![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
If ever you have something to say about my commentary or about the chapter in general, speak up! Add! Quibble! Pontificate!
*
PoA 3: The Knight Bus
He was stranded, quite alone, in the dark Muggle world[...] (29)
One of several suggestions that the Muggle world is dangerous, foreign, and frightening. Harry is not just afraid of encountering the authorities, but the "Muggle police" (30), even though it's wizard law he's broken. He sees himself as fully wizard by this point.
Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard[...] (30)
Okay, this whole Knight Bus concept. It's illegal for private citizens to own magical cars, and there's no suggestion that wizards use regular vehicles for transport -- indeed, they shun Muggle technology. So why a bus? And why just for emergencies?
[EDIT: In the next couple of chapters, "Ministry cars" are sent to pick up the Weasleys -- but again, these are owned by the government and only for emergencies.]
'Woss your name?' Stan persisted.
'Neville Longbottom,' said Harry, saying the first name that came into his head. (31)
Mm, symbolic goodness. The Harry=Neville connection is woven deeply into the series. They were each potentially the child of the prophecy, and each saw their parents destroyed by Voldemort (indirectly in Neville's case). I also notice that Neville sometimes serves to play out Harry's fears: Harry fears that he's incapable, he fears being the runt who gets picked on. By OotP, Harry is directly helping Neville overcome his inadequacies -- an external parallel to Harry's battle against his own fears.
Of course, in PoA Neville is also overtly compared to Peter, as we'll see later on.
It also strikes me that no one ever recognizes Harry by his face -- they have to see his scar. You'd think there would have been pictures of him in the paper by this time, given the extraordinary events of the past two years.
Harry had never seen a vampire, but he had seen pictures of them in his Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, and Black, with his waxy white skin, looked just like one. (34)
More description of Sirius in terms we normally associate with Snape. Also, an interesting reversal -- Sirius is pursued by creatures who suck out his essence as vampires would.
'If he weren't [mad] when he went to Azkaban, he will be now,' said Ern in his slow voice. (35)
Wizards appear to have no concept of cruel and unusual punishment, or even that driving criminals insane and then releasing them (Hagrid was held for only two months) is a foolish idea.
Tom clicked his fingers, a fire burst into life in the grate, and he bowed himself out of the room. (37)
Wandless, wordless magic, performed by an innkeeper.
Oh, you've heard -- well, no, [they haven't caught Black] yet, but it's only a matter of time. The Azkaban guards have never yet failed ... and they are angrier than I've ever seen them. (40)
This is an odd way for Fudge to put it, if no one has ever escaped from Azkaban before. Perhaps the Dementors are also sent to collect suspects who haven't been arrested yet.
April 29 2004, 01:00:31 UTC 8 years ago
Wandless, wordless magic, performed by an innkeeper.
he did have to 'click' though, and it is his inn - I doubt Harry, or anyone else, could have clicked to alight the fireplace. Perhaps there's a charm (which he did with his wand) already on it, enabling the fire to spark up when he snaps his fingers in its direction.
Right, I think I need a PoA icon for this. :>
April 29 2004, 06:32:28 UTC 8 years ago
actually, ernie drives pretty much like your average, friendly english bus driver.
***
Perhaps there's a charm (which he did with his wand) already on it, enabling the fire to spark up when he snaps his fingers in its direction.
kind of like clap-on lights.
***
all this makes me really curious as to how much muggle influence there *actually* is in the wizarding world. while spelling muggle artifacts seems to be illegal, it seems like the main concern with that is playing tricks on muggles, like those wonderful regurgitating toilets mentioned in one book. it seems *to me* that the majority of wizarding culture is some copy of modern muggle culture -- i did a little research into it, because i was concerned for what seemed at first to be a complete *lack* of culture, except for one or two things. but upon digging deeper, there's brilliant things like the knight bus, the daily prophet (a mirror to england's daily mail), and the Wireless Wizards Network (kinda like radio without the actual device). so perhaps they just take ideas they like (like clap-on lights) and then repeat them with magic, cuz its easier for them. the more i think about it, it seems like hogwarts is unusual in its lack of muggle devices -- mainly because they don't function there, but it could also be because wizards need to thoroughly learn to use their powers on a daily basis, and they have relatively little time to do that before they are thrown out into the "real" world. so discouraging use of convenient devices and forcing the young wizard to rely on his/her self seems like a pretty efficient way of doing that.
