me for mercy...'

'LIAR!' Harry shouted suddenly.

'How touching,' [Voldemort] hissed. 'I always value bravery ... Yes, boy, your parents were brave ... I killed your father first and he put up a courageous fight ... but your mother needn't have died ... she was trying to protect you ... Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain.' (213)

Though a Slytherin, V claims to admire bravery. He does need courageous followers willing to risk it all for him... or he could simply be playing on Harry's emotions.

[H]e could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of 'KILL HIM! KILL HIM!' and other voices, maybe in Harry's own head, crying, 'Harry! Harry!' (214)

Dumbledore's voice? Something else?

[Dumbledore:] '[...]Professor Quirrell did not take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say.'

'You got there? You got Hermione's owl?'

'We must have crossed in mid-air. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you--' (215)

Hm. Well, I don't know how far I believe this. It took until he got to London, and then he suddenly realized? And he got there just in the nick of time, even though Hermione never had the chance to send her owl (as she later says)?

'Oh, you know about Nicolas?' said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. 'You did do the thing properly, didn't you?[...]' (215)

Yes, D is very pleased indeed with what Harry's done. No indication at all that Harry should have been more careful, or come to a teacher first, or might have considered acting differently in any way. D is thrilled that Harry's passed his little test.

[Dumbledore:] '[...]After all, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure[...]' (215)

We don't know yet that immortality was one of V's original goals (his name notwithstanding), but D lays it out for us here: the desire for immortality is -- if not necessarily a sin -- a mark of madness. Fascinating that D helped Flamel with his work (though not on the Stone -- that was centuries ago).

'No, Harry, [Voldemort] has not [gone]. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share ... not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems like a losing batle next time -- and if he is delayed again, and again, why he may never return to power.' (216)

Well, where was he gonna go? Detroit? (Albania!)

Ahem. Yes, V is certainly The Devil here. D is careful to point out that his promises to his followers are indeed empty: Quirrell gets only death for his efforts. And V does seem to be painted as the perpetual manifestation of potential evil.

It will take someone else who is prepared to fight a losing battle... Huh. Is it possible that Dumbledore set this whole thing up partly to demonstrate to still-living DEs that they shouldn't dare attempt resurrect V, lest they meet Quirrell's fate?

Peter is ultimately willing to take on the task, but only after his cover has been blown. He's already seen Harry defeat V (or manifestations of him) three times by then.

'The truth.' Dumbledore sighed. 'It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie.' (216)

V is The Devil, thus Dumbledore is God in this book... he manipulates the "human" characters with judicious use of information, but doesn't tell outright lies (that we know of for sure).

'[...]If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love[...]' (216)

Yeah, another theme we've got going here. D doesn't say that V is incapable of love, or has never been loved, by the way... he says he can't *understand* love.

In any case, it reads like Lily is Love and V is Anti-Love, and when they meet it's like matter and anti-matter. Kaboom.

'Ah -- your father happened to leave [the cloak] in my possession and I thought you might like it.' Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. 'Useful things ... your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here.' (217)

Harry doesn't react to this, but gee. Paints James as a petty (even greedy) trouble-maker, doesn't it.

'Quirrell said Snape--'

'Professor Snape, Harry.' (217)

At first glance this appears to be a rare attempt at granting Snape some dignity. In fact, Dumbledore also calls Quirrell "Professor Quirrell" in this section, so I don't really know what it is. If it is an attempt to indicate to Harry that Snape deserves respect, it's pretty rich when you consider what's about to happen to Slytherin House.

'[...]You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone -- find it, but not use it -- would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life[...]' (217)

Actually, Quirrell sees himself presenting the stone to Voldemort (210).

'D'you think he meant you to do it?' said Ron. 'Sending you your father's Cloak and everything?'

'Well,' Hermione exploded, 'if he did -- I mean to say -- that's terrible -- you could have been killed.'

'No, it isn't,' said Harry thoughtfully. 'He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the Mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could...' (218-219)

Well, I'll be damned. I didn't remember this passage being so specific and strongly-worded. Harry doesn't think Dumbledore is testing him as such, nor does he quite think that D set up the obstacle course with him in mind, but he isn't *blind*.

[Hagrid:] '[...]It was the only thing he didn't know an' I told him! Yeh could've died! All fer a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out an' made ter live as a Muggle!' (219)

Hagrid doesn't stop drinking, of course, which (along with the fact that he drinks alone) feeds the idea that he's an alcoholic. I don't know if that's fair or not. He certainly doesn't learn from his mistakes.

Harry could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight. (221)

dracogobletotp!

'Ahem,' said Dumbledore. 'I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes[...]' (221)

Sigh. Okay. I've heard the arguments for why this happens... that Dumbledore is trying to encourage Harry, that he's trying to encourage Neville, and so on. But even if you buy that, it's utterly unnecessary to put up the Slytherin decorations and let the kids get all excited, only to snatch the victory away. Sure, the Trio did some impressive stuff -- but they also lost 150 points fair and square. And is Dumbledore saying that the Slytherin kids were undeserving? All of them? It's cruel, and intentionally so, and I don't like it.

'There are all kinds of courage,' said Dumbledore, smiling. 'It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom.' (221)

This passage encourages some readers to compare Neville to Peter. But while Peter certainly had the balls to betray his closest friends, I don't see what he did as even remotely close to what Neville did. You know I love Peter, but the fact is that Neville has a moral compass -- Peter doesn't.

They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. (222)

Again, Goyle gets no love. There are no mentions of people who actually did get held back.

'Oh, I will,' said Harry, and they were surprised at the grin that was spreading over his face. 'They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer...' (223)

The end. Wrap-up post in a couple of days.

Memories are temporarily down on my cluster, but when they're back up, past re-read posts will be ici.