Re-Reading Harry Potter: Enemies of the Heir, Beware

Posted on by Dana
Share

IC C3230 476a 1514As you might recall, I’m re-reading Harry Potter, and each five chapters, I’m stopping to comment here. This post concerns chapters 6-10 of [amazon_link id=”0439064872″ target=”_blank” ]Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets[/amazon_link].

In chapter six, “Gilderoy Lockhart,” we see how Gilderoy Lockhart gets on as professor. The chapter begins with Ron’s mother sending a Howler. Question: if Neville received one from his Gran (which he ignored—”it was horrible”), then where were the trio? It must have happened when they were outside the Great Hall because Harry and Hermione don’t seem to know what it is.

I love Lockhart as a character. He’s so completely odious. This passage captures him well:

“Yes, I know what you’re thinking! ‘It’s all right for him, he’s an internationally famous wizard already!’ But when I was twelve, I was just as much of a nobody as you are now. In fact, I’d say I was even more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven’t they? All that business with He Who Must Not Be Named!” He glanced at the lightning scar on Harry’s forehead. “I know, I know, it’s not quite as good as winning Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile Award five times in a row, as I have—but it’s a start, Harry, it’s a start.”

We also see the mandrakes in a great Herbology scene. I wish there were more of those, actually. Professor Sprout is funny and no-nonsense. Lucky for Hogwarts that she just happened to procure some mandrakes the year that everyone gets petrified, no?

Lockhart gives the class a quiz about himself, which Hermione aces. I am kind of dumbfounded that she checked her brains at the door when it comes to Lockhart. I guess even smart women are susceptible to the wiles of a handsome face. Sad. The quiz scene was cut in the movie version of the book, which is a shame because Kenneth Branagh is hilarious when he says that line about wanting to market his own line of hair-care potions. In fact, he is just simply brilliant as Gilderoy Lockhart. After the Cornish pixies tear apart the classroom, and Lockhart abandons Harry, Ron, and Hermione to clean up the mess, I love it that Hermione defends Lockhart—”You’ve read his books—look at all those amazing things he’s done…” and Ron replies, “He says he’s done.” Ron had the measure of Lockhart from the very start.

In chapter seven, “Mudbloods and Murmurs,” we learn the pejorative term for Muggle-born witches and wizards. I always hated what the film did with this part because they decided that Hermione already knew the word. In the novel, she says, when Hagrid expresses outrage over Malfoy’s insult, “I don’t know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course…” Naturally, Ron, who wound up with a slug attack when his wand backfired after he tried to curse Malfoy for calling Hermione a mudblood, knows exactly what it means. Another case when the films give a great line of Ron’s to someone else. In the book, it’s Ron who tells everyone about the whole pure-blood/Muggle-born deal. He adds, “Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out.” On Pottermore, you learn that when Hogwarts was founded, Salazar Slytherin’s notion of pure-blood supremacy was unusual. It wasn’t until the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692 that some pure-blood families became mistrustful of Muggles (for good reason) and the idea that marrying Muggles would taint your blood took hold among a substantial number of wizards. In the 1930’s, a Pure-Blood Dictionary was published, likely by Cantakerus Nott (must be Theodore Nott’s grandfather or great-grandfather), with a list of the “Sacred Twenty-Eight” pure-blood families (my notes in parentheses):

  • Abbott (Hannah’s family, known Hufflepuff)
  • Avery (one of the Averys is a hapless Death Eater, known Slytherin)
  • Black (Sirius’s family, including Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange; fierce pure-blood pride, known Slytherins except for Sirius)
  • Bulstrode (Millicent’s family, known Slytherin)
  • Burke (Caractacus Burke ran Borgin and Burke’s, suspect Slytherin)
  • Carrow (Amycus and Alecto Carrow are Death Eaters who wind up teaching at Hogwarts, suspect Slytherin)
  • Crouch (Bartemius Sr. and Jr., suspect Ravenclaw)
  • Fawley (as far as I know, no character in the series has this surname, no basis for House speculation)
  • Flint (Marcus’s family, known Slytherin)
  • Gaunt (Tom Riddle’s, aka Voldemort’s, mother’s family; most didn’t attend Hogwarts, but Riddle is known Slytherin, and they claim descent from Slytherin)
  • Greengrass (Daphne Greengrass is in Harry’s year in Slytherin; Draco Malfoy later marries her little sister Astoria; known Slytherin)
  • Lestrange (Rodolphus and Rabastan along with Rodolphus’s wife, Bellatrix; known Slytherin)
  • Longbottom (Neville, Augusta—Neville’s gran—, and Frank and Alice, Neville’s parents; Great Uncle Algie might be a Longbottom, too; known Gryffindor, suspect Frank and Alice were Gryffindors, too)
  • Macmillan (Ernie’s family, known Hufflepuff)
  • Malfoy (a very old pure-blood family; Lucius and Draco, along with Lucius’s wife Narcissa; known Slytherin)
  • Nott (Theodore Nott and his father, a Death Eater; known Slytherin)
  • Ollivander (Garrick Ollivander, known Ravenclaw)
  • Parkinson (Pansy Parkinson, known Slytherin)
  • Prewett (Gideon and Fabian, members of the Order of the Phoenix who were killed; Molly Weasley was their sister, and thus, she was a Prewett by birth; Molly was a known Gryffindor, suspect Gideon and Fabian were, too)
  • Rosier (Evan Rosier, a Death Eater; suspect Slytherin)
  • Rowle (Thorfinn Rowle, a Death Eater; suspect Slytherin)
  • Selwyn (Selwyn was a Death Eater; Dolores Umbridge claimed kinship with the Selwyns; Umbridge is a known Slytherin, suspect Death Eater Selwyn was, too)
  • Shacklebolt (Kingsley Shacklebolt, suspect Gryffindor)
  • Shafiq (this name is never used in the series, to my knowledge; no basis for House speculation)
  • Slughorn (Horace Slughorn, Potions Master; known Slytherin)
  • Travers (a Death Eater, suspect Slytherin)
  • Weasley (of course, the famous “Blood Traitor” family; known Gryffindors)
  • Yaxley (a Death Eater, suspect Slytherin)

Interesting how many of these families bought into the idea of pure-blood supremacy, and also of note is how frequently Slytherins are represented in this bunch, especially given Salazar Slytherin’s beliefs. Obviously not all families are in the same house—witness Sirius Black and the Patil twins. But the values of each family are probably passed on frequently enough that being in the same house is more common than it is rare, hence my speculation about possible houses above. Also interesting is the absence of the Potters. Harry’s father’s family is an old pure-blood family, and they descend from Ignotus Peverell. I speculate their absence from this list might be due to a regular infusion of Muggle-born spouses, including Lily. I think James’s parents were both probably a witch and wizard, and that neither was Muggle-born or Half-Blood, but I suspect they married into Muggle families at times, hence their exclusion from the list. We know their descent from the Peverell family is not a straight male line, so it stands to reason even the earliest Potter was a Muggle who married a witch.

