Some of the early response to Part One included questions from readers about some British foods I overlooked. For example, what are these "kippers" Ron likes to have for breakfast? They are, essentially, salted and smoked fish - usually herring or salmon - which may actually be served intact, except sliced in half and with the innards removed. Here is a picture:

I am actually a member of the deeply distrusted American minority that enjoys eating kippers. I know only one or two people who share my enjoyment of kippered fish, while my friends and coworkers flee the room making gagging noises when I start slapping pieces of salty, smoky fish on crackers. I find that the best brands have to be imported. And yet somehow, it has never occurred to me to have kippers for breakfast. I suppose some cultural differences are impossible to overcome.

Another food American readers have trouble visualizing is "sprouts." They want to know specifically what kind of sprouts we're talking about here: Bean sprouts? Alfalfa sprouts? Brussels sprouts? Without such modifiers, the word "sprouts" will tend to lead American readers to visualize bean sprouts. But a Brit would probably think of Brussels sprouts, like these:

Another reader wanted to know what Arthur Weasley was peeling. It was a satsuma, and believe it or not, the U.S. is a major grower of satsumas. Satsumas, also known as Mikan, are a very delicate, sweet, easy-to-peel, and generally seedless citrus fruit, like a cross between mandarins and tangerines. Clementines are often erroneously labeled as satsumas. They look like this:

I was afraid you would ask what spotted dick looks like. Ron seemed excited to see one on the table in the Great Hall, but don't let that worry you. Spotted dick is a boiled sponge cake with dried fruit in it, often served in a creamy sauce, like this:

Another "pudding," which isn't at all like what Americans call pudding, is Yorkshire pudding and, amazingly, it is usually served with beef and gravy. Wiki says that when you serve it with sausages, it is called "toad in the hole." Americans would generally call this flaky morsel a "popover," which makes us equally guilty of giving food naughty-sounding names. Behold:

Hagrid's rock cake recipe apparently put more emphasis on "rock" than on "cake." I'm still not sure exactly how to describe a rock cake, but from the picture below, I gather that it is a kind of crispy, lumpy muffin (in the American sense of the word) with, again, dried fruit in it. The British do have a lot of dried fruit in their diet, don't they?

Another sweet treet that some readers asked about is the peppermint humbug, which I had overlooked because I thought it was one of JKR's clever inventions, like "cockroach clusters" and "acid pops." It turns out there are such things as humbugs; they are hard candies that come individually wrapped in twists of cellophane, like so:

We Americans have candy like this too, but we associate the word "humbug" with Ebenezer Scrooge or the Wizard of Oz. When it comes to stoat sandwiches or Stoatshead Hill, we don't know what to think. It's hard to believe, but many Americans have never heard of a stoat, even though they live in the U.S. In some parts of the world, they are a nuisance. Similar to an otter, weasel, or ferret, a stoat is probably not something you should accept between two slices of bread - dead or alive. It's hard to find a picture of a stoat that isn't cute, but here's my best try:

Oh, yes, and there's another bit of muggle technology that may need some introduction. What was Weasley born in? A bin. To many Americans, this may not sound like a very cutting insult. In America, the word "bin" is a general term for a large container. Just to call something a "bin" doesn't necessarily bring thoughts of garbage to mind. Some bins are used to hold garbage, but what the British lingo calls a "bin," we Americans are more likely to call a "wastebasket," "garbage can," or "trash barrel." The more specific British term "dustbin" doesn't exist in the American dialect. However, a search for an image of a "dustbin" found this:

So clearly, when Mrs. Weasley binned the twins' joke items, she wasn't storing them in the attic for safekeeping; she was throwing them out with the garbage.

So far, most of this 3-part editorial has been about the areas where American and British readers follow different paths of thought and speech. So hopefully the illustrations have helped American readers to visualize the unfamiliar things they find in the Harry Potter books. But now we move into an area where everybody might benefit from a good "visual aid."

Wouldn't it be lovely to have an insight into what J. K. Rowling had in mind when she created characters such as Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius Black, and even the obscure Cassandra Vablatsky? You have probably learned, through other editorials and reference materials and discussions with fans, that many of JKR's characters are named after flowers, stars, and mythological figures. What could their names mean? What images should we have in mind? Some of us astronomically and botanically challenged folks may not even know where to find these things.