could also impact the psychology of the wizarding world, but i'm leaving that up to discussion to go write porn. >:)
April 29 2004, 07:00:00 UTC 8 years ago
Roger that. I did not understand the Knightbus until I lived in England. I think it is very much a parody of British public transportation that garners immediate recognition with British audiences. British bus drivers own the road. Things like other vehicles, traffic laws, gravity... not important. So I read the KB as purely comedic, though, knowing JKR, it probably holds some deeper significance in terms of Wizard-Muggle relations...
It's most likely a recent development, perhaps especially for Wizards stranded in the Muggle world. Therefore if a muggle notices it, however briefly, it wouldn't be as jarring as... I dunno, a dragon, or whatever they might have used before. Or it could just be an indication of the way wizards borrow from the muggle world, perhaps more than they realise or would like to admit.
8 years ago
8 years ago
April 29 2004, 16:24:45 UTC 8 years ago
Real magic-users (or people believed by their society to have magic) serve an important purpose in their culture. They help "Muggles" with things they couldn't ordinarily do. Magic-users are valued members of most societies who believe in them. Western European cultures are an exception -- fear of magic drove us to hate and ostracize wizards.
I really hope that JKR is heading for a resolution that suggests Muggles and wizards will reintegrate. Her wizard society is really unsatisfying and troubling in many ways, both to me as a reader, and I think to the characters who inhabit it. The way they copy Muggle culture suggests to me that they want their old place in society back -- they were driven out, and deep down, they want back in.
April 29 2004, 01:03:54 UTC 8 years ago
This sets up my favourite part of OotP quite nicely. Harry is, as you note, fully wizard quite early on. When the Order arrives to liberate him from the Dursleys in OotP, Harry feels like now he's going home, things are going to be fine. And then -- they're not. Things in the wizarding world are pretty much as bad for him, if not *worse*, than in the Muggle world. It shakes things up a lot.
I do find it kind of creepy the way other Muggle-borns, like Hermione, are also so swiftly assimilated. Harry has his dreadful homelife to make him more receptive to the WW. But even with Hermione it feels not like going away to school, but like joining a cult, where you renounce your former life to a large degree.
Wandless, wordless magic, performed by an innkeeper.
Probably every room is fitted with The Clapper. *g*
April 29 2004, 02:55:53 UTC 8 years ago
Damn. Was going to say the same thing. Heh.
April 29 2004, 10:11:32 UTC 8 years ago
Yes, with the hindsight from OotP, this chapter does seem particularly ominous. Harry has unwittingly made himself very vulnerable, seeing the WW as a safe harbor. Here he is calmly having tea with Fudge, childishly asking him to sign his permission form... never guessing that Fudge will prove an enemy.
I do find it kind of creepy the way other Muggle-borns, like Hermione, are also so swiftly assimilated. Harry has his dreadful homelife to make him more receptive to the WW. But even with Hermione it feels not like going away to school, but like joining a cult, where you renounce your former life to a large degree.
Yes... It would play differently if any of the Muggleborn children mentioned missing their family and looking forward to seeing them, even in passing. It seems that there's heavy social pressure not to voice such feelings, and that does appear cultish at time. "What are you talking about? We LOVE Hogwarts... Why would we want to LEAVE Hogwarts..."
April 29 2004, 11:49:23 UTC 8 years ago
Here, drink this Kool-Aid(tm). It will be just fine.
Or is that Butterbeer?
April 29 2004, 03:09:22 UTC 8 years ago
Second, I'm far more comfortable with Harry = Neville comparisons than Peter = Neville because, other than looks when Peter is young, I don't feel they have a lot in common. Neville and Harry are paralleled in a lot of the same ways Draco and Harry are; they're both his opposite, though for different reasons. I guess it's not so much Harry = Neville as Harry could have been Neville, had a few things changed here and there. Harry could have been the klutz, the nobody, the one the prophecy's NOT about, etc.
