PS/SS:CH3:ITEMS OF INTEREST

This is a long list...perhaps I could leave out the stuff in Dudley's second room -- yeah right! When I first read this chapter I paid little attention to the things Harry found in Dudley's second room. However, now that we've seen a similar room in HBP (the storage use in the RoR), and how intesting the stuff in there is...well, I decided that we should consider what Harry finds here. Something might be useful later...perhaps there is a subtle clue mixed in with all the mess.

I also thought about leaving out descriptions of all the places where Vernon stops the car, but I think we're not just looking at Vernon's madness here. I see symbolic meanings in the choices he's made, though it's Jo who knows the meaning, not Vernon....

Perhaps I could leave out descriptions of the trip (travelling) to the shack, but considering the events of HBP (it involved a boat and a small area of land surrounded by a lake), I decided to leave them in.

• Dudley runs into Mrs. Figg with his new bike - Poor Mrs. Figg; she hadn't quite recovered from breaking her leg....
• broken video camera - Dudley has already destroyed it
• broken remote control airplane - again, Dudley has already destroyed it
• broken (1st) TV set - ditto. Dudley took his anger out on the poor TV when one of his shows was cancelled. I wonder if, in her backstory, she had decided what show it should be.
• working tank - Does Jo mean the tank still works, or does she just mean the tank was designed to be functional/rideable? Perhaps this is one tough toy Dudley could not damage, though he caused damage with it. Males me wonder...what was the outcome of Dudley running over the neighbor's dog?
• large birdcage - Dudley once owned a parrot, and he traded it for an air rifle. It's interesting that the RoR storage room also has at least one large cage in it, but I'll discuss what once occupied that cage later....
• real air rifle - destroyed, of course...and by Dudley's arse, no less.
• old chocolate cake - Is Mrs. Figg really serving him nasty old cake, or is there something special about this cake? Is it important that it's chocolate?
• maroon tailcoats - Later we'll come to also associate this color with Ronald Weasley, except Ron hates maroon, while Dudley seems quite proud of his new uniform. Maroon is a mixture of brown and purple, though the resulting color is considered a dark red. I wondered what could be symbolic about maroon, and then I found this:
  (Q) In Bugs Bunny cartoons, the "wascally wabbit" sometimes refers to stupid people as "maroons," as in "What a maroon!" I'm wondering if this put-down has a racist genesis and what, if anything, it has to do with being 'marooned' on a desert island.
  (&A) It is neither racist nor related to maroon 'to abandon' (though this word does originally refer to fugitive slaves), except through their identical pronunciation.
  The word maroon 'an foolish or obnoxious person' is simply a jocular mispronunciation of moron. It is probably reinforced by the existence of maroon 'abandon' and maroon 'brownish red color' (which are themselves unrelated, by the way, giving us three different unrelated maroons). (quoting http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970731)
  Is Jo using it in the same sense that Bugs Bunny means? "Foolish or obnoxious person" surely describes Dudley well.
• orange knickerbockers - knickerbockers are like short trousers, long shorts, britches, hosen.... Orange is a really bright color; some people would consider orange a bit obnoxious-looking. Orange, as a color, has also become a symbol for political opposition. However, "in English heraldry, orange denotes strength, honour, generosity, and prosperity." (www.wikipedia.org) According to http://opossumsally.homestead.com/color.html, orange is also an appetite stimulant, as if Dudley needs to stimulate his appetite! http://www.coloracademy.co.uk/Subjects/Symbolism/Symbolism.htm had this to say about orange in heraldry: "Orange signifies vitality, single-mindedness, and self-centred determination. Owing to its possible confusion with red, vivid orange is absent in heraldry, and replaced by brownish-orange or tawny, associated with topaz, and symbolising strength and endurance." Add to this the following:
  Color: Orange
  Element: Water
  2nd Chakra: Sacral - Svadhisthana - Sexuality & Creativity
  Happiness - Courageous - Successful
  Lower abdomen to navel
  When this chakra is blocked we experience fear, anxiety, attachments to material things, a lack of compassion, and distrust. Orange is the color of joy and creativity and promotes a general sense of wellness. It provides emotional energy that you can give to others, including compassion, passion and genuine warmth.
  A balance of orange will let a person handle the ups and downs of life with finesse, quickly recovering from disappointments or wounded heart or pride. Out Going, Busy, Cheerful and Bright, stimulates enthusiasm and creativity.
  Too much ORANGE and we become self-centered and self serving, disregarding the needs of others. Pride, and arrogance can will push us out of balance.
