A bit apprehensive (another meme)

[mary_j_59]

I got this from bluestocking79, who has answered some very fascinating questions in a most articulate manner, in spite of having the flu! Here is the meme - I've seen it before, but never dared to do it:

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other. So ask me something you want to know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

Comments

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, given how much and how passionately I've responded to these books, I don't have a post about Madame Pince. And boy, is she ever a topic for an essay! Unfortunately, I don't own the books any more, and I'm too involved in other projects to spend a lot of time hunting up quotations, but, if I can help at all, I'd be glad to. This is what I remember about her:
There's a scene where she shushes the kids when they get too loud.
There's the famous scene where she chases Harry and Ginny out of the library because they have a chocolate egg.
I think there's a scene where she looks disapproving when one of the kids wants a book?
We all assume that Snape is lying (yes, even I, Snape fan that I am!) when he takes points from the trio in their first year because they have taken a book outside. But, for all we know, that may actually be one of Madame Pince's rules. The kids never go to complain to her, at any rate! And they never ask her for help.

She just seems to fit, and reinforce, all the cheap negative stereotypes about librarians. I cannot remember J.K.Rowling saying a singe positive thing about libraries or librarians in seven books. It seems ungrateful, to put it mildly! Since, in my experience, librarians were her first boosters and were pushing the books to children long before the word-of-mouth by children started.

[(Anonymous)]

No thats exactly what I'm looking for - I want to get what we all seem to remember - which is very bad - and what JK Rowling seems to confirm as far as her own opinion of Madam Pince(there's that quotation from when a librarian got to ask a question (on a different subject) and JK Rowling made a comment along the lines of "oh good - I was afraid you were going to ask about Madam Pince" and how more or less she was that bad, simply because if Hogwarts had had a good librarian, there would have gone most of the plot...

Anyway - I just have a hard time remembering any specifics - so I'm going to start going through the books looking for every instance (this may take quite a while) where the library or Madam Pince is mentioned (oh how I wish Jo would allow ebooks!) and see just what there is - I just wanted to kind of get the "gut" librarian reaction from more than just myself and my friends before I start seeing what actually happens - because it may completely confirm it - or we may find that she's really more noticably absent than actually bad...

But I absolutely agree with your comments! Even if she is more absent than mean or whatever - that is still not an acceptable view of librarianship!! She is obviously not approachable (if anyone could stand her, it would be Hermione - out of a want to find out everything if nothing else - but even she doesn't go to Pince about anything!)

Of course - granted - the HP series in general doesn't exactly promote taking one's problems to adults... in any kind of situation...

But anyway - thanks! I appreciate it! (and I just wanted to make sure you didn't have a Madame Pince post hidden somewhere since I saw that you have quite a few essay type posts here)

-Ally