It is also fascinating to me that wizards don’t seem to discriminate based on race or religion. Blood status is much more important to them than other signifiers of difference. Indeed, the Pottermore article notes that

A minority of these families publicly deplored their inclusion on the list, declaring that their ancestors certainly included Muggles, a fact of which they were not ashamed. Most vocally indignant was the numerous Weasley family, which, in spite of its connections with almost every old wizarding family in Britain, was proud of its ancestral ties to many interesting Muggles. Their protests earned these families the opprobrium of advocates of the pure-blood doctrine, and the epithet ‘blood traitor’. Meanwhile, a larger number of families were protesting that they were not on the pure-blood list.

The article also notes that families who adhered most closely to the pure-blood doctrine when marrying wound up with strains of mental instability in their families. Witness the Blacks (especially Sirius’s mother and Bellatrix) and the Gaunts. If you haven’t ever had a gander at the Black Family Tree, it’s a fascinating piece of wizarding lore. I will talk about it some more when I get to the chapter about the Black Family in [amazon_link id=”0439358078″ target=”_blank” ]Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix[/amazon_link].

Returning to the story, back at Hagrid’s hut, we learn something important about the Defense Against the Dark Arts post: Lockhart was the only person who applied for the job (or who agreed to take it, but I must say that if Dumbledore sought the guy out… well, he’s not always the best administrator, is he?). Hagrid says that “People aren’t too keen ter take it on, see. They’re starting’ ter think it’s jinxed. No one’s lasted long fer a while now.” Of course, we find out later it is jinxed, courtesy of Voldemort, who wanted it but was denied. Interesting notion: if Armando Dippet had still been headmaster instead of Dumbledore, how much you want to bet he’d have hired Voldemort? I seem to recall he tried to convince Headmaster Dippet to hire him right out of Hogwarts, but Professor Dippet said to wait and reapply when he was a little older. Of course, Dumbledore (and Voldemort, it should be noted) was a skilled Legilimens and already had the measure of Tom Riddle.

Another small detail (or two) often overlooked in this chapter: Hagrid sweeps a half-plucked rooster from the table and mentions he saw Ginny Weasley on the grounds—she claimed she was just looking around. Likely she had just killed that rooster. It would not be the last one she’d kill. The rooster’s cry is fatal to the basilisk, and Tom Riddle would take no chances.

Sure enough, Harry hears the basilisk for the first time while serving his detention, helping Lockhart answer his fan mail. Lockhart can’t hear it, which is strange. Harry tells Ron about the voice, and Ron says that he had a slug attack all over Special Award for Services to the School. Of course, that is Tom Riddle’s award for fingering Hagrid as the culprit in the last basilisk attacks, during which Moaning Myrtle was killed.

In chapter eight, “The Deathday Party,” the trio attends Nearly-Headless Nick’s Deathday Party. We also discover that Filch is a Squib, which explains why he never uses magic to clean up. Nick convinces Peeves to drop a Vanishing Cabinet on the floor, breaking it. Betcha that’s the same Vanishing Cabinet that Draco Malfoy spends most of sixth year repairing.

Another important note about this chapter: it forms the basis for all the dates in the Harry Potter series. Nearly-Headless Nick’s deathday is the only definitive date given: October 31, 1492. He tells Harry it’s his 500th deathday, which means that Harry is a second-year student in the school year 1992-1993. Going back, he was a first year in 1991-1992. Since he turned 11 in 1991, he was born July 31, 1980. All of the other dates in the series are based on this date, which is considered canon. Of course, none of the actual calendar dates will line up perfectly. For instance, term always starts on September 1, no matter what day of the week it is. Rowling has been famously unconcerned about maintaining that level of accuracy. It’s interesting to think that if Harry were really alive, he would be turning 33 this year, and it will not be for another four years that Albus Severus Potter and Rose Weasley go to Hogwarts, meaning right now, Albus Severus Potter is seven (depending on when his actual birthday is), and he would have been born in 2006, when Harry was 26 and Ginny was 25. This kind of dorky thing is fun for me to figure out.

Regarding the prospect of attending a deathday party, Hermione naturally sees it as a great learning experience, while Ron thinks it will be “dead depressing.” I happen to agree with Hermione in theory, but the end result was much closer to Ron’s prediction. Ron is pretty good about cracking some sort of joke or pun and then being right later. People forget about that when they just watch the movies instead of read the books, I think.

At the deathday party, Harry and Ron meet Moaning Myrtle. Later, when they are leaving, Harry hears the basilisk again, but this time they find a message written on the wall: “THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.” Draco Malfoy rightly concludes, “You’ll be next, Mudbloods.” Of course, the trio naturally suspects Draco is the heir and culprit after this outburst, but he does reveal one interesting thing: he knows what the Chamber of Secrets is, and he knows that the monster within goes after Muggle-born witches and wizards.

In the next chapter, “The Writing on the Wall,” after Snape accuses Harry of hiding something, Dumbledore gave “Harry a searching look.” At that point, I am fairly certain he’s using legilimency on Harry, and that he has discovered Harry heard a voice. He would, of course, know all about the Chamber of Secrets, having been at the school when it was opened before.

Later in the chapter, we learn Ginny was really disturbed about what happened to Mrs. Norris, and Ron concludes it is because she’s a cat lover. Of course, we later learn it’s because she thinks she is responsible.

Because all the copies of Hogwarts: A History have been taken out, Hermione chances asking Professor Binns about the Chamber of Secrets in History of Magic. A pause here to reflect that this class could easily have been the most interesting and potentially one of the most important courses Harry took, but it’s dead boring instead. As a result, he never pays attention and we as readers learn precious little wizarding history. That is a pity!

Professor Binns tells the rapt students the story of the Chamber of Secrets, dismissing it as myth. The trio goes to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, on the trail of the Heir of Slytherin. As they are leaving, they see Percy, who takes five points from Ron. As far as I can recall, this is the only mention of a prefect taking points from one of the trio (or from any student). It’s a wonder it doesn’t happen more often, but then the students may have a “we’re all in this together” mentality that prevents a lot of points from being taken. Still, how do you keep the Slytherin prefects in check? If it meant winning the cup, they’d take points left and right. Doesn’t seem fair to me, unless prefects can ONLY take points from their own housemates for infractions. Then, it makes total sense.

