Chapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts.
Mar. 2nd, 2007 03:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elanor_xChapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts.
* Mr. Weasley "liked Harry to sit next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard him with questions about life with Muggles". We have never seen him asking Hermione such questions despite her both knowing more how things work & being able to explain it better than Harry. But Hermione isn't so well liked or important. Must be that celebrity thing.
* Mr. Weasley also finds Harry's instructions on using a telephone 'fascinating' and 'ingenious'. If he is that much interested in Muggles, why hasn't he bought all schoolbooks on Muggle studies? My guess is that JKR wants to show all Weasleys immediately falling in love with Harry and since Arthur can't start having semi-motherly feelings for a small orphaned boy like Molly, they connect over all things Muggle.
* I kind of love the names of Lockhart's books.
* Fred continues demonstrating the twins' lovable nature by a sexist joke. Very funny. Despite JKR's best efforts to show otherwise in her books (not in her interviews or mind, though), most fans seem to see only the good sides of the twins' characters. The sexist, bullying overtones escape them altogether. The filmmakers did pay attention to the matter but unfortunately decided to add more sexism: "In her interview, Emma said, "I've just shot a scene where I blast [Ron] and slam him against the back wall, because he makes a very patronizing and sexist comment" ", aka:
In Emma's place I wouldn't be so happy about adding cliché Girl Power moments, which seem very fake to me. The last thing I want to be subjected to when going to the movie and hoping for an hour to escape into the fantasy, is numerous jokes of that sort (don't they resemble the twins & their attitude underneath?) :
* If those books are 'really expensive', can't Mrs. Weasley just buy one set of them for the twins? Does even two or three sets cost too much? She talks about picking up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand, which is probably impossible with those books since they haven't been used as schoolbooks before.
* When Errol can't even stand on a perch out of exhaustion due to the long journey coupled with old age, Ron lays him on the draining board, muttering, "Pathetic". It strikes me as cruel & makes one wonder why Errol can't just retire and enjoy a little rest before death. This scene reminded me of some wizards' custom to kill their house-elves too old to continue serving, which is presented in the books as the height of horror, but forcing intelligent owls to work until literally dying in one of the flights without a second thought should make people uneasy too. May be I exaggerate, but some connection exists between those phenomena.
* Ron's old broomstick is so pathetic that it's outstripped (oбгонять) by passing butterflies. Tell you what JKR, you got LOL out of me when I incorrectly understood this sentence as if each passing butterfly caused its change of direction. Apparently the original meaning just isn't pathetic enough to be funny for me. ;-)
* George speaks out the need to buy 5 sets of Lockhart's books, so it's really one for each of the kids, as I have supposed. It still escapes me why Mrs. Weasley can't stop at maximum 3 sets. After all, Lockhart can teach only one class at a time & the children could easily rotate the sets among them. I don't think, of course, all Weasleys' money problems would be solved by buying 10 (even very expensive) books less, but George's worrying about money & not even thinking about sharing his set with Fred seems a bit strange. It would be the first thought to cross my mind.
* Lest even Weasleys' legendary poverty draws the readers' attention from our hero's misfortunes for a moment or gasp (!) makes them think this particular ill has avoided him, the narrator hastily clarifies the matter: Harry is rich only in the wizarding world since "you couldn't use Galleons, Sickles and Knuts in Muggle shops". So he is semi-rich I guess. Never mind that you can easily exchange Sickles for dollars at Gringotts. How else do Muggleborns buy their books?
JKR just can't afford her readers to feel pity for anybody but Harry, so she resorts to the blatant lie here. Even 6-year-old can see this contradiction. In this chapter itself we see Hermione's parents changing Muggle money. Admittedly the Dursleys would grab the money as soon as they would see it, but it doesn't change the fact that Harry is very rich in both worlds.
* We get one more reminder of Weasleys' tight budget with Mrs. Weasley sighing over Floo powder running low.
* The whole family seems nonchalant about Harry never traveling by Floo powder before. Mrs. Weasley's attempt at vague, unclear instructions is cut short by Arthur's "He'll be fine, Molly, don't fuss".
