The Challenge for January 2011:
Lily revisited
Lily revisited
Years ago (we've been around for a while, oh yes!)we had 'Severus and Lily' as a monthly challenge.
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alicekinsno1 suggested to take a closer look at Lily's character:Maybe something that discusses the character of Lily more deeply? I'd love to see what some of your ideas are for just how Lily went from treating Snape so harshly and talking back to James, to being the stereotypical "saintly mother" at the end of her life. There's something about her personality that doesn't add up.
That is to say, how her apparently selfless decision to die for her baby makes sense in light of the way she treated Severus or even James. With possibly a side comment about how despite being so powerful and gifted she didn't really show any of that by dying pleading for her baby's life without even trying to take on Voldemort.
Please post your entries here or in a separate post. I'm looking forward to your entries.
If you have ideas for new challenges, please post them here. (This is a new list, your earlier suggestions are still in the old post).
Re: Pearlette to Duj
But you ARE casting aspersions on a) the way I critique things and b) my character. Which does look rather like trying to steamroller the opposition. *shrug*
1) Doylist is fine for literary analysis in general, but it fails at character analysis because it destroys the coherence of character information.
Not in my experience it doesn’t. I think my character analysis of the characters in Rowling’s Potterverse (and Tolkien’s Middle-earth and every other book I’ve ever read) works just dandy, thanks. I don’t claim my view is superior, of course not, but I sure ain’t having it slapped down just because someone happens to disagree with it.
I can only presume you have no conception of how seriously and how quickly babies can injure themselves.
You don’t know anything about me, my life experiences or my dealings with children. Cut it out, please.
(And I notice that the cat's danger is less than nothing to you.)
Yet another ‘ad hominem’ attack. First I don’t care about child abuse, now I don’t care about animals. Knock it off.
Dumbledore is a really offensive character. Maybe you aren't offended by the spectacle of him grooming Harry to become a child soldier and willing sacrifice, with lines like "Death is the next great adventure," and points rewards for being stupidly reckless. I think it's horrific, and although there is no sexual element in Dumbledore's relationship with Harry it's just as much a predatory one as any pedophile's.
As I’ve already said, Dumbledore is not a favourite of mine. But I think we also should add Gandalf the Grey to the list of Machiavellian old gits who send unwitting innocents on a suicide mission. How about it, Duj? Let’s compile a list. ;)
Except not, because I love Gandalf, and Frodo, and that’s never going to happen.
Child soldiers is just as much a horrible form of child abuse as pedophilia, and one which is just as much of a real world problem. Maybe you didn't notice because the victims of child soldiery are "third-worlders", and we safe comfortable westerners don't usually get confronted with the issue close up.
Here we go again. More ‘ad hominem’. I’m not going to dignify this with a response.
*You* certainly don't allow them. If I disagree you get abusive, and now you're saying that anyone who disagrees with you is trying to stifle debate.
I am not saying anything of the sort. My opinion of Lily is clearly the minority one on this site. Which is fine. I'm a big girl and I'm not threatened by opposing POVs. But YOU are the one who threw the first punch by saying that my method of literary analsyis doesn’t count (because you disagree with it) and then insinuating, several times, that I don’t care about child abuse and animal cruelty. If a stranger on the internet casts such crass aspersions on my character, you bet I am going to respond robustly. (And you have the gall to call ME abusive.) Please note that I have not made any personal accusations about YOUR morals and integrity.
One of the pleasures I get from online discussions is alternative POVs that challenge the way I see a character. One of my favourite characters is Hermione, but other readers don’t like her. Are they WRONG not to like her? Of course not. Anymore than I am wrong to like Severus, Harry, Hermione … and Lily.
-- Pearlette
Re: Pearlette to Duj
Here we go again. More ‘ad hominem’. I’m not going to dignify this with a response.
Ad hominem attacks: attacks on the character or personal attributes of the writer rather than the person's argument
That is not what duj is doing above.
Also: it's clear by the end of the book series that Dumbledore was reckless with Harry's life and possibly planning for Harry to get killed all along. Harry of all people accepts this. Maybe we're meant to forgive Dumbledore or like him in spite of this, maybe this theme is just not meant to be taken seriously, but it is a part of the text, an undeniable part of it. It makes sense to take those themes and character developments into account in the course of interpreting the book. So, the comment about Dumbledore's character is relevant in the context of this discussion.