The point of why she's doing it this way, I guess, is she's trying to make you wonder whether Pansy really means what she's saying, deep down inside. Umbridge is hoping you will, and she assumes that it's brought up to the surface, it will kill the friendship. Which suits her purposes perfectly.
Looking at what she's been doing, it really strikes me how much she suffers from black and white thinking. She goes hunting for any smidgen of black in people, and then she writes that person off forever. Punishes them, rejects them. This one's a half-blood. That one's uppity. This one's disobedient. That one does things I think are silly. And she wants everyone else to do the same. It's as if she draws smaller and smaller circles around herself, and soon she'll be standing there on one foot, the only perfect person in the world, apparently, hating everybody.
She would never get how Dudley could think I'm a swotty swot and still like me. Or how Neville might think (deep down inside) maybe Ron's a little thick, but still want to be his friend. I'm sure you all get exasperated with me because of the stuff I do because I'm still trying to get over being crawling boot. And because I hate the dark arts so reflexively that sometimes I come across like a prig.
People are complicated. They can be friends and like each other even if they aren't perfect. But that doesn't mean the friendship isn't real and strong.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandroot
Re: Private message to Terry Boot
Date: 2013-04-17 11:50 am (UTC)Looking at what she's been doing, it really strikes me how much she suffers from black and white thinking. She goes hunting for any smidgen of black in people, and then she writes that person off forever. Punishes them, rejects them. This one's a half-blood. That one's uppity. This one's disobedient. That one does things I think are silly. And she wants everyone else to do the same. It's as if she draws smaller and smaller circles around herself, and soon she'll be standing there on one foot, the only perfect person in the world, apparently, hating everybody.
She would never get how Dudley could think I'm a swotty swot and still like me. Or how Neville might think (deep down inside) maybe Ron's a little thick, but still want to be his friend. I'm sure you all get exasperated with me because of the stuff I do because I'm still trying to get over being crawling boot. And because I hate the dark arts so reflexively that sometimes I come across like a prig.
People are complicated. They can be friends and like each other even if they aren't perfect. But that doesn't mean the friendship isn't real and strong.
Happy birthday, Sally-Anne.