Because Hermione pays attention in Potions, she remembers Snape’s remark about Polyjuice Potion and even the name of the book where the recipe can be found, but it’s in the restricted section, so the trio has to figure out how to get permission to check it out. After Hermione suggests that if they made it sound as it they were just interested in the theory, Ron accurately predicts, “Oh, come one, no teacher’s going to fall for that… They’d have to be really thick.”

Finally, in chapter ten, “The Rogue Bludger,” Harry is trying to keep Professor Lockhart in a good mood so he will sign off for permission to check out Moste Potente Potions. Lockhart offers to “pass on [his] expertise” in Quidditch to Harry, noting he likes to help out “less able players.” This man is the most ridiculous person. Harry is probably the single most gifted Quidditch player at the school. He’s the youngest player in a century.

At any rate, they manage to get the book, and Hermione is uncharacteristically determined to break the rules when Harry wonders if they might get in trouble.

The Quidditch match with Slytherin begins, and as you probably remember, a rogue bludger chases Harry all over the pitch. In spite of this fact, he still manages to grab the Snitch right under Malfoy’s nose—nearly. He winds up with a broken arm, and that idiot Lockhart vanishes all the bones in his arm when he tries to fix it. I love his response to his error: “Ah. Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. but the point is the bones are no longer broken. That’s the thing to bear in mind.” That’s the thing to bear in mind? And Hermione still defends him! “Anyone can make a mistake,” she says.

Dobby manages to visit Harry that night in the hospital wing. He sure gets away from Malfoy Manor quite a lot for a house elf. Wizards think they can’t do that kind of thing, but it seems they are little more wily than wizards realize. Moments later, a petrified Colin Creevey is brought into the hospital wing, and Dumbledore himself says that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again. Emphasis mine. And he says, “The question is not who… The question is how.” Dumbledore, therefore, knew Tom Riddle opened it last time, though Hagrid was blamed, and he knows it must be Tom Riddle this time, but as Voldemort is currently bodiless and roaming the forests of Albania, Dumbledore doesn’t know how. I contend that it is not until the diary is found and destroyed that Dumbledore works out that Voldemort made horcruxes.

Related posts:

Re-Reading Harry Potter: "Never Laugh at Live Dragons"

Review: Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds

Re-Reading Harry Potter: The Triwizard Tournament


Share

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, Kenneth Branagh

Posted on by Dana
Share

Heart of DarknessKenneth Branagh should read all the audio books.

Well, maybe not all.

He is probably the best narrator I’ve ever listened to, however. Of course, I’m also about to listen to Ian McKellen do Fagles’s translation of The Odyssey, so I may stand corrected shortly.

If you haven’t read Heart of Darkness before, I can’t think of a better way to do it than listening to Audible’s version. After all, Marlow tells the entire story to a crew of sailors on the Thames River, and Branagh perfectly embodies not just Marlow, but all the characters, from the Russian protege to Kurtz to the native man who says, “Mistah Kurtz, he dead” to Kurtz’s “intended.” In fact, I dare you not to get a chill when he reads Kurtz. He almost makes you understand why Kurtz has so captivated everyone in the novel. Almost.

I think the reason this novel is still relevant is that it speaks to our infinite capacity for evil. All of us have it inside us, and “the horror” is realizing that fact. I think Chinua Achebe’s criticism of the novel is valid. It is racist. (It’s sexist, too, but that fact often goes uncommented upon.) The African characters are only so much scenery, and their culture is dehumanized. They are depicted like animals, slavish in their devotion to and fear of Kurtz. There is no getting around it. At the same time, you can look at Marlow as narrator. Who is he but a perfect product of his times? Of course he believes Africans to be subhuman. Conrad probably thought so, too, but it is Marlow who tells the story, so who can say? There probably is no such thing as a completely reliable narrator.

You might like this Book Drum profile of the novel. I found the section on the history of the Congo very interesting (and very tragic, as is the case in so many places colonized by Europe).

Many years ago, I went to an English teachers’ conference, and one session I attended discussed how you can engage students in the reading of literature and help them make thematic connections by asking them to choose modern songs that have a story, theme, or message similar to a work of literature they have studied. One of the presenter’s students connected Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to Nine Inch Nails’ song “Head Like a Hole.”

After listening to it with that connection in mind, I had to agree that the song and the novel shared such a close connection that I have wondered for years if Trent Reznor was thinking of Heart of Darkness when he wrote it. Connect Reznor’s last line “You know who you are” with Kurtz’s last words “The horror, the horror,” and it’s just plain spooky. And I know I make that connection every time I talk about the novel now. I did it in my previous review of Heart of Darkness. This is the third time I’ve read the novel—once in college, once a few years ago.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this mashup of “Head Like a Hole” and “Call Me, Maybe.”

You can’t unhear it. Sorry. Not really.

Rating: ★★★★★

Related posts:

Review: The Rock and the River, Kekla Magoon

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, Sharyn McCrumb

What Haven't You Read?


Share

The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

Posted on by Dana
Share

The Namesake: A NovelHow strange it is after such a long reading dry spell, I’ve been whipping through books again. I finished Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake in the matter of a couple of days. I think I may have started reading it Saturday.

The Namesake is the story of Gogol Ganguli, named for his father’s favorite writer, Nikolai Gogol. His father, saved when his copy of Gogol’s short stories is noticed in the rubble following a train wreck, must give his son a name before he will be released from the hospital. Since his wife’s grandmother has been given the honor of choosing his “good name,” the family settles on Gogol, thinking later they can change it.

Each chapter is a vignette in the lives of Gogol and his family, from his parents’ arranged marriage to Gogol’s rediscovery, at the age of 32, of a copy of Gogol’s short stories that his father gave him when he was a teenager who hated his name. Gogol, born in America, straddles two cultures all of his life, never seeming to feel completely comfortable in one or the other. In one poignant passage, his father finally tells Gogol the true story of how he got his name, and Gogol is moved:

And suddenly, the sound of his pet name, uttered by his father as he has been accustomed to hearing it all his life, means something completely new, bound up with a catastrophe he has unwittingly embodied for years. “Is that what you think of when you think of me?” Gogol asks him. “Do I remind you of that night?”

“Not at all,” his father says eventually, one hand going to his ribs, a habitual gesture that has baffled Gogol until now. “You remind me of everything that followed.”

