Dramatic Engine: Fear v. Desire

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 1106

What I'm chewing over at the moment:

Here's a tip from one of my writing teachers, the most excellent Tim
Powers (author of, among other things, _The Anubis Gates_, _Stress of
Her Regard_, _On Stranger Tides_, _Last Call_, etc.) taught me:  Drama
is conflict. To get a novel moving, figure out what your hero wants the
most and what he fears the most. And then set it up so that he can't get
one without facing the other.  That drives your plot and develops your
characterizations, and you'll usually find several nifty themes along
the way.

A beautiful example of the way Rowling applies this principle is found
in _Prisoner of Azkaban_.  Harry wants to help win the House Cup, which
he can do by playing Quidditch, BUT he fears the dementors which have
already showed up at one Quidditch game.  He can't accomplish his goal
without facing his fear.  This leads to his lessons with Lupin ("That
suggests that what you fear the most is . . . fear.  Very wise"),
confronting the boggart, his consideration that he might not be able to
produce a patronus because he WANTS to hear his mother's voice, the plot
which follows re: Sirius' escape and how Harry must rescue him from the
dementors, etc., etc.  See, in other words, how the dramatic
confrontation between desire and fear which Rowling has set up leads to
plot, characterization, theme, and a whole lot of other yeasty stuff, as
my writing group says.

So I ask you, as we look at the series as a whole: what do you think
Harry wants the most? Oh, that's easy, you say--we saw it in the first
book. He saw what he wanted most in the Mirror of Erised: his family.
Yes, but his family is dead now, and Dumbledore warned him not to get
stuck dwelling on that desire.  He is developing familial ties of
another sort, but, after all, he will be weaning himself from them by
the end of the series: at seventeen, he is SUPPOSED to leave the nest.
What will he want the most, by the 7th book, as he grows up?  That the
people he is beginning to love and trust (his adopted family) will stay
safe, even as he is growing away from them? (aside: this is a big plot
point in PoU).  A clearer understanding of his own path (career? Love?
anything else???)  Or???

And what does he fear the most? Dementors, say the readers of Prisoner
of Azkaban--or
perhaps more generally, all the forces of evil that ally with Voldemort
(not to mention
Voldemort himself, particularly after the last chapters of GoF).

So, looking at the series as a whole, what do you think Harry wants the
most, and what does he fear the most?  And how do you think (or hope!)
Rowling will make those two things collide, and what will happen when
they do?

Peg

P.S. Extra points for anyone who wants to tackle these questions for any
other characters, too.  What does Snape fear the most v. want the most?
Ron?  Hermione?  Voldemort?  Etc.