Another way to ponder

Let's not forget the other big ways in which JKR plays with words: portmanteau and word threads.

Portmanteaux are words coined by combining other words, like brunch comes from combining breakfast and lunch. JKR makes it a bit harder for us, though, since she follows the old practice of changing/adding/subtracting a letter here and there. Many of her portmanteaux are also of foreign origin, especially French, which she used to teach. Examples of this are Voldemort, basically meaning "flight of/from death", and Gringott's, translated as "miser of gold".

Word threads are everyday words that take on new or simply important meanings when they appear again and again, either identically or as homonyms. Examples are the constant reminders about things like trainers (sneakers) and socks... glass, glasses, windows, and mirrors...eyes, hands, arms and other body parts...colors/shades/tints like red/Rubeus, white/Albus/pale/paperwhite, and Black/Nigellus/dark/grey/greying. Other threads to look for include any mention of a type of tree or bird. I could go on forever listing threads here, but I wish to discuss them in depth as we come across them.

I do hope my next post is chapter-specific. :)

Ways to ponder

Below is a sort of guide to how I wish to expound my thoughts on the Harry Potter series. Some of the topics to be discussed will use some combo of these research methods:

Philology -- a look at Jo's wordplay. This will include meanings of names and places. It will include talk about the mythological meanings of woody plants. Don't worry, that's not all!

Numerology/Numbers -- a look at symbolic importance of numbers. Here we have to take into account Numerology (1 through 9, 11 and 22), Christian beliefs (especially 1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 13), and Tarot...possibly others.

Alchemy/Mythology -- well, yeah! Nicholas Flamel, Philosopher's Stone, Language of the Birds/Green Language.... Centaurs, unicorns, Arachne.... More about plants. :)

Historical Politics -- double yeah! There were lots of famous people named Severus, some were professors...one was even a Christian convert named Severus who waxed poetic about cattle marked with crosses on their foreheads for protection. Besides, there's that tyrant Hitler...he and his SS would have applauded Voldemort and his DE's attept at "cleansing".

I'll also post questions at the end of each "chapter blog"...those pesky big unanswered questions...or have they been answered in the books and we've missed them?

A speedy (and therefore somewhat lame) Introduction

I intend to use this blog as a place to share, with anyone whom is interested, my thoughts about and research on the Harry Potter septology by J.K. Rowling.

I am a regular in the www.mugglenet.com forums (especially Galadriel Waters' New Clues 6 Discussion at http://newclues.mugglenet.com/nc6/ and Chamber of Secrets at www.cosforums.com/) and have recently joined www.mugglepride.com/thezone/. You'll either find me as AbyBlutjager or AbendrothBlutjager.

That's all there is, really.... Stay tuned!!