The one thread that runs through this novel is the importance of looking forward instead of looking back. One of the interesting things about this book is that it is not a grand adventure. It’s the story of an ordinary life. In part, it is a coming of age story. It’s engaging, nevertheless, and Gogol becomes a sympathetic character that I rooted for and hated to see disappointed. He became very real, and by the end of the book, I felt I knew him. I wondered what happened to him on 9/11. I wondered if he found happiness. If he had children. If he went to visit his mother in India.

The lush descriptions of food were one of my favorite parts of the novel. Whether it is home-cooked Indian food or dinner at a restaurant, meals are central to this novel—they bring the characters together. They are the agents of assimilation (Thanksgiving turkey), and they are the vestiges of a home left behind.

My own family has lived in America for hundreds of years. I don’t have any idea what the immigrant experience is like. Sure, I have moved to new places, but the culture in each place I have lived is more or less the same, and if I have to do without restaurants that have become favorites, it’s no small price to pay when I find new favorites and quickly assimilate to the new place. I can’t imagine what it must be like to move thousands of miles away to a completely different culture, where I am unsure of the language and customs. However, I feel like I caught a glimpse of what such an undertaking must be like after reading this book, and it made me admire immigrants for what they are willing to do in order to build a life for themselves. More Americans should read this book. I was moved by a passage near the end, as Gogol reflects on the fact that his mother is selling the house he grew up in so that she can go to India:

And then the house will be occupied by strangers, and there will be no trace that they were ever there, no house to enter, no name in the telephone directory. Nothing to signify the years his family has lived here, no evidence of the effort, the achievement it had been.

On a lark, I searched through census records to see who had lived in my current house. The names changed each decade. In 1910, the Anderson family, Swedish immigrants whose children had been born here in Massachusetts, lived in my house. Arthur Anderson was a carpenter. I wonder if any of his work survives. My husband often says this house was built like a ship. In 1920, the French Canadian Cartier family lived in my house. Frederick Cartier owned a shop, but the census doesn’t say what kind. His three children, all teenagers between 14 and 18 years old, worked—the two girls in a corset factory and the boy in a cotton mill. In 1930, Albert Dupont, a carpenter who had been born in Massachusetts to French Canadian parents, lived here with his family. In 1940, the O’Briens lived in my house. John O’Brien was a salesman. The names change every ten years, and but for a whim, they would have been completely forgotten. I was fascinated to discover a few scant facts about each family. Worcester is a city with a strong immigrant population, even up to the present. It’s one of the things that makes this city interesting. In fact, it’s one of the things that makes Massachusetts interesting. It makes a great deal of sense to me that Jhumpa Lahiri brought the Ganguli family from Calcutta to Boston. Something about this state has attracted people who have set off thousands of miles away from home to build a new life, from 1620 when the Pilgrims sailed The Mayflower and landed at Plymouth to the present day.

Rating: ★★★★★

Related posts:

Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, John Crowley

Reading Challenges and Goals for 2013

Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, J. K. Rowling (???), Jack Thorne, John Tiffany


Share

The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Inglis

Posted on by Dana
Share

The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, Book 3)What can one say about J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King? It’s the long denouement of Tolkien’s epic saga The Lord of the Rings. I hadn’t read it in over 20 years, so I had forgotten just how long the ending is. I think Gollum actually falls into the crack of Mount Doom clutching the Ring, Frodo’s finger still attached, around the middle of the book. The rest of it is setting things to rights and putting a nice bow on the whole story. Of course, my perception may be off because this time I was listening to the books instead of reading the print versions.

As with [amazon_link id=”0788789821″ target=”_blank” ]The Hobbit[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”B00BR9WMW2″ target=”_blank” ]The Fellowship of the Ring[/amazon_link], and [amazon_link id=”078878983X” target=”_blank” ]The Two Towers[/amazon_link], Rob Inglis narrated The Return of the Ring superbly. His characterization once again impresses, and he handles the scene between Frodo, Sam, and Gollum at Mount Doom particularly well. I can’t think of a finer reader for the series. Nothing about his reading disappointed me.

I noticed a propensity for Tolkien to tell a little more than show in this volume, and I don’t recall noticing this issue the first time I read the books. In particular, the Battle of Pelennor Fields seems to be related mostly second hand and after the fact, which is a little disappointing. All of the action in this battle is shown in the [amazon_link id=”B0037WTD5G” target=”_blank” ]Peter Jackson film of the same title[/amazon_link], so perhaps that interpretation interfered with my memory.

One of the ways in which I feel Jackson erred with the movies was to give the Shire the short shrift. It’s a lovely country, and Tolkien brings it to vivid life in his books, but Jackson omits the entire section of the novel in which the Scouring of the Shire sets the hobbits free from the yoke of the wizard Saruman and his band of ruffians, and in which Merry, Pippin, and Sam become heroes in the Shire (Frodo’s role in saving Middle Earth is largely overlooked at home—the great ones are never really appreciated at home).

At the end of the film version of The Return of the King, there is a scene which always makes me cry when I watch it. Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry, are bowing to Aragorn, and he says, “My friends, you bow to no one.” And then he bows to them. It’s just such a wonderful acknowledgement of everything they did to save the entire world, and the fact that the king humbles himself before these little folks that people forget about (Treebeard himself needs to add them to the list of the world’s creatures)—it’s just an amazing moment. I didn’t remember it happened in the book, but it does (sort of, words and things are changed), and it’s even grander.

I have to admit my favorite character for years was Gandalf, but as time has worn on, I have come to appreciate Samwise Gamgee, and I think he’s my favorite now. He is the steadfast, loyal friend—even as Frodo begins to succumb to the Ring, Sam remains by his side. His sadness when Frodo departs for the Grey Havens is pitiful. And he is the guy who winds up getting married and having a bunch of little hairy-toed hobbit babies. I just love him. I know a lot of Tolkien’s fans go in more for the elves, but I have to say the hobbits are my favorite.

Incidentally, I made a soap called Hobbit’s Garden that smells like apples, oak, English ivy, and rain. It’s available from my Etsy store, where you can find some other nice soaps I made as well. I have one bar available to ship right now, and the other batch I made will be ready July 6.

It feels almost sacrilegious to do so, but I am knocking half a star off my rating for this book for the excess of telling versus showing, but I am of the opinion that the series should be taken as a whole, and if so, then it’s a five-star read all the way.

