"W. F. Zimmerman" <w...@wfzimmerman.com> wrote in message
news:1126635966.923686.119370@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Birthday Surprises ...
> Slughorn to Harry on the bezoar: "You've got nerve, lad, ... you're
> ***like your mother***!"
> Apart from throwing herself to her death to save her infant son, what
> else have we seen Lily do that was nerveful? I guess reforming &
> marrying James could fall under that heading. The bottom line is that
> even though we have finished book six, Harry & we still know very, very
> little about Lily Potter.
Likely Rowling does that for a reason. The more we know about a person, the
more we have to see weaknesses as well as strengths. So far Rowling has
gotten away with Lily being just a perfect mother and woman. So less is more
in this case.
> A bit surprised that the Anglicism "something that looked like cat
> sick" made it through the Americanese translator, but I suppose
> changing it to "cat barf" wouldn't have added much.
With each passing book, Rowling's success earns her a fair amount of say in
what remains in her book and what doesn't.
> When Ron winces at the sound of the name "Voldemort", Harry says
> impatiently to him, "Oh, will you get a **grip**!" This underlines for
> us that Harry is really a very, very advanced DADA student -- Dd being
> the only adult DADA practitioner who can say "that name" with the same
> ease.
I believe that is because Harry wasn't raised to fear the name as Ron was.
Which is it why it is more amazing that Rowling has taken to having Hermione
be a bit squeamish of the name, as well. I believe Harry noted that Lupin
also freely uses the name without flinching, however.
> Awkward question, though: why don't harry & Dd call Voldemort "Riddle"?
> Isn't it giving lord V just the power he craves to even recognize this
> special and *completely made up* name that Tom Marvolo Riddle. coined
> for himself?
When Riddle wanted to be known as Voldemort, Dumbledore continued to call
him as Tom. Now that Voldemort prefers to be "nameless", I think it suits
both Harry and Albus to refer to him as Voldemort. It comes out to the same
thing in that they both don't fear the name and choose how to see him.
> Harry points out that when he wants his friends to stand lookout, he
> tells them why. This respect for others is what differentiates him
> from Malfoy.
Harry doesn't have someone such as Severus looking into his actions,
ironically. I suspect Draco would've been more forthcoming with others
helping him if he felt he could trust them. However, that is a disadvantage
to being a Death Eater now isn't it? On the other hand, Harry also keeps
certain information such as the content of his lessons with Dumbledore from
McGonagall and Scrimgeour so perhaps they're not so different after all.
> Slughorn can be a very pleasant man when he is in a good mood -- it is
> really quite Christian of him to invite Malfoy into the party.
I like Slughorn. He is one of the few intriguing and redeeming members of
the house of Slytherin shown in the series.
> Again Harry is more perceptive than his elders when he realizes the
> vital split second before Slughorn that something is wrong with Ron on
> swallowing the mead. We see how Harry has been trained to hair-trigger
> perception and response.
Yes and no. While Harry is definitely more alert than the average wizard,
the circumstances were all in his favor to catch that one faster than
Slughorn.
> And as the chapter ends we realize that the tragic death of Ron Weasley
> will be the centerpiece of book six ...
.... riiight.
Ard Rhi