(Molly:) "But, dear, if he got lost, how would we ever explain to his aunt and uncle?"
Nice that she considers Harry's Muggle relatives deserving an explanation but what about Harry?
After such explanations I would ask whether somebody could travel with me. You just know it is possible. But I am not as brave as Harry.
* Draco really behaves like a spoiled brat in the shop. Have no idea how Jason Isaacs concluded Lucius was an abusive father from this scene. Lucius is in the bad mood here both from being forced to sell a few items (are they only poisons? I am disappointed) that 'might embarrass' him (read: destroy whatever reputation is left or even put in jail) & from being stressed out before planting the diary, aka "important business elsewhere today". In addition, his son, who is old enough to know better, interrupts the important business conversation to ask him to buy another dark object when they have to dispose of the ones they already have instead.
* "Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine taste, sir."
Whahaha! In Lucius's place I would be furious too.
* Mr. Borgin (in his oily voice): "Wizard blood is counting for less everywhere-"
"Not with me," said Mr. Malfoy, his long nostrils flaring.
Poor Lucius.
http://www.tomsjokes.com/en/pics/116418200627105.html or Population: 6.5 Billion or http://www.tomsjokes.com/en/pics?page=6 (page 6; in the middle called: Population: 6.5 Billion )
To be honest the picture suits OotF Harry even more. And V during GoF graveyard scene. And D having this very long conversation with Harry in the end of OotF. Wait, are all the characters self-centered & delusional?
* Btw, if there are people in the fandom, who take Draco's interest in the shop's items as a sign of his Dark Soul, they are hopefully wrong. This shop sounds like a gothic heaven. Draco's interest is quite healthy for a 12-year-old boy, imo. I would be interested too. Frightened and disgusted , yes, but interested nevertheless.
As for his smirking at the cursed necklace, which killed 19 Muggles, that's unsurprising taking into account his upbringing & age. I mean I hope 17-year-old Draco wouldn't smirk at it. Do I sound like a killer's apologist? I just thought how similar yet different Draco would turn out, were he raised by Harry's parents f.e.
* This shop is really full with seemingly nuts of fun, which turn out to be important in the HBP: the infamous cabinet, the Hand of Glory & the opal necklace. It would be interesting to visit this shop again in the DH.
* Draco 'stretched out his hand for the handle' of the cabinet and I got a surprising, fleeting, sadistic wish for him with Harry get trapped in it for a couple of days, forced to communicate only with each other & learn the vitally important lesson of not touching, let alone getting inside unknown magical objects specially in such a shop.
* "haven't sold me half of what's hidden in your manor"
Is Mr. Borgin just generally contemptuous here as in "Mister Malfoy" or does Draco's house look more like this than this popular fanfic version?
* "opposite was a nasty window display of shrunken heads"
Now we know where Crabbe's shrunken head came from.
"and, two doors down, a large cage was alive with gigantic black spiders"
Hagrid could make such a Good Business selling Aragog's offspring. ;-)
Also Hagrid's "dodgy place… don' want no one ter see yeh down there" reminds me that in one of the books twins or Lee have a tarantula. Possibly from this shop since we haven't seen them sold as pets in the Diagon Alley. It can't be that bad then, can it?
* The aged [whole human fingernails] selling witch's "Not lost are you, my dear?" made me imagine horribly possible scenario where Harry is kidnapped, disjointed & his organs are sold. *sincere shudder* Doesn't it sound much more frightening than dying from V's killing curse? Yes, Arthur was right to tell Molly not to fuss. He has just forgotten to mention that everything will be fine and if not it's D's job to deal with Muggles anyway. But Arthur would have to deal with D…
* Hagrid: "dodgy place… don' want no one ter see yeh down there" /damaging one's reputation
Harry: "I realized that" /dangerous to one's life
LOL. Most JKR's jokes probably go unnoticed by me like Roonil Wazlib or Errol being pathetically old, but this one I liked.
* Ron's envy of Harry's visit into the Knockturn Alley and specially F&G's "Excellent!" invokes in me very strong desire to briefly acquaint them with that nice witch for educational purposes. Professor Snape would agree with me.