Rating: ★★★★½

Related posts:

Review: The Girl with the Louding Voice, Abi Daré

Review: Obsure, Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure Read by Michael Ian Black

Review: Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky


Share

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman

Posted on by Dana
Share

The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A NovelWhat  I love best about Neil Gaiman books is that I know they will touch me and make me laugh, have moments of sparkling philosophy alongside excellent descriptions, and have unforgettable characters and places. His latest novel [amazon_link id=”0062255657″ target=”_blank” ]The Ocean at the End of the Lane[/amazon_link] is no exception. Many critics are calling this novel Gaiman’s finest, and I have to admit I haven’t read him widely enough to agree unequivocally. I will let you know what I think after I’ve read a few more.

We meet the narrator in his late 40’s after he has just attended a funeral and has come back to the place where he lived as a seven-year-old boy. Sitting by a duck pond on the Hempstock farm, he suddenly remembers Lettie Hempstock and how she used to call the pond, her “ocean.” As he remembers this detail, he starts to remember the rest of the story—how Something dark and otherworldly was awakened when the opal miner who rented a room in the protagonist’s house stole the family car and committed suicide inside it and everything that came after. Did it really happen?

Childhood memories are sometimes covered and obscured beneath the things that come later, like childhood toys forgotten at the bottom of a crammed adult closet, but they are never lost for good.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is about a lot of things. It’s about the differences between children and adults. It’s about the fuzziness of memory and what’s really real. It’s about nightmares and other worlds. It’s about sacrifice and loss. It’s about friendship. The NY Times review of the novel says “Gaiman helps us remember the wonder and terror and powerlessness that owned us as children.” I think that is an apt assessment, and I think somewhere inside, we all remember those feelings of wonder, terror, and powerlessness. My favorite thing this book is about, however, is books. Gaiman’s protagonist, whom I cannot recall was ever named, is a lover of books, and he makes some very astute observations about them, this observation being my favorite:

I liked myths. They weren’t adult stories and they weren’t children’s stories. They were better than that. They just were.

Adult stories never made sense, and they were so slow to start. They made me feel like there were secrets, Masonic, mythic secrets, to adulthood. Why didn’t adults want to read about Narnia, about secret islands and smugglers and dangerous fairies?

He makes this observation after he describes retreating into books to escape his fear. “I was not scared of anything when I read my book.” Since I was the kind of child who read constantly, and since I’m the kind of adult who loves myths, too (including the odd dangerous fairy), I found myself in the seven-year-old protagonist of this novel.

Neil Gaiman has a gift with language. He weaves beautiful sentences together, and I always find myself highlighting more when I read his books than I typically do. He also knows how to create villains right out of your nightmares. But after reading [amazon_link id=”0380807343″ target=”_blank” ]Coraline[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”0060530944″ target=”_blank” ]The Graveyard Book[/amazon_link], and now The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I think what Gaiman is best at is capturing that feeling of what it is like to be a child and to be a child who is scared and alone.

Rating: ★★★★★

Related posts:

Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen

Review: The Arctic Fury, Greer Macallister

Re-Reading Harry Potter: "Never Laugh at Live Dragons"


Share

State of Wonder, Ann Patchett

Posted on by Dana
Share

State of Wonder: A Novel (P.S.)Ann Patchett’s novel State of Wonder is my school’s upper school summer read. I am not sure I would have thought to pick it up otherwise, as I haven’t read Patchett before, and I have a list of books I want to read a mile long. However, I found it a compelling and fascinating book, and it far outstrips most of the other books I have read this year (and even the previous year) so far.

I don’t typically include the book synopsis in my reviews, but it seems appropriate for this novel.

In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, State of Wonder presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional resonance and moral complexity.

As Dr. Marina Singh embarks upon an uncertain odyssey into the insect-infested Amazon, she will be forced to surrender herself to the lush but forbidding world that awaits within the jungle. Charged with finding her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, a researcher who has disappeared while working on a valuable new drug, she will have to confront her own memories of tragedy and sacrifice as she journeys into the unforgiving heart of darkness. Stirring and luminous, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss beneath the rain forest’s jeweled canopy.

The reference to Heart of Darkness is not incidental, but State of Wonder updates Conrad’s classic with ethical questions for our own times. How far should science to go to improve on nature? Why do we develop certain drugs over others? What impact could such scientific research have on native populations? Should we care about that impact, or should we care more about “the greater good”? What happens when, to paraphrase Dr. Swenson, we allow ourselves to lose focus on the things we are looking for so that we don’t overlook the things we find?

Marina’s journey into the jungle reminded me of some of the ancient mythological heroic quests to go into the unknown and come back again. The hero is often never the same, and even Dr. Swenson warns Marina about this transformation. Dr. Swenson is Patchett’s own Kurtz, a formidable and ruthless woman committed to her research, even at the expense of her supposed commitment to her Hippocratic Oath as a doctor. Marina’s confrontation of her former teacher, a woman who has loomed like specter over Marina’s life and informed some of her most important life decisions, is the central story of the novel, and it is fascinating to watch their relationship unfold. Dr. Swenson is at the center of everything, and it is her choices and decisions that the novel revolves around, in the end.

Laura Ciolkowski says in her review of the novel for The Chicago Tribune that State of Wonder is “Part scientific thriller, part engaging personal odyssey,” and “a suspenseful jungle adventure with an unexpected ending and other assorted surprises.” That would be my assessment as well.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who has read Heart of Darkness, but thought it seemed dated. It will change your mind. But I would also recommend it to readers who liked The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. All three novels explore the Western exploitation of indigenous people, simultaneously unmasking the horrors of colonialism as well as the terrible beauty of the jungle.

Rating: ★★★★★

Related posts:

Review: Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain

Review: If I Stay, Gayle Forman

The Cutting Season, Attica Locke


Share

The Bookman’s Tale, Charlie Lovett

Posted on by Dana
Share

[amazon_image id=”0670026476″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” class=”alignleft”]The Bookman’s Tale: A Novel of Obsession[/amazon_image]Charlie Lovett’s novel [amazon_link id=”0670026476″ target=”_blank” ]The Bookman’s Tale: A Novel of Obsession[/amazon_link] is the story of Peter Byerly, antiquarian bookseller and restorer, recently widowed and at a loss as to how to move on with his life without his wife Amanda by his side. When Peter goes to a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye and discovers a watercolor of a woman who bears a stunning resemblance to his late wife tucked in a book, he begins a quest to discover the origin of the mysterious watercolor. He enlists the help of Liz Sutcliffe, an editor of art history books, who tells him B.B. is at the center of a mysterious scandal. Peter is hired to look through the book collection of John Alderson, a local man who lives in a sprawling mansion and whose family has an “ancient grudge” with the Gardner family across the river. In a box labeled “Never to be sold,” Peter finds the Holy Grail—proof that William Shakespeare of Stratford was the true author of the plays attributed to him. But is it real? Or a forgery?