  Too little ORANGE and we lose our motivation, our self esteem suffers, and we have a tendency to isolate or become rebellious. (quoting http://www.gemstonegifts.com/Colors/orange.htm)
  I think we can say that Dudley has too much orange. He is self-centered, preoccupied with material things, and gluttonous.
• flat straw hat/boater - the boater is a rather dressy straw hat made popular with the advent of the yachting craze.
• Smelting stick - for info on Smelting, see my post about names in ch. 3. It's a bit like a walking stick. However, instead of being used for balance (to steady oneself, etc.) it's used to coerce people...basically torture them into doing as you say. Vernon says it will help prepare Dudley for the world, life as an adult. Smeltings is churning out generation after generation of "Vernon Dursley"s into the world. This stick, used to hit people, also reminds me of Punch from the puppet show Punch and Judy. (odd musing: isn't there a Hangman in the Punch and Judy show?)
• gray clothes for Stonewall High - Again, see my ch. 3 names post about Stonewall. Gray is an appropriate color...very drab.
• emerald green ink - Interesting that McGonagall uses green ink, not red ink.
• purple wax seal - wax seals are generally associated with official business and formal, somewhat stuffy letter-writing practices. Purple is usually associated with royalty, though Jo often juxtaposes purple and signs of old age, in turn juxtaposed with possession of great power. More on this later, particularly in later discussions of Dumbledore and Ollivander.
• "ate a funny whelk" - "whelk1 n. Any of various large, mostly edible marine snails of the family Buccinidae, having a pointed, spiral shell, especially Buccinum undatum, which is commonly eaten in Europe. whelk2 n. An inflamed swelling, such as a pimple or pustule." (www.dictionary.com) Well, I'll assume we're talking about the large marine snail.
• more spiders - why in the second bedroom? I know spiders can be anywhere in a house, but why does Jo kep mentioning spiders where Harry sleeps? Is it because this bedroom (because of it's mess) and that cupboard under the stairs (because it would be Harry's responsibility) didn't get cleaned by Petunia? Or are those spiders following him?
• Dudley's tortoise - we didn't know Dudley had ever had a pet until this chapter. Petunia doesn't seem too fond of animals, but if the tortoise is always kept in the greenhouse, perhaps Petunia is able to handle it. This makes me wonder how Dudley ended up with a bird or a tortoise in the first place. Were they gifts from Vernon and Petunia, or had they been due to previous trades with other kids?
• the Dursleys' greenhouse - we didn't know they had one until now. Is there anything interesting growing in the greenhouse? Who tends to it...Petunia or Vernon? Actually, just because they have a greenhouse doesn't mean they have anything growing there....
• alarm clock - an alarm clock we didn't know about was broken...and now it's been repaired.... Is this one of Dudley's destroyed possessions that he dumped in the second bedroom, and is Harry the person who repairs it? My guess is "yes" to both questions. I think this is a very subtle clue that Harry is going to have to deal with "broken time" again later, perhaps a broken time-turner...
• Vernon boarded up the mailslot and the cracks around doors - Boarding up the mailslot is a "reasonable" action for a Muggle. However, boarding up cracks around doors...he's really losing it now. Hence the nice joke about fruitcake.
• "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" - god bless Tiny Tim (hehe) ;) Anyway, this song is such an odd choice, particularly for someone who dislikes dreams and imagination like Vernon. I'm not sure what Jo is saying here. Below are the lyrics:
  "Tiptoe through the window/By the window, that is where I'll be/Come tiptoe through the tulips with me/Oh, tiptoe from the garden/By the garden of the willow tree/And tiptoe through the tulips with me/Knee deep in flowers we'll stray/We'll keep the showers away/And if I kiss you in the garden, in the moonlight/Will you pardon me?/And tiptoe through the tulips with me"
• piece of fruitcake - this is choice. It's obviously meant as a breakfast food, something Petunia means for Vernon to eat, but Vernon is so manic about the Hogwarts letters that he forgets what's in his hand...thinks he's holding a hammer, so he hits the nail head with a piece of fruitcake while he's talking about how weird the wizarding people are...how their minds work in strange ways....
• Vernon spreading marmalade on his newspapers - Vernon's "lost it".
• Vernon pulling out his mustache/half a mustache - ditto.
• television, TV, and computer...sports bag - Dudley's obsession with material possessions, his desire for instant gratification...and the sports bag that he owns even though he currently participates in no sports or other regular physical activity (except pummeling Harry).
