7 Deadly Sins: Sloth (long)

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 2998

I almost feel too lazy to do this message, but . . .

Slothfulness is laziness, disinclination to work, idleness.

Once again, watching Dudley has given Harry an eyeful of the nature (and
effects) of slothfulness, up close and personal, which perhaps has
inoculated him against succumbing to the temptation.   Still, to me,
slothfulness doesn't seem to be as central an issue in the series as
some of the other sins.

Nonetheless, there are some examples.

Someone on the list remarked that on the slothfulness continuum, Harry
seems to occupy the happy medium niche between Hermione, the ant, and
Ron, the grasshopper.  Harry seems to do his homework and study, but he
enjoys himself, too, playing Quidditch, for example--he finds that
taking Quidditch breaks from his studies helps clear his mind and relax
him, so that presumably he is more ready to concentrate when he does get
back to the books.  He doesn't keep his nose to the grindstone as much
as Hermione (esp. when she had the time turner) or goof off as much as
Ron, or even more, George and Fred Weasley seem to do.

But Harry isn't perfect.  The most significant example I could think of
was the time that Harry got a slow start on solving the clue in the
dragon's egg for the second task, because he was reluctant to start
working on the problem.  He was forced to launch a last minute all-night
search through the books in the library, and he wouldn't have managed to
complete the task at all if it hadn't been for Doby.

Another interesting comparison along the slothfulness continuum is
offered by contrasting Percy who works diligently on a report on report
about cauldron bottoms, which (at least to this reader) is a pretty
trivial subject, vs. the Weasley twins, who seems to be frittering their
time away on frivolous jokes, to the detriment of their studying--and
yet by the end of the book it is clear to us that they are very serious
about the joke shop.  They have been busy making inventions, they have a
business plan, and a venture capitalist (Harry!) and they seem about to
make a serious go of it.

What does the issue of slothfulness have to do with the Harry Potter
books?  I think it has to do with the faux Mad-Eye Moody's motto:
"Constant vigilance!"  Harry had prepared as best as he could for the
first and third tasks, and he probably survived his encounter with
Voldemort in GoF only because of the magical lessons he had practiced so
assiduously (including the "Accio" and "Impedimenta" spells).

There's one character I would like to highlight with respect to sloth,
perhaps one that isn't immediately evident at first glance: Cornelius
Fudge.

Fudge, in his role as Minister of Magic, is refusing to do the work he
should be doing at this point.  Now, granted, Fudge's refusal to act at
the end of GoF perhaps can't be labeled "laziness," exactly.  It is
definitely a disinclination to do the hard thing, however (to "get up
and do what needs to be done," as Garrison Keillor puts it).  Fudge
refuses to take the steps necessary to prepare the wizarding world for
the change in circumstances resulting from Voldemort's rise.

And really, whatever his reasons, whether it is fear, or disinclination
to change the status quo, or something else (even something more
sinister, like the possibility that Fudge may secretly already be in
Voldemort's camp), the result is the same: because Fudge is refusing to
act (to remove the dementors from Azkaban, to send envoys to the giants,
etc.) the wizarding world is not prepared for Voldemort's return.  Evil
flourishes when good people stand by and do nothing; THAT is the moral
danger in slothfulness.  And so it is up to Dumbledore to step in and
take action.

Anyone else with any other comments or observations on slothfulness,
please feel free to chime in.

For those of you who have just joined the group recently and are
wondering what on earth this message is about:

These posts on the 7 deadly sins and the Harry Potter books all started
because I read an article that I've mentioned before, discussing the
books as an account of a moral education.  Here's the article:

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0001/reviews/jacobs.html

I was impressed by this, because it seemed to me to be one of the best
responses I've read to the attacks that Harry Potter is evil, etc.
Moreover, it got me thinking about larger, thematic issues in the books,
which I love to do.  It occurred to me that if the books are about
the attaining of a moral education, then analyzing how Harry receives
his education, step by step (or sin by sin) might be interesting. It's
been fun.  In fact, it's been so much fun that I'm thinking about
continuing with the 7 Heavenly virtues--faith, hope, charity, fortitude,
justice, temperance, prudence, in a larger, secular sense, rather than
just a Christian sense--now that I'm done with the 7 Deadly sins.

So: if I hear enough interested noises at the idea of my continuing
these essay posts by examining the 7 Heavenly virtues, I'll take a stab
at it.  Let me know.

Peg