The novel travels back and forth among two distinct periods in Peter’s life: his time with Amanda and the novel’s present in 1995. In addition, the reader is taken back to several points in the history of the copy of Pandosto by Robert Greene that supposedly has Shakespeare’s annotations in it. Greene is the playwright who famously referred to Shakespeare as an “upstart crow, beautified with our feathers” who believed himself to be the “only Shake-scene in a country.” Pandosto is itself a very rare book and is the source material for Shakespeare’s play [amazon_link id=”B00762VENM” target=”_blank” ]The Winter’s Tale[/amazon_link].

The novel was an entertaining mystery, and I found I liked and sympathized with Peter as he struggled to move on with his life and then as he found himself embroiled in a mystery. However, coincidences strained credulity and I found the plot somewhat predictable. I would recommend it to folks looking for a page-turner à la [amazon_link id=”0307474275″ target=”_blank” ]The Da Vinci Code[/amazon_link], but better written and with more book nerdiness, but don’t look for the next [amazon_link id=”0679735909″ target=”_blank” ]Possession[/amazon_link]  or [amazon_link id=”1400031702″ target=”_blank” ]The Secret History[/amazon_link].

Rating: ★★★½☆

Related posts:

How to Read Novels Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster

Review: In the Midst of Winter, Isabel Allende

Review: Reckless: My Life as a Pretender, Chrissie Hynde


Share

The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien, Rob Inglis

Posted on by Dana
Share

[amazon_image id=”078878983X” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” class=”alignleft”]The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Book 2)[/amazon_image]I have been listening to J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel [amazon_link id=”078878983X” target=”_blank” ]The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Book 2)[/amazon_link] as narrated by Rob Inglis while making soap and taking walks (trying to drop a few pounds). The first time I read this series, I whipped right through all three books, unable to put them down. The next time I tried a re-read, and the time after that, I wound up bogged down in The Two Towers. I told myself it must be that there was a lull in the pace, but now that I’ve listened to it (and finished it, this time), I think it was just me because there is a lot going on in that book.

For those of you who have only seen the movie, the book is different. In the movie, the action involving Merry, Pippin, Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn flips back and forth with the action involving Frodo and Sam. Not so in the novel. The first half of the novel finds Boromir falling at the hands of orcs who kidnap Merry and Pippin to take them to Isengard. Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn give Boromir a funeral and go in search of the hobbits. On the way, they meet Éomer, nephew of King Theoden of Rohan. They join the Rohirrim to defend Helm’s Deep against the onslaught of orcs, then head to Isengard, where they finally find Merry and Pippin, well and safe and rescued by Treebeard. The Ents have risen against Saruman. Meanwhile, Gandalf has seemingly come back from the grave and taken Saruman’s spot on the White Council. He drives Saruman out of the White Council and breaks his staff.

The second half of the novel concerns Frodo and Sam’s descent into Mordor, during which they meet up with Gollum, who becomes their unlikely guide, and Faramir, who allows Frodo go free and even spares Gollum at Frodo’s request. Gollum leads Frodo and Sam into the lair of the great spider, Shelob, and in that darkest hour, all hope seems lost.

At this point in the hero’s journey that is The Lord of the Rings, Frodo is in what Joseph Campbell called “the belly of the whale.” It is the bleakest hour, when his quest seems doomed to failure, and his life is in its greatest peril. He has come all the way to Mordor, only to be ensnared by an ancient, evil beast. Even good old Samwise thinks his master is gone until he overhears orcs saying Frodo is still alive.

I was struck again, as I always seem to be when I watch the movies and as I was the last time I read The Two Towers that Faramir is a much better man than Boromir. He is one of the few characters in the novel not to be tempted by the power of the Ring, even when it is within his power to take it and use it as he would. He is truly a brave and noble man and one of my favorite characters.

I was struck listening to Sam talk about how the story of the destruction of the Ring might be told one day.

The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually—their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on—and not all to a good end, mind you, at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and find things all right, thought not quite the same—like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in!

What a spectacular comment on why we tell stories and why the hero’s journey, in particular, continues to speak to us. And of course, Tolkien always understood that about stories, and that he put that wisdom in the mouth of Samwise Gamgee makes me love both Tolkien and Samwise even more. Sam even has a little bit of insight into the villain’s role in the story. Gollum is arguably more pitiful than villainous, but he does betray the hobbits, and Sam was always right to be wary of him. Sam said:

Even Gollum might be good in a tale, better than he is to have by you, anyway. And he used to like tales himself once, by his own account. I wonder if he thinks he’s the hero or the villain?

Same shows a great deal of insight into the nature of what Tolkien would call fairy stories. The villains are as important as the heroes to a good yarn, even if they are not much fun to be around in real life.

Rob Inglis is an excellent narrator, and he does a particularly brilliant characterization of Gollum. He manages to distinguish most of the characters from one another. In addition to Gollum, his Samwise, Merry, and Pippin are all excellent as well. Gandalf and Aragorn sound like they should. No voice is out of place. His dramatic reading of the plot brings the story to life, and I thoroughly enjoy listening to it so much that I found myself making excuses to plug the audio book in and listen.

If you haven’t re-read [amazon_link id=”0788789821″ target=”_blank” ]The Hobbit[/amazon_link] or The Lord of the Rings in a while, I encourage you to give Rob Inglis’s narration a try. He’s an excellent reader of a rather ripping good tale.

Rating: ★★★★★

Related posts:

Review: Possession, A. S. Byatt

Review: Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel

Review: Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee


Share
Top Ten Tuesday adapted from http://www.flickr.com/photos/ceasedesist/4812981497/

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books that Feature Travel

Posted on by Dana
Share

Top Ten Tuesday adapted from http://www.flickr.com/photos/ceasedesist/4812981497/

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is top ten books that feature travel in some way. OK, wide open, so here is my list.

[amazon_image id=”0545139708″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”054792822X” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0544003411″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Lord of the Rings[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0143105957″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0440423201″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Outlander (20th Anniversary Edition): A Novel[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0385737645″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Revolution[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0143039954″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0451202503″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Songcatcher[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0486280616″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn][/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0393334155″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation)[/amazon_image]

So many great books feature quests or voyages. These are my favorites. You could argue that all the Harry Potter books feature travel, but the trio travels the most in [amazon_link id=”0545139708″ target=”_blank” ]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows[/amazon_link], which features not just the very long camping trip, but the end of Harry’s journey and even a trip to the other side of the veil.

