« Previous Post | Index | Next Post »
There does seem to be a great deal of sartorial inconsistency in the books (if the Weasleys are so oblivious to the ways of the Muggles, then why does Harry only recognize them as a wizarding family when he overhears mention of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters? Shouldn't he have known this instantly from their bizarre form of dress? Do the students wear those pointy hats to all their classes or don't they? Is a robeless Hogwarts student indecently-exposed or isn't he? How do you manage to straddle a broomstick in floor-length robes? And so forth.) The animagus question is just one of a long list.
My gut feeling about JKR as a writer is that she doesn't tend to visualize clothing very much at all when she imagines the scenes to herself. Descriptions of clothing in the books are rare, and where they appear, they are quite sparse. Unless the the author is going out of her way to make a point about someone's form of dress, she rarely thinks to mention what people are wearing at all. Fudge's gaily-colored ensemble merits some description, as do Hagrid's awful suit and the dress robes people wear to the Yule Ball. There is quite a bit of sartorial description in the QWC segment of GoF. But generally speaking, there just isn't very much emphasis on clothing in the text. I get the impression that JKR is simply not terribly interested in clothing (unlike food, which clearly is something that interests her and that plays a large role in her visualization of the fictive world).
So when it comes to Shrieking Shack, for example, my suspicion is that it didn't occur to the author to specify whether or not Pettigrew was dressed because what the characters were wearing played very little role in her own visualization of that scene. She may, indeed, simply not have considered the question. Sirius' ratty grey robes did occur to her, because his role as "convict" was important, and so the appropriate clothing for that role leapt to her mind. Pettigrew's dress (or lack thereof), on the other hand, was something that she may well just never have thought to consider.
This may seem strange to people who are interested in and attentive to clothing. To me, it seems perfectly natural. As both a reader and a writer, I know that while I always visualize things like facial expression and body language and landscape in photographically vivid detail, I often fail to visualize clothing at all. This is likely related to my oblivion to clothing in real life: I am remarkably inattentive to what people are wearing; unless they are indecently-exposed or in some truly bizarre get-up, like a period costume, I rarely notice their clothing. (This makes me absolutely useless as a witness, as became all too clear when the police asked me questions about a con-man who had tried to pull a scam at our store and upon failing, fled the scene. "Well, all right, then. Was what he was wearing dark or light?" "Um...I'm sorry. I really just didn't notice.") Whenever sartorial issues come up on this list, I find myself wondering if JKR might not suffer from a similar blind spot.
Charis Julia wrote:
So, Peter left his robes behind him when he transformed. Was he naked in the Shrieking Shack then? Ugh, ugh, shakes self violently trying to rid brain of horrible new envisioning of scene. Nope. Won't work. Stuck with it. Bother.
Ugh. You know, I have to admit that it never once occurred to me to wonder what Pettigrew was wearing in Shrieking Shack. And you know what else? In this particular case, ignorance really was bliss. I could, I think, have lived very happily for the rest of my life without ever being forced to contemplate the possibility that the poor wretch was actually stark naked throughout that scene, or (even worse) being forced to try to visualize it that way. So thank you, HPFGU. Thanks a whole lot.
<Elkins pauses for a moment, trying to envision Shrieking Shack with a starkers Pettigrew, then shakes her head with a shudder>
No. Ugh, no, that's just far too degrading. I balk at the concept. My imagination goes on strike; the shutter on my mental camera refuses to click; I instinctively avert my inner eye. I simply cannot bring myself to go there. Therefore, I am forced to deduce that Pettigrew must have been clothed.
So there. That's settled, then.
Charis wrote:
By the way, one thing I've always wondered. Why did Sirius tell Hagrid he wouldn't be needing the motorcycle any more? The only explanation that I can come up with is that, in a blinding rage that had possessed him and half unhinged by grief, he really does intend to murder Pettigrew. Oh, yeah, actually we know that for a fact, he says so at the end of PoA. So, he knew he would be caught and sent to Azkaban, but had no problem facing the prospect if it was necessary in order to avenge his friends death.
That was always my understanding. He was slightly unhinged at the time, and he wasn't thinking too clearly; he felt as if his life were over. There's a tinge of the suicidal there, to be sure — giving away cherished possessions, you know. Never a good sign.
Except that, well, all this doesn't fit in too well with my perception of wizarding justice at all. Surely in the post—Voldemort years a man would be honoured for bringing in a Death Eater, not hauled off to prison.
But there would have been no way for Sirius to prove his story, would there? If we assume (as I think that we must) that for whatever reason, veritaserum was not being used for such purposes at that time, then it would have come down to Sirius' word. He didn't expect that anyone would believe him.
Moody doesn't seem to have been punished for killing Rosier, does he?
Ah, but that's different. Moody was an Auror, with a licence to kill. He was authorized to identify people as Dark Wizards and to take violent action against them. Sirius was not. The wizarding world may be a bit anarchic, but it nonetheless does seem to draw a distinction between vigilante justice and the activities of the duly-authorized representatives of the judicial system.
—Elkins
Posted to HPfGU by Elkins on March 10, 2002 11:15 AM
« Previous Post | Index | Next Post »