Secrets (Long)

[Blaise]

No: HPFGUIDX 970

You ask for comments, Peg, but you leave so few loopholes and so few 
elements untouched that I am always struggling to find anything to 
add.  But I've given it a shot.  

Peg wrote:  

<<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.>>

Also, it is Harry finding out about his ancestry and his birth, the 
way orphan children in books always do.  He is discovering the 
secrets about himself.      

An image that I'd like to add here is that of the Mirror of Erised, 
which, in a way, reveals a person's secrets to themselves.  Speaking 
of the Mirror, it was interesting that Dumbledore would not tell 
Harry what he saw in it (unless you believe he was telling the truth 
about the socks, but I don't).    


<<Hermione does the same for Lupin, concealing that he is a werewolf, 
reasoning that it is not her secret to tell.>>

But she does tell it when she thinks that this information she is 
keeping is of vital importance to her friends.  An example of keeping 
a secret until it is right to tell.  Hermione does not show 
Dumbledore's tact in letting Remus reveal his own secrets.  I wonder 
whether he would have said anything if she hadn't forced his hand.  


<<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.)>>

Yes, most definitely.  By keeping his secret, Dumbledore shows trust 
in Snape, and as long as Snape is who he claims to be (i.e. not 
taking Polyjuice Potion), I think Snape is on Our Team.  I like that 
there are people on Our Team who are unpleasant.  

<<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.>>

For me, this is one of the reasons (the other being the presence of 
Professor Lupin!) that I liked PoA best of all the books.  In GoF, 
Harry does not learn the same sort of lessons about who he is.    

<<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.>>

Does this mean you think Rita Skeeter is working for Voldemort?  I 
have wondered about this.  We were told to be prepared to meet a new 
female character who was evil in Book 4, and Rita Skeeter is the only 
real possibility, to my mind.  I wonder which side she belongs on, if 
you divide things into Dumbledore's side and Voldemort's side.  From 
the way she handles secrets, it would seem that she belongs on 
Voldemort's side.  

<<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.>>

And that's why we love HP so much!    

~Blaise.