On the one hand, I am, pun intended, tickled pink.  Recently I presented a paper at the Chestnut Hill conference on Harry Potter and Nature Deficit Disorder, arguing that the most oppressive characters and settings in Harry Potter are also the most removed from nature,  (See the Mugglenet academia podcast for a summary… my section begins about 1:13). While I didn’t address Umbridge in the talk, I added a section on her last night when writing up the paper for hopeful publication–before reading this latest edition, thankyouverymuch–describing the artifically frilly decor of Umbridge’s offices and the disconnect with the natural world (the flowers, foul porcelain kitten plates), and what that tells us about her (hint: it isn’t good).  I even remarked about that fact the she and McGonagall share the same cat patronus, but whereas Minerva embraces the actual animal to the extent of turning herself into one, we never even see Umbridge approach a real cat,  only her artificial ones.  JKR confirmed that she doesn’t like them. [Read more…]