Essay (Harry Potter): Marietta
Aug. 19th, 2004 05:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotessex-posted to HP Essays
I feel that the fandom and, indeed, JK, are far too hard on Marietta Edgecomb. The problem as I see it is that it's not taken into account that she stands outside the main narrative.
Readers have a privileged viewpoint in HP, as do the Trio, the members of the Order, the Weasleys, and most of the characters we meet. But not every student in Hogwarts shares that privilege. While we, like the main characters, are quite aware of the war being waged, there are hundreds of students just going about their lives who are very scantily informed. Marietta is one of these.
Let's look at what she would know about the plots of the first books.
In PS/SS, she would only have Dumbledore's end-of-year speech and the awarding of points to the trio. “The whole school” is apparently talking about what happened between Harry and Quirrel but that's just rumor, and any intelligent girl knows to take it with a grain of salt. Dumbledore never once mentions Quirrelmort or the Stone, and thus the rumors remain just that. Of the students, only Ron and Hermione are given the whole story. It would be obvious that something happened, but the vast majority of the students would have no idea as to what.
In CoS, she would have been eminently aware of the danger of the Chamber and the Heir, especially after Penelope was petrified. But we don't know what the school was told, either about the removal of Hagrid and Dumbledore, or as to why Harry and Ron were awarded two hundred points apiece. There is, however, no reason to believe that the identity of the Heir as Tom as ever revealed. It doesn't seem to ever have become common knowledge, but to have been treated as an isolated incident.
PoA has nothing to do with Voldemort, and the threat that Sirius Black posed to the school was never directly connected to Harry. The students are never told the full story of the Shrieking Shack incident, although we are again told that it became the subject of rumor.
And then in GoF, after the papers have been discrediting Harry all year long, Dumbledore suddenly stands up and announces that Voldie is back just because Harry said so. And her best friend's boyfriend is dead.
Dumbledore's Army was originally introduced as an extra class, a way to learn what Umbridge was keeping from them. This could be useful in a variety of ways, not merely against Voldemort. Perhaps Marietta wanted to get her Defense OWL. What's wrong with that? An educational club isn't usually assumed to be a testing ground as far as loyalty to the causes of Dark and Light go.
Marietta is one of the few examples we see of a normal girl, who worries more about getting in to trouble than in saving the world, not because she's a bitch, but because she's not really clear on the concept of the world needing to be saved. Yes, she heard Harry in the DA and in the Quibbler, but she also heard a lot to discredit him, and what he said was never actually confirmed by a source of power. She reacted to the DA as a schoolgirl, not as a soldier. And that isn't a crime. Her actions were potentially very dangerous, but she didn't know that. And certainly, Hermione's hex was inappropriately cruel, especially as it was made a secret.
I feel that the fandom and, indeed, JK, are far too hard on Marietta Edgecomb. The problem as I see it is that it's not taken into account that she stands outside the main narrative.
Readers have a privileged viewpoint in HP, as do the Trio, the members of the Order, the Weasleys, and most of the characters we meet. But not every student in Hogwarts shares that privilege. While we, like the main characters, are quite aware of the war being waged, there are hundreds of students just going about their lives who are very scantily informed. Marietta is one of these.
Let's look at what she would know about the plots of the first books.
In PS/SS, she would only have Dumbledore's end-of-year speech and the awarding of points to the trio. “The whole school” is apparently talking about what happened between Harry and Quirrel but that's just rumor, and any intelligent girl knows to take it with a grain of salt. Dumbledore never once mentions Quirrelmort or the Stone, and thus the rumors remain just that. Of the students, only Ron and Hermione are given the whole story. It would be obvious that something happened, but the vast majority of the students would have no idea as to what.
In CoS, she would have been eminently aware of the danger of the Chamber and the Heir, especially after Penelope was petrified. But we don't know what the school was told, either about the removal of Hagrid and Dumbledore, or as to why Harry and Ron were awarded two hundred points apiece. There is, however, no reason to believe that the identity of the Heir as Tom as ever revealed. It doesn't seem to ever have become common knowledge, but to have been treated as an isolated incident.
PoA has nothing to do with Voldemort, and the threat that Sirius Black posed to the school was never directly connected to Harry. The students are never told the full story of the Shrieking Shack incident, although we are again told that it became the subject of rumor.