[amazon_link id=”054792822X” target=”_blank” ]The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again[/amazon_link] features Bilbo’s famous quest to the Lonely Mountain with 13 dwarves and sometimes Gandalf. It’s a classic quest and an excellent hero’s journey. In some ways, it is more of a straight hero’s journey and a tighter, finer story than [amazon_link id=”0544003411″ target=”_blank” ]The Lord of the Rings[/amazon_link], which is also quite an amazing quest in which Middle Earth is saved, at least for the likes of men and possibly dwarves and hobbits, but not so much elves, especially not Galadriel and Elrond.

Ishmael says at the beginning of [amazon asin=0143105957&text=Moby Dick] that he decided to stop teaching school and sign on a whaling ship in order to “see the watery part of the world.” He saw a lot more than he bargained for, but you can’t deny it was a heck of a trip.

In Diana Gabaldon’s [amazon_link id=”0440423201″ target=”_blank” ]Outlander[/amazon_link] series, Claire Randall travels back in time when she walks through a stone circle at Beltaine, and she finds herself over 200 years in the past. Trips don’t get much farther than that.

Like Gabaldon’s Claire, Jennifer Donnelly’s Andi Alpers finds herself about 200 years in the past during the French Revolution, but she also figures out a way to move on from a terrible loss in her past in [amazon_link id=”0385737645″ target=”_blank” ]Revolution[/amazon_link].

[amazon asin=0143039954&text=The Odyssey] is the quintessential travel book. The whole book is about the worst trip home ever. On top of that, it’s a rollicking adventure that has stood the test of time. Few books can match it.

I absolutely love Sharyn McCrumb’s novel [amazon_link id=”0451202503″ target=”_blank” ]The Songcatcher[/amazon_link], and my favorite part concerned Malcolm McCourry, who was kidnapped and brought to America from Scotland, bringing a snatch of an old song along with him on the voyage, but the real voyage in this novel is the trip that the song takes through the generations, remembered by Malcolm’s descendants and passed down through time.

[amazon asin=0486280616&text=The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn] is yet another classic travel book, as the book follows Huck and Jim down the Mississippi. We can see how far Huck has come in his other voyage when he decides to tear up the letter revealing Jim’s location and says, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.” Reading that line always gives me the shakes.

Sir Gawain promised he would seek out the Green Knight in the Green Chapel, and he is a knight of his word. If you are looking for reasons why Gawain is better than Lancelot, you can’t do better than the excellent [amazon_link id=”0393334155″ target=”_blank” ]Sir Gawain and the Green Knight[/amazon_link]. Plus, we have no idea who wrote it. It’s a complete mystery. He goes on a quest and finds himself in great peril, but he is true, and he returns home to Arthur’s court a wiser man.

Related posts:

Sunday Salon: An Early Review of Pottermore

Living the Literary Life

Musing Mondays—October 17, 2011


Share

A Note on Slytherins

Posted on by Dana
Share

Slytherin

You learn a great deal about the other houses if you are NOT sorted into Gryffindor in Pottermore, and in fact, if you are sorted into Gryffindor, you are simply greeted by Percy Weasley and instructed to follow the adventures of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Because much of series seems to pit Gryffindors against Slytherins, and also because of Harry’s close shave with the Sorting Hat, we learn more about Slytherin than any other house aside from Gryffindor, and we also know more Slytherin students than we do students of any other house.

My husband was sorted into Slytherin on Pottermore. If we had all actually been Hogwarts students, we would have been an interesting family because we all would have been in different houses. It seems in the series that for the most part, families wind up sorted into the same house—witness the Weasleys and Malfoys. However, if anyone could reasonably be expected to be sorted into the same house, it would be twins, and we know Parvati and Padma Patil are sorted into different houses.

If you are sorted into Slytherin, you are greeted by prefect Gemma Farley. Interestingly enough, of the prefects on Pottermore, Gemma is the only girl who greets first years. We don’t know who her male counterpart is, and we don’t meet Gemma herself in the series. In fact, the only Slytherin prefects the trio ever mentions are Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, who become prefects in Harry’s fifth year. We do learn in Snape’s memory that Lucius Malfoy was prefect when Snape was sorted into Slytherin, and we also know that Tom Riddle was not just prefect but also Head Boy. How much do you want to bet that Snape was probably a prefect, too? He was a good student: studious and intelligent.

Gemma Farley describes the Slytherin common room windows as being underwater, with a view of the lake. She notes that sometimes you can even see the giant squid swim by. The room, she says, has “the aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck.” She says that their ancient four-poster beds are shrouded in green hangings and the coverlets are woven with silver thread. The walls are covered with tapestries and portraits of famous Slytherins. The Head of House when Harry starts is, of course, Severus Snape. Oddly enough, Gemma doesn’t mention him at all. The other prefects all mention their head of house. Well, I can’t remember for certain if Percy Weasley does. I will have to check. After Snape becomes headmaster, Horace Slughorn is once again Head of Slytherin, as he had been before Snape’s arrival at Hogwarts. The house ghost is the Bloody Baron, actually the only scary ghost at Hogwarts, who sports silver bloodstains acquired when he murdered Helena Ravenclaw in a rage.

While Slytherin has turned out more dark wizards than any other house, which has given the house something of a notorious reputation, Gemma counters that the other houses have produced their share of dark wizards, too. She also mentions the anti-Muggle bias, and she acknowledges that it is somewhat true that Slytherins tend to come from pureblood families, but that it is not unusual to find Slytherins with one Muggle parent. While Gemma doesn’t come right out and say so, I think it’s safe to infer that Slytherin house has few Muggle-born students. Obviously, it has had half-blood students (Severus Snape and Tom Riddle being two examples). This raises an interesting question. What does the Sorting Hat do when a Muggle-born student with otherwise Slytherin traits comes to school? Surely, it has happened. Perhaps the student’s secondary characteristics are considered instead. Or, perhaps these students are sorted into Slytherin after all. Purebloods, as we have seen, are not automatically sorted into Slytherin, so perhaps blood status is not as important as other traits.

Gemma also shares that Merlin, the most famous wizard of all-time, was a Slytherin. Leaving aside the fact that Merlin, if he ever lived, likely lived before the founding of Hogwarts, it makes perfect sense that he was a Slytherin. He engineered Arthur’s birth for his own purposes, even though they were, depending on your point of view, noble. He also took Arthur away from his mother and had him fostered with Sir Ector. He has some wily, Slytherin traits, indeed.