Let's start with a neutral example. No character in Harry Potter, that I know if, is named after these flowers, but we find them planted under the front window of 2 Privet Drive. Here is what a hydrangea bush might look like:

On the other side of that front window you might find Petunia Dursley. According to Wikipedia, the name Petunia comes from the French "name you call someone who wets the bed and cries to his mommy." If that's true, it may (or may not) give you some insight into JKR's thinking in giving the name Petunia to Lily Potter's nasty sister. On the other hand, the flower named petunia is quite nice:

Lily, on the other hand, is named after a flower that may look like this:

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy's mother Narcissa is named after another flower, which in turn is named after a character from a Greek myth. We get the unflattering word "narcissist" from the story of the handsome youth Narcissus, who saw his reflection in a pond and was so taken by his own beauty that he couldn't stop staring at it until he died. The narcissus, apparently, was the flower that sprang up from the spot. Not very pleasant connotations, but here it is:

Other flower names include:

Poppy (Pomfrey) - a flower famous for its medicinal (not to say narcotic) properties,

Pansy (Parkinson) - whose name means "thought," ironic name for a girl who thinks so little,

Lavender (Brown) - known for its scent,

There is even a family of flowers whose Latin name begins with "Andromeda", such as the bog-rosemary:

However, Andromeda Tonks may have also been named after a galaxy, a constellation, or a character from ancient myth. I can't show you a picture of the mythical Andromeda that is suitable for all ages, because all the pictures of her show a naked woman chained to a rock. Jason, also known as Perseus, rescued her from being sacrificed to a sea monster, and later married her. Was Ted Tonks a type of Jason? Maybe not. More likely, Andromeda was named after a heavenly body, like her sister Bellatrix. This gives two possibilities, the galaxy Andromeda:

...and the constellation Andromeda:

That's a lot of fuss over a character who is only named and never appears in person. Although, who knows; she may show up at the wedding if Remus and Nymphadora ever get married.

This leads to another area from which JKR drew some of her characters' names: the heavens.

Most significant is Sirius Black, whose first name is, approriate for him, the name of the "dog star." Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. In fact, it's a binary star system (two suns revolving around each other). It is so bright that at times, you can even see it during the daytime. It is called the "dog star" because it lies in the Canis Major, or "big dog" constellation.

Here is the star Sirius:

Here is Sirius in the constellation Canis Major:

Sirius' brother Regulus is also one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. Here is a photo of the star:

Regulus is an unusual star because it spins so rapidly on its axis that it has taken on a squashed, oval shape. Here is a model of Regulus compared to our own sun:

And here is a picture of the constellation Leo, in which Regulus appears:

Then there's Bellatrix Lestrange, named after a star in the Orion constellation (Bellatrix is the star in Orion's right shoulder):

A third source of inspiration for many of JKR's names is literature, particularly ancient myths.

Luna Lovegood is named after the Roman goddess of the moon:

Minerva McGonagall takes her name from the Roman goddess of wisdom:

Divination guru Cassandra Vablatsky is named after a Trojan princess who was cursed to know the future and not be able to make anyone believe her about it:

Pomona Sprout's first name comes from the Roman goddess of fruit trees:

Even Parvati Patil is named after a Hindu goddess:

...though her sister Padma gets her name from a river in Bangladesh:

Hermione Granger's name comes from a more recent literary source: Shakespeare's drama The Winter's Tale, in which Hermione is a Sicilian queen unjustly accused of being unfaithful to her husband:

Actual people from ancient history are also represented in the names JKR chose. For instance, Severus Snape may be named after a cruel Roman emperor, Septimius Severus:

And Horace Slughorn might be named after the Latin poet, though heaven knows why:

My only guess is that Horace (the poet) claimed to have survived a battle, in which he was an officer, by running away. The sort of thing Horace Slughorn might do, eh?

I leave you with one final image: a map of the London Underground, so you can picture the birthmark on Dumbledore's leg:

I hope this has been of some help to you in visualizing the Harry Potter stories, or at least understanding some of the things that may have been on JKR's mind as she wrote them. I'm all out of pictures now, so get back to your books and make some mental images of your own!

2/9/2007

Posted by: Amy