An explanation note: I don't feel particularly sadistic today. If words aren't enough, as is in this case, better make your children see with their own eyes the reality of such places under one's careful supervision than have them going there themselves and being disjointed, robbed, raped, etc. In Arthur's place I would be very afraid of twins or Ron going there on one of their Hogsmeade trips. True Harry & Co. go there in HBP & return alive but the younger the child the greater the danger.
A nice joke about reality I have accidentally found:
http://www.tomsjokes.com/en/pics/116651263010873.html or http://www.tomsjokes.com/en/pics?page=2 (second page, the first joke:I Rode Upon The Backs... )
* Mr. Weasley is indignant his wife thinks he isn't a match for Lucius Malfoy. No comment.
* We already know Weasleys are poor and Harry is rich. Why, oh, why does JKR feel the need to repeat it over & over again, comparing & contrasting between their vaults at great length? May be her own poverty at that point of her life influenced her that way. It seems to really be an obsession in this chapter.
* Percy is reading 'a small and deeply boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power', foreshadowing his eventual evilness. Since Hogwarts has had an enormous number of Perfects since its foundation & the list of those who gained power filled only a small book, things aren't looking too good for you, Percy.
How does Ron know he wants to become Minister of Magic anyway? Does he seriously talk about that at home? Wow.
* I have no doubt Mrs. Weasley scheduled the trip to the bookshop on that specific day so that she would meet Lockhart.
* "The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age."
It's the crowd of Desperate Housewives. (I haven't watched the series, but the name fits nicely since it's nearly impossible to imagine McGonagall or even Sprout lining up there.) Another instance of pathetic women in HP books.
* What does forget-me-not blue color look like?
* How big are cauldrons that Harry can tip the entire works of Lockhart in Ginny's new one? In the movies they are quite small, but in the books they probably are closer to this size.
* I am not entirely sure whether Harry gave Ginny the works out of noblesse oblige or just because he didn't want to accept the present after being humiliated. Probably mainly first & a bit of second.
* "Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!"
Here I officially announce of the birth of my 'Draco is a Seer' theory. If Ron's fans can do it, I can too.
* Draco's retort "Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley" is pretty good, err… I mean bad.
* Why did Arthur suddenly attack Malfoy? He knows Lucius is a DE, why pay any attention to what he says about Muggles? In Arthur's place I wouldn't even get very angry, let alone attack.
It makes sense only if Arthur feels a bit unsure & ashamed about his beliefs himself, and Lucius has played on his insecurities here.
* Lucius' getting hit by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools 
is funny.
* And here Ginny gets her diary with Arthur indirectly helping Lucius to slip it in unnoticed by starting the fight.
* Even Hagrid speaks the words of wisdom for once: "Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur… no… worth listenin' ter".
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Here from DTCL
Date: 2007-03-02 02:59 pm (UTC)Two of those pictures (the www.tomsjokes.com ones) aren't showing up – I suspect the webmaster has designed the site so as to be unable to hotlink images. Perhaps you could save the images to Photobucket or something and re-post them, since now I'm really curious to see how they fit with your narrative.
Re: Here from DTCL
Date: 2007-03-03 12:29 am (UTC)Right, random person signing off, now.
Re: Here from DTCL
Date: 2007-03-03 07:30 am (UTC)I am glad you enjoyed my recap. Can you see the pictures now with the links I put?
RE: saraswathi_rani
The funny thing is that I did exactly that yesterday when putting the pictures in my recap.
My younger brother showed me. :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-02 05:06 pm (UTC)Sharing books seems like a logical solution to me, too. If these books are the fancy hardbacks they sound like, and if prices are at all similar to Muggle ones, buying ten fewer books could save around $300. Even buying five fewer would be a pretty big chunk of change saved.
Great recap.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-02 05:14 pm (UTC)Really? I didn't think Draco was so out of control interrupting there. He's being sulky and particularly polite, but it doesn't seem like an important business conversation to me. Just haggling with a shopkeeper. I don't think the dark object in question really makes a difference. Dark objects in general seem to be what they buy--Lucius is getting rid of poisons because they kill people.
