Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- From: Paracelsus <petersim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2006 03:31:16 GMT
Richard Eney wrote:
In article <b19sf2150c3f34u75q012cv6lcrr3k4k32@xxxxxxx>,I will be very surprised if both of the twins are alive at the end of Book 7. Rowling is clearly setting them up as tragi-comic figures. They suffer from the classic tragic flaw of rashness. They do not mean to do anyone lasting harm but they also do not bother to think through the consequences of their actions.
gjw <gjw@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 4 Sep 2006 17:19:08 -0700, nystulc@xxxxxx wrote:<snip>
She made up all this stuff. If her message is as you imagine, why has she deliberately goneSorry, but if you want a more specific answer, you'll have to cite a few of these facts. If you simply mean that the Twins are, by
out of her way to invent and insert so many facts that are at odds with her supposed message?
real-world standards, little monsters, then I agree, but I don't think
Rowling does. I think she has a different standard for her comic and
non-comic characters. And I also think she has a slightly sadistic
sense of humor. She wouldn't think these things were funny in the
real world, of course, but she seems to revel in them in her own
fictional universe (where she can limit the consequences of their
actions).
Except that she doesn't limit the consequences. The Twins have done things that led to injury and death of other characters.
Don't say it doesn't matter because they're not real; in the
context of the book, they _are_ real. It's called suspension
of disbelief, and without it, you may as well watch stick-figure
cartoons perform random actions.
I'm not a mind-reader; I don't know whether JKR thinks the Twins
are genuinely funny. We won't have all the story-related data
until the last book is in print (and possibly not then). But
based on the actions in the context of the story and in the context of the culture in which JKR lives and writes, I can make certain judgements. One, alas, is that JKR sometimes doesn't
perceive the cumulative effects of her own writing until after
it's in print. (Note in PoA the "fat is evil and being very thin can save your life" element, compared to the "yes, but giving up eating entirely is a sign you're trying to die" statements in GoF.)
So she may not realize how intensely she has written the Twins
as opportunistic sociopaths.
The Twins have been the cause of injury and death:
The Twins gave Harry the map; that led him to risk his life for a handful of candy, which Lupin pointed out was not valuing his parents' sacrifice. The map got into the hands of FakeMoody, which made it much easier for him to complete the GoF plot (if only by making it easier for him to steal supplies from Snape for his polyjuice potion), leading to the death of Cedric and the return
of Voldemort.
The Twins caused Montague to have probably permanent brain damage.
Furthermore, their pushing him into the cabinet led directly to
Draco's finding out what the cabinets did. Draco used the cabinets
to let DEs into the school, which led directly to Dumbledore's death.
The Twins tested their products on unsuspecting children who weren't even told what the product did, let alone warned that the
products weren't fully tested or proven safe, in a context in which
the children had been explicitly told that the older students in their House were to be considered (and trusted) as family. They
were lucky; none of the children died - yet. We don't know about
long-term side effects. However, when Arthur was in the hospital
with bleeding that couldn't be stopped, there was no sign of the
Twins popping up to say "Oh, we've found a bleeding-stopper that we put into our Skiving Snackboxes", even to help their father and his doctors.
The Twins sold their Peruvian Darkness Powder to anyone who
came into the store, and that helped Draco getting the DEs into the school.
The Twins, by continual bullying, made Ron incapable of success
in anything while they were watching. As soon as they left, he
was able to function very well. However, that's a weakness that
could lead to trouble later on, in battle conditions.
I'm sure there are more incidents. Those are just the ones that
come to mind immediately.
=Tamar
A lot of what they do seems, at first sight, relatively harmless or even generous. Giving Harry the Map was an act of great generosity on their part. Unfortunately, it never occurred to them that it might not be a good idea for Harry to be wandering around Hogsmeade when an escaped murderer was looking for him. (I don't think you can reasonably hold them accountable for what the fake Moody did with the Map in year four.)
Rowling presents the twins as amiable and amusing characters because that is how people like them are perceived in real life. Successful entrepreneurs often resemble Fred and George -- quick to take bold risks, slow to admit mistakes, fiercely loyal to their friends, ruthless with their enemies. They are able to get away with a lot because they get results. After all, the Ministry of Magic itself made use of some of the twins' inventions. The problem is that in both fiction and real life, you can take one risk too many. Watch for it in Book 7.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- References:
- Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- From: gjw
- Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- From: nystulc
- Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- From: gjw
- Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- From: Richard Eney
- Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- Prev by Date: Re: Young Snape's Unknowing Help
- Next by Date: Re: The reason DD trusted Snape??
- Previous by thread: Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- Next by thread: Re: Fred and George- antisocial personality disorder
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