Slytherins see themselves as cool and edgy and believe their house is superior to the other houses at Hogwarts. Gemma says that Slytherins have a sort of pack mentality, though she doesn’t use those words. If you are sorted into Slytherin, you can count on the loyalty of the other Slytherins. She indicates Ravenclaws often stab each other in the back as they clamber to earn the highest grades. Besides, she says, the Slytherin reputation can be valuable in that other students will think twice before messing with you. She also mentions that Slytherins are competitive because they care about the honor and traditions of their house.

Gemma claims that what Salazar Slytherin sought in his students was the seeds of greatness. Of course, we know as readers he also prized pureblood status (as he didn’t trust Muggles) and, as Dumbledore once put it, “a certain disregard for the rules.” While it might not always be apparent that Slytherins have the seeds of greatness *coughCrabbeandGoylecough*, Gemma says that if students were sorted into Slytherin, then they have potential. I think this is an interesting point because the Sorting Hat tells Harry: “You could be great, you know, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that.”

As the series unfolds, we learn that Slytherins are more complex than they appear to be at the outset. Their character traits, cunning, resourcefulness, and ambition, are not negative traits except when taken to excess. We also see several Slytherins act nobly. Severus Snape might be the most notable example, but certainly, others do their part for good. Horace Slughorn fights against Voldemort’s forces at the Battle of Hogwarts. Andromeda Black Tonks marries a Muggle-born wizard, Ted Tonks, and helps hide Harry from Voldemort.

In fact, Gemma grudgingly admits that perhaps Gryffindors and Slytherins, while old rivals, might have more in common than they’d like to admit. I would imagine that is one reason why we learn more about Slytherins than we do Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs when we read the series.

Finally, Gemma mentions that no outsider has entered the Slytherin common room in 700 years, which we know is untrue, but it raises an interesting question: who entered the common room 700 years ago and what happened to them?

All of the houses have virtues, but each has its vices as well, and in no other house is this mesh of virtue and vice more complicated than in Slytherin.

The following characters are known Slytherins:

  • Draco Malfoy
  • Vincent Crabbe
  • Gregory Goyle
  • Pansy Parkinson
  • Millicent Bulstrode
  • Marcus Flint
  • Adrian Pucey
  • Montague
  • Terence Higgs
  • Theodore Nott
  • Blaise Zabini
  • Daphne Greengrass (older sister of Draco Malfoy’s wife, Astoria Greengrass)
  • Tom Marvolo Riddle
  • Severus Snape
  • Avery
  • Mulciber
  • Evan Rosier
  • Lucius Malfoy
  • Narcissa Black Malfoy
  • Bellatrix Black Lestrange
  • Rodolphus Lestrange
  • Rabastan Lestrange
  • Regulus Black
  • The entire Black family except for Sirius
  • Horace Slughorn
  • Scabior
  • Dolores Umbridge (J. K. Rowling confirmed this after the fact, but really, was there any doubt?)

Characters I strongly suspect were Slytherins, but whose house has never been confirmed:

  • Rita Skeeter (I mean, come on.)
  • Ludo Bagman (He has the self-preservation of a Slytherin.)
  • Cornelius Fudge (Preserving his role as Minister and the appearance that he was competent at the expense of nearly everyone? Yeah.)
  • Albert Runcorn (He seems to be trusted by the Death Eaters at any rate, and loathed by Arthur Weasley. Seems fair enough.)
  • Rufus Scrimgeour (He is brave, no doubt, but he also throws out justice at the expense of wanting to be thought of as doing something about the Voldemort problem. Cf. Stan Shunpike.)
  • Amycus Carrow (Death Eater. Teaches Dark Arts to students.)
  • Alecto Carrow (Death Eater. Teaches pureblood mania, Muggle hatred in Muggle Studies.)
  • Yaxley (Death Eater.)
  • Caractacus Burke (Owns a Dark Arts shop in Knockturn Alley with Borgin.)
  • Borgin (Owns a Dark Arts shop in Knockturn Alley with Burke.)
  • Thorfinn Rowle (Death Eater.)
  • Walden Macnair (Death Eater.)
  • Jugson (Death Eater.)
  • Travers (Death Eater.)
  • Wilkes (Friend of Snape’s and Death Eater.)
  • Selwyn (Death Eater.)
  • Gibbon (Death Eater, accidentally killed by Rowle.)

Characters I DON”T think were Slytherin, despite later being somewhat Slytherin-y:

  • Barty Crouch, Sr. (He didn’t seem to lord his pureblood status enough for a Slytherin pureblood. I suspect Ravenclaw.)
  • Barty Crouch, Jr. (I think he was also a Ravenclaw. He got 12 O.W.L.s)
  • Gwenog Jones, Quidditch Player for the Holyhead Harpies and Slug Club member (Despite being in the Slug Club, my hunch is Gryffindor. Quite a few Gryffindors were in the Slug Club.)
  • Olive Hornby, who teased Moaning Myrtle about her glasses (Teasing is mean, but all the students engage in that sort of thing.)
  • Gilderoy Lockhart. (He is apparently a Ravenclaw. I don’t get it either. Of course, that is movie canon, but I wonder if, in this instance, Rowling didn’t give it her approval.)
  • Stan Shunpike (He was Imperiused and used by Death Eaters, but he never showed any Slytherin traits himself. More likely Hufflepuff, but I don’t think he made it to N.E.W.T. level at Hogwarts. One suspects he didn’t pass many of his O.W.L.’s.)
  • Pius Thicknesse (Though the puppet Minister of Magic under Voldemort’s control, Yaxley does say it took a lot of effort to Imperius him, so my guess is he doesn’t sympathize much with their world view when not under a curse.)
  • Igor Karkaroff (Not from Britain, likely went to Durmstrang.)
  • Antonin Dolohov (I suspect he also went to Durmstrang.)
  • Fenrir Greyback (I don’t think he was allowed to attend Hogwarts. Of course, I guess that depends on when he became a werewolf; much was made of the exception that Dumbledore allowed for Lupin to attend.)
  • Marvolo, Morfin, and Merope Gaunt (I think I remember that they never went to Hogwarts.)

Related posts:

Top Ten Trends I'd Like to See More/Less Of

Re-Reading Harry Potter: "Never Laugh at Live Dragons"

Re-Reading Harry Potter: "Mars is Bright Tonight"


Share