I think Isaacs got his ideas from Draco's own personality (what's a good way to create a rotten kid? Treat him badly) and Lucius' controlling personality and criticism. Not that I'm backing up Isaacs' idea of abuse here. I just thought he was showing Lucius dominated etc.
* What does forget-me-not blue color look like?
Sort of a bright, lighter blue. It's the color of a flower.
The money bits are really hit hard in CoS, aren't they? Good call on the sharing of books things. I would think most parents would consider buying one set for twins even if they weren't poor.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-02 07:52 pm (UTC)RE: sistermagpie
Date: 2007-03-03 10:28 am (UTC)Isn't it [a good way to create a rotten kid= bad treatment] a pretty new idea? Didn't most people believe in strict parenting and acted upon it not so long ago? I doubt children in the earlier centuries were raised to become worse adults because of it. And they were physically punished both at home and at school. Isn't corporate punishment at school a tradition in England? I googled "England schools corporate punishment" and found this: Schools ask for legal right to bring back cane (http://www.corpun.com/uks00111.htm).
Also there is a big difference between 'controlling personality' and abusing one's children. When Isaacs touched Draco with his cane in GoF is seemed OOC to me.
Interesting what is JKR's view on the matter. She probably would say that Lucius is a cold, distant & bad (? After Narcissa I am unsure) father & support the idea, but our voice of wisdom (=author's mouthpiece) D was so afraid to turn Harry into 'pampered little prince' in OoTF (if Tom Riddle were one, D's concerns would be more understandable) that I wonder what she really, perhaps even subconsciously thinks.
Sort of a bright, lighter blue. It's the color of a flower.
It sounds nice. The color of the sky is among my favorite colors.
I don't think the dark object in question really makes a difference.
No, of course, not. I just longed for something 'cooler' and more fascinating [in a certain sense :-)] than poisons.
Re: sistermagpie
Date: 2007-03-03 03:55 pm (UTC)Oh yes, definitely. I'm just saying that I think Isaac's thought was that Draco was a bully therefore Lucius was a bully, so he parented by bullying.
JKR has oddly conflicted feelings on this, doesn't she? I mean, Vernon is clearly showing his awfulness when he talks about corporal punishment and how it's silly not to hit kids who deserve it, and Filch is bad for wanting to bring back torturous punishment...yet the narrator is always totally pleased when physical punishment is meted out.
I don't think the dark object in question really makes a difference.
No, of course, not. I just longed for something 'cooler' and more fascinating [in a certain sense :-)] than poisons.
Oh yes, I understood that. I just meant I didn't think the Hand of Glory would be bad to be caught with in the same way the poisons were.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-02 07:46 pm (UTC)The cauldrons really confuse me. Every student is required to buy their own cauldron. Is there a storage room next to the Potions classroom filled with hundreds of cauldrons? And before every lesson the students pick up their own cauldrons and then take them back after the lesson? And the reason we've never seen this gigantic cauldron reshuffle is...?
Ow, the plotholes make my head hurt.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-03 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-23 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 09:40 pm (UTC)Fred's way of reasoning reminds me strongly of JKR's assumption, anyone who appreciates Draco Malfoy does so only because of Tom Felton's good looks. Because women are like that!
When Errol can't even stand on a perch out of exhaustion due to the long journey coupled with old age, Ron lays him on the draining board, muttering, "Pathetic".
Quite apart from the unfeeling attitude towards a sentient creature as displayed repeatedly throughout the series where Errol is concerned, the really revolting thing in this scene is, that it seems to be played for compassion with the WEASLEYS, not their animal. Those poor poor people, they have to work their animals to death!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 11:28 am (UTC)Naturally the characters' way of thinking reflects this of their author.
the really revolting thing in this scene is, that it seems to be played for compassion with the WEASLEYS
It seems to be mainly played for laughs, which is most revolting, imo.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-08 08:29 am (UTC)can't you see their future twue wuvv? They'll end up like the couple in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.