And then in GoF, after the papers have been discrediting Harry all year long, Dumbledore suddenly stands up and announces that Voldie is back just because Harry said so. And her best friend's boyfriend is dead.
Dumbledore's Army was originally introduced as an extra class, a way to learn what Umbridge was keeping from them. This could be useful in a variety of ways, not merely against Voldemort. Perhaps Marietta wanted to get her Defense OWL. What's wrong with that? An educational club isn't usually assumed to be a testing ground as far as loyalty to the causes of Dark and Light go.
Marietta is one of the few examples we see of a normal girl, who worries more about getting in to trouble than in saving the world, not because she's a bitch, but because she's not really clear on the concept of the world needing to be saved. Yes, she heard Harry in the DA and in the Quibbler, but she also heard a lot to discredit him, and what he said was never actually confirmed by a source of power. She reacted to the DA as a schoolgirl, not as a soldier. And that isn't a crime. Her actions were potentially very dangerous, but she didn't know that. And certainly, Hermione's hex was inappropriately cruel, especially as it was made a secret.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-20 09:41 am (UTC)I agree with you on how little Marietta must have known, and the same thing would go for most people at Hogwarts. The only thing I have to question is this:
Dumbledore's Army was originally introduced as an extra class, a way to learn what Umbridge was keeping from them. This could be useful in a variety of ways, not merely against Voldemort. Perhaps Marietta wanted to get her Defense OWL. What's wrong with that? An educational club isn't usually assumed to be a testing ground as far as loyalty to the causes of Dark and Light go.
I got the impression that Marietta only went because of Cho, and was quite sceptical to the whole thing from the beginning. It's true that it wasn't against the rules at first, but she had still heard these things about Harry, and most people seem to expect that it's not going to be just "an extra class", because they all hesitate on signing the list. When Marietta signs it she gives a very reproachful look, so she doesn't seem more keen on signing it than, say, Zacharias. But anyway, I think that from Marietta's POV, Cho's motives for wanting the class probably seemed a bit fuzzy as well. We know that Cho had some serious interest in learning, because of the stuff that happened to Cedric, but I wonder if Marietta doesn't think that Cho is being a shallow girl, who lets herself be lured into this, because she fancies the boy leading it? That could be another reason for her tattling them. She views the people in the club as either "scary fanatics" or "poor dupes", like Cho.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-20 11:10 am (UTC)What worries me isn't the fan-bashing. That's too common for comment, really, although that doesn't mean that it's okay. It's that JK seems to do it herself. Characters can defend themselves against anti-fans, but against the author they are powerless. Poor babies.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-20 01:42 pm (UTC)Oh yes, I can definitely see what you mean.
What worries me isn't the fan-bashing. That's too common for comment, really, although that doesn't mean that it's okay.
It is indeed common. It's not that I get offended on behalf of the fictional characters, really, though maybe it seems like that sometimes, when I get really into defending someone, but it's almost always, because I see a certain type of "bashing" as representing something else, something more serious. Like, for instance, when people say Draco is irredeembable, that sounds to me like they mean they truly think a fifteen-year-old can be completely beyond hope, just because he's a racist, a snob and a bully, and that's such a depressing worldview, that I have to speak up against it. Of course, not everyone who says that means it that way, I've learned that sometimes they just mean that he's "irredeemable" because they don't think JKR will redeem him, so his potential of redemption in practice is really besides their point. And if I knew that was what they meant, I wouldn't be bothered by such statements, because it's really about predicting the future of the books. But sometimes it is indeed what they mean, and I find that depressing.
In the same way it bothers me when people start judging characters as soon as they do something that annoys Harry, without even putting themselves into their shoes, because I have to wondr if these people are as quick to judge people in real life. Again, they may very well not be. After all, it may be easier to judge a fictional character, because you don't have to fear that they judge you in return, and you may still be tolerant in real life, because you know that even if your friend screws up, there will be times when you screw up as well. And if that's the case, then that's really nothing to worry about. But what if it's not, you know? What if it is really a sign on how easy people judge and dismiss others?
Oops, forgot!
Date: 2004-08-20 01:45 pm (UTC)Re: Oops, forgot!
Date: 2004-08-21 07:17 am (UTC)