glorification of rule breaking

[snuffles]

No: HPFGUIDX 5449


Hi all - amanda, 
I think its really complex - the mauraders break the rules and don't 
seem to suffer any consequences. When Harry breaks rules for 'the 
greater good' he gets rewarded (in a sence), not chucked out of 
Hogwarts (COS), extra points (PS) but when he has lessor infractions 
he does get punished - sneaking around the school after bed time 
getting rid of Hagrid's dragon (COS).

OTOH she does show ppl (like Voldemort, the Dursely's) doing terrble 
things and not getting pusnished - which is sadly like real life (at 
least in my experance!<g>)

seems to me that what JKR is doing is letting Harry/readers work out 
what is moral and right to do and what is not, providing him with 
some guidence but not being terribly directive. (which is the way to 
get kids to internalise values as I understand it)

sometimes the right thing to do is to challenge authority and the 
main thing is to be able to recognise those situations. I think that 
is the moral, not that it is good to break rules. THis is a 
considerabley more complex message than most 'children's books' and 
one which I suspect makes some readers uncomfortable.

storm

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> I have a "what's your take" question for everyone, that I'm not 
sure I'll word correctly, but here goes. Do these books glorify rule-
breaking? By that I
> mean the attitude that rules are fine unless you need to ignore 
them, and you get to decide when that is, and the end justifies the 
means? Kind of like my
> dad, who seemed sometimes to believe in rules in theory but not in 
practice (i.e., he thought pollution controls and obligatory added 
equipment on older
> vehicles was great, but not on *his* truck, since he couldn't 
afford it and clearly he should be excepted, they should be 
reasonable, etc.). It just
> occurred to me that this was a possible interpretation, and as this 
is the first possibly negative meta-message I've detected in these 
books, I wondered
> what you all thought.
> 
> --Amanda
> 
> >
> >
> > Voice "I have a problem" lady.
> > current book: The Amber Spyglass
> > Current CD: Fastball's "The Harsh Light of Day"
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