Of course, the other valid (*cough*) interpretation is that he says Neville's name because, even at this young age, Harry is obviously in love. *nods*
April 29 2004, 06:42:20 UTC 8 years ago
also, neville kind of makes up the fourth cog in the Terrible Trio, much as peter did with the marauders. peter never seemed to really belong to the group, and neither does neville. of course, neville isn't really a part of the harry-ron-hermione thing, he just spends time with them occasionally, while peter was at least nominally part of the marauders.
and i really don't think neville = peter after OoTP, because he was so ridiculously awesome and brave and stuff. neville has got major guts, and while i think its possible that he could have turned out like peter had things gone differently, i don't think he'll end up betraying his friends.
and THEN its always arguable to what extent peter betrayed his friends and to what extent he was acting on his self-preservation instinct (which i find very difficult to equate to betrayal. hah, i would totally be in slytherin).
April 29 2004, 07:09:25 UTC 8 years ago
And as for peter and betrayal... they were such a bunch of bastards, the mere fact that he can betray them justifies it... They're so clever; they should have known better. It's like finally getting the one-up on them. ...Would be one reason. I feel that, in Peter's own mind, things would not have been nearly so clear-cut. Self-preservation also, doubtless, played apart... at least in the way Peter jsutified it to himself. Especially since the Order was getting its ass kicked by the DEs at the time.
8 years ago
8 years ago
8 years ago
8 years ago
8 years ago
8 years ago
8 years ago
April 29 2004, 10:03:53 UTC 8 years ago
Yes, exactly. When I say Harry=Neville, it's shorthand for that.
Of course, the other valid (*cough*) interpretation is that he says Neville's name because, even at this young age, Harry is obviously in love. *nods*
Goes without saying. Hem, hem.
April 29 2004, 05:27:34 UTC 8 years ago
Re-reading the book steeped in shippy-ness, I caught that Neville is the first name that comes to Harry's mind. In the earlier books, Harry is always seeming to try to not catch Neville's eye in Potions (for a partner) and Neville's clumsiness/forgetfulness is a constant within the pages.
Also, can dementors truly get angry, as Fudge says? If they care so little for human life (in GoF, with Crouch Jr and his mother), are they capable of anger over failure or even inadequacy?
April 29 2004, 06:43:08 UTC 8 years ago
April 29 2004, 15:10:24 UTC 8 years ago
It's so hard not to read ahead!
April 29 2004, 07:10:54 UTC 8 years ago
April 29 2004, 09:55:39 UTC 8 years ago
...of course, if ron = dumbledore (i strongly suspect its true), and tom = aberforth, which weasley is aberforth?
the Remaining Twin?
percy?
...ginny?!
8 years ago
April 29 2004, 10:02:13 UTC 8 years ago
8 years ago
8 years ago
April 29 2004, 11:01:45 UTC 8 years ago
It's been pretty much said earlier but I'd agree with comments re Knight Bus. I always felt JKR was having fun with our public transport system and living in Scotland it's quite possible that she has also endured the overnight bus links between Scotland and London! When I first read about the bus I giggled for ages afterwards. They usually leave from very strange places very late at night and hurtle through the countryside at an alarming speed. From my student days I remember stopping off at the wierdest of places to pick people up.
I think it's interesting that Harry used Neville's name. I did wonder if, not knowing Neville so well at this stage, he thought it was a straightforward name to hide behind. As we now know, the Longbottoms were/are quite well known.
..and the fire lighting! It's a bit of a houself thing to do, that, although I thoroughly believe in wandless magic.
April 29 2004, 16:26:28 UTC 8 years ago
Ah, true. As usual, Neville is underestimated.
April 29 2004, 12:36:15 UTC 8 years ago
Perhaps Dumbledore has something to do with this?
April 29 2004, 15:05:26 UTC 8 years ago
April 30 2004, 12:22:11 UTC 8 years ago
April 30 2004, 15:03:31 UTC 8 years ago
Petunia/Peter!!!!
I have to bookmark this and read it later, but I also needed to point you toward a little Petunia/Peter:http://www.livejournal.com/users/damnye
(which I haven't read yet myself, but I know how you like Peter!Fic)
:-)
May 2 2004, 20:59:11 UTC 8 years ago
Re: Petunia/Peter!!!!
Thanks! Funnily enough, this is not the first time I've seen this pairing. Nothing new under the sun...