Peeves: The Ghost-world's "Polter-Crux"
NOTE: the "Polter" in "Poltergeist" means, basically "noisy" (able to noisily announce it's presence through actual interaction with the physical world, such as rapping on walls etc). I have been noticing in books 4 and 5 the stuff Peeves does, and also how the ghosts view him. Now, Peeves (according to quotes from Rowling herself) never had a body so he is not a ghost ... but like a ghost he is a pure spirit without a body (only difference is the ghosts used to have bodies) ... but the difference is that Peeves can act as though he does have one, he can interact with the physical world, and without the aid of the "soul" connection between the spirit and body. From the ghost's perspective, he is thus an abomination. Thus (in explanation of my title for this post), from the petty perspective of a ghost such as Nick, Peeves is a "Horrible crossing (cruxing) of the lines" mostly because he is noisy one - a noisy and bothersome cross the ghosts of Hogwarts see themselves as bearing. I don't think (as you can guess from my use of the word "petty") that the ghost perspective should always be trusted as the sanest or healthiest, precisely because they are ghosts and thus did not die the best (or most courageous etc) deaths (cf Nick's conversation with Harry on Sirius coming back as a ghost ... no Obi Wan's here, buddy) and thus stuck around earth as ghosts (I prefer the outlook of those such as Fred and George, who, although a bit on the wild side, are mischievous in a fearless sort of way and are also the ones to give Peeves his marching orders upon their spectacular exit in book 5 - quite possibly one of my favorite scenes in the whole series). But it is an interesting perspective all the same. Notice though, interesting that the only one of the ghosts who can handle Peeves is ... the Bloody Baron of House Slytherin. |
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