• "gloomy-looking hotel" - this is the Railway Hotel...a non-existant (at least not in the UK) hotel in a town that doesn't exist.
• "big city" - It's important Jo doesn't say what big city Cokeworth should be near. If she did she might get hate mail from the towns surrounding whatever city she named. There are so many coal mines dotting the British isles that it might not matter...it could be Anywhere, UK.
• "twin beds and damp, musty sheets" - yucky. Reminds me of a Best Western I once stayed at in Lubbock, TX.... I doubt that Petunia and Vernon's room was any better. How did Petunia cope with all this?
• windowsill - windows are a running bit in the septology...along with glass, glasses/specs, mirrors, other reflective surfaces, even picture frames.
• "stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast" - mmm, yummy. Not.
• *"middle of a forest"* - in the history of Hogwarts (it's founders) forests are associated with Griffindor. The element is fire.
• *"middle of a plowed field"* - This one would represent Hufflepuff, the element being earth.
• *"halfway across a suspension bridge"* - The suspension bridge would go over water, so this is the reference to Slytherin and the water element.
• *"top of a multilevel parking garage"* - They are symbolically up in the air, so this represents Ravenclaw and the air element.
• coat hanger and a "pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks" for Harry's 10th birthday - The Dursleys sure don't shower Harry with gifts like they do for Dudley, do they?
• "long, thin package" - turns out later (ch. 4) to contain a rifle.
• "large rock way out at sea" - like the land in the center of the underground lake in HBP cave scene....
• "most miserable little shack" - what's the purpose of having a shack way out here? Was it used for seaweed gatherers?
• "old rowboat" - makes me think of the boat in the HBP cave scene....
• "iron gray water" - one of those "base" metals.... This also makes me think of the HBP cave scene.
• rations of bananas and chips/crisps - Well, Vernon has gone "bananas". Just like the potato, the banana is a staple starch crop, and it can be prepared in much the same way (mashed, sliced, turned into chips, etc.) "Nutritionally one green cooking banana has about the same nutritional and calorie content as one potato." (http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Banana/id/422679) Interesting note about potatoes:
  In the opinion of the German writer Günter Grass, the potato, because it can be grown quickly and cheaply, liberated the masses from hunger, resulted in the development of a sturdier working class and released more people from farm work for nineteenth century factories. The factories led to the development of a strong labouring class, which democratized Europe, he believes. (quoting http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/a0015e/a0015e03.htm)
  It's amazing how much the cheap and lowly potato has altered modern society....
  I also found this interesting, even though I doubt Jo did much research in Native American symbols: "Ancient Spiritual Symbolism of the Cherokee Clans. Ah-ni-ga-to-ge-wi or Wild Potato Clan represented the material plane of earth or physical matter (earth)." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_Clans) Again we are associating the Dursleys with the material plane.... And consider the phrase "couch potato".
  http://www.brilliantdreams.com/dream-dictionary/dream-dictionary-p.htm has this to say about potato symbols in dreams: "To see potatoes in your dream, symbolizes laziness and/or stupidity. To see or eat mashed potatoes in your dream, suggests that you are experiencing concerns over financial matters." and "To see or eat potato chips in your dream, symbolizes your overindulgent behaviour."
  Once again we associate potatoes with laziness, stupidity, material wealth (or the lack thereof), and overindulgence. Overall, we can say that Vernon has no concept of proper nutrition; he buys cheap yet somewhat indulgent foods that provide little more than starch (and fat from oil used to fry the chips) -- something Dudley and Vernon could seriously do without.
• trying to make fire with chip bags - Vernon doesn't get the "survival badge". He's completely inept.
• the shack "smelled strongly of seaweed" - seaweed is a symbol for luck, good wishes, and wealth.
• the shack's "filthy windows" - Besides the running bit about windows, etc., how did Petunia cope with all the dirt and grime? Perhaps her cleaning habits are specific to #4 Privet Drive. I mean, maybe she's only anal about her home (for whatever reason) and away from home she's "okay" with dirt, dust, and grime....
• "a few moldy blankets", "moth-eaten sofa" , and "lumpy bed" - just descriptive of how miserable the shack is.
• "softest bit of floor" and "thinnest, most ragged blanket" - just descriptive of how the Dursleys treat Harry.
• "lighted dial of Dudley's watch" - We must pay attention to watches! Dumbledore's "golden" pocket watch, Dudley's gold watch with the lighted dial...and later the hourglass time-turner and Ron's watch...even the watch on JKR's website....