Secrets (Long)

[Steve Bates]

No: HPFGUIDX 971

This is great; I really loved your post, too, Peg!
The way JKR reveals more and more about the night Harry's parents 
died (often through Harry's reliving that night in some form) reminds 
me of the technique used in Catch-22 with the Avignon bombing.  I had 
to read Catch-22 last spring for English class, and though I found it 
immensely frustrating to read in some ways, the continual repetition 
of the Avignon scene --with a little more revealed each time--was one 
aspect of the book I loved.
That JKR is using techniques like this that are usually associated 
with so called "Great Lit'rature" is yet another indication (as if we 
needed one!) that she is not just writing a simple children's series.

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Ellimist15 at a... wrote:
> ::applauds:: Wow. Fantastic interpretation. Excellent job, Peg!
> 
> Ellie
> 
> In a message dated Mon, 4 Sep 2000 10:17:35 AM Eastern Daylight 
Time, Peg Kerr <pkerr06 at a...> writes:
> 
> 
> 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, Harrys 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 Rons
> 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
> 
> 
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