Harry Potter for Grown-Ups http://www.egroups.com/group/HPforgrownups Message 957 From: Peg Kerr Date: Mon Sep 4, 2000 7:19am Subject: Secrets (Long) Another long-winded essay-post. The Harry Potter books are, when you boil them down to their essence, the unfolding of a mystery, and what that mystery means to our main character. The seminal scene which sets the series in motion is that fatal night when James and Lily were killed and, paradoxically, Harry thwarted Voldemort. And the central engine of the series is our drive to find out, slowly, book by book, what happened that night? What was that all about? How and why? As we learn more, we, along with Harry, discover other mysteries and secrets. Who is Sirius, and what is his role in all this? What about Peter Pettigrew? Or Snape? As Harry understands more and more (and we do, too, as his audience), Harry comes to understand himself and his relation to others more clearly. When he understands all in the 7th book, he will be fully an adult. Speaking metaphorically, discovering the truth is, for Harry, in a way, the drawing of a map depicting his personal world and his relationship to it. As he gets more information, the map becomes more accurate until, presumably, in the 7th book, the map will be close enough to the truth to carry him into adulthood. Put another way, as Harry slowly pierces the layer of mystery and secrets surrounding himself, it's as if he is chiseling away at the marble surrounding the statue of himself buried in a stone. When all the veils are brushed away, he will see himself, and his relation to the world, the way he truly is. Now let's look at secrets, as handled by Our Team vs. the Other Team. Dumbledore, Harry's guide, seems to be teaching him that secrets are best kept until they are "ripe," but they must told when the time is right. Significantly, they must be told by the person who the secret belongs to. Examples: Dumbledore knows that Harry has secrets, and encourages him to open up about them ("is there anything you'd like to tell me, Harry? Anything at all?"), but doesn't force Harry to tell before he is ready. When Harry inadvertently stumbles upon Neville's secret, Dumbledore tells him to keep the secret until Neville is ready to tell it himself. Hermione does the same for Lupin, concealing that he is a werewolf, reasoning that it is not her secret to tell. Dumbledore also keeps Snape's secret, and Lupin's secret. (Incidentally, the fact that Dumbledore respects the integrity of Snape's secret, whatever it is, is one of the most effective arguments to me that Snape is Our Man Snape, truly allied with the powers of light, as surly as he is.) When events change, Dumbledore will prod people to disclose their secrets because circumstances make it necessary--but still, he will give them control by allowing them to reveal it themselves. Note, for example, in the hospital wing at the end of GoF: he says, "It is time for two of us to recognize each other for what they are." (This is the key--revealing a secret for Dumbledore means revealing the true self.) Then he says, "Sirius, if you could resume your usual form." He doesn't come out and say, "Snape, that dog is Sirius." Instead, he lets Sirius reveal it himself. All of these revelations serve to reveal progressive layers of truth to Harry, each layer as he grows mature enough to handle it, which in turn reveals to him what his relationships are to other people. At the end of PoA, he learns that Sirius isn't a murderer, but his godfather, his surrogate parent, and he is strengthened and encouraged and more firmly anchored by learning the truth. Now let's look at the Other Team in contrast: 1} members of the Other Team reveal secrets before they are ripe, (and not their own secrets, either). They also betray secrets entrusted to them. Exhibit 1: Rita Skeeter. Exhibit 2: Wormtail, betraying James and Lily to Voldemort. Here you see how secrets and how they are handled (or betrayed) touches upon issues of loyalty, which I wrote about in one of my previous posts. 2} when revealing another person's secret, members of the Other Team will put as negative an interpretation on it as possible. Again, Rita Skeeter is a good example, putting as much insinuation as possible into her stories about Hagrid, Hermione and Harry. Draco Malfoy is another, who usually worms out what Harry would like to have remain private and puts as embarrassing an interpretation on it as possible (e.g., the faintness Harry feels around dementors). 3) conversely, the Other Team keeps secrets PAST the point that they should be revealed. Barty Crouch, Sr. is an example, as are the Death eaters, hiding their loyalty to Voldemort. Winky and Dobby, too, while under the Other team's influence, make the mistake of keeping secrets that should be told, out of a kind of mistaken loyalty. 4) secrets are used to plot, to trick, to trap, to wriggle out of consequences for one's own behavior. Examples: Barty Crouch, Jr., Wormtail, Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy. (H, R and Hr offer a contrasting example: they keep the secret about Hagrid keeping an illegal dragon. But when caught coming down from the tower, they do not lie. They simply accept their punishment stoically. Malfoy, I think, would have lied.) Yes, on the other hand, I will admit, Our Team sometimes lies, too, including Harry. But, I think, Harry's attitude about this type of lie is changing, as a result of his moral education. Remember, for example, the time Harry was almost caught by Snape when he snuck out to Hogsmeade in PoA. He did lie there, and Ron and Lupin covered for him. Lupin scolded Harry severely, though, in a way that I'm sure Harry will never forget. Lupin was telling him here, "If you're going to keep a secret, make sure it's a moral secret, one that's worth keeping.) We later discover a whole other ironic layer to this interchange, when Lupin admits that he has been lying, too, to Dumbledore, by not revealing that his friends had learned to became animagi, and helped him escape from the shrieking shack when he was a werewolf. Note the interplay of secrets and trust here--Lupin had been afraid to admit his secret because he couldn't bear to admit how he had violated Dumbledore's trust. Note, too, that Lupin himself eventually reveals this secret when it "becomes ripe," i.e., when he has to explain to H, R and Hr about Sirius' role, and why they really REALLY needs to see Ron's rat. So: Lots to think about here, about secrets and what keeping secrets, discovering secrets, protecting secrets and betraying secrets teaches Harry about himself, and teaches all of us about character and morality. Afterthought, related: It has been commented by many critics of the series that Harry is a bad example, evil, etc., because he lies. That's probably a whole other post, but I'll just say that Harry's moral education is being demonstrated by the way he is learning about how to handle secrets and how to trust. He has come from a situation (in the Dursley household) where he couldn't share anything about himself. Now, he is beginning to trust and to build true, strong relationships, with teachers (Dumbledore) parent figures (Sirius and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley) and friends. He has to figure out as he goes how much to reveal and how much to keep to himself in all of these relationships, and he finds figuring out the balancing line rather confusing. See, for example, in the GoF the interesting bit about his uncertainty about whether he should have revealed to Sirius that his scar was hurting. He struggles to figure out who he should entrust with this secret. When he hits upon Sirius as the best person to confide in, he is relieved--but then he becomes angry at himself and tries to "take the secret back" (my scar really didn't hurt) when Sirius takes Harry's news seriously and reacts as a parent would, by coming north. Learning how to handle secrets properly is a long, complicated learning process, and a very important part of growing up. Comments? Peg -----------------