[HPforGrownups] Concept of before & after

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 17243

leahquah at hotmail.com wrote:

> There's something I've noticed about the books; they show you a lot of
> comparison between the younger and older stages of a character. Sort
> of a look-what-happened-to-so-and-so, and it's always different from
> what you might have thought.
> Take, for example, Tom Marvelo Riddle. As Dumbledore said, he was the
> handsome, clever, Head Boy. He became the feared Lord Voldemort. And
> the group that is sometimes called the Marauders:
> Wormtail: blew up a whole street, a Death Eater
> James Potter: dead, but his son is a famous wizard and nemesis of
> Voldemort
> Sirius Black: an escaped (although innocent) convict, and said
> murderer, on the run
> Remus Lupin: a werewolf whose whereabouts we currently don't know.
> What kind of reunion would that be?
> Take a few other characters. Barty Crouch, senior, was successful and
> on his way to becoming Minister of Magic. By the end of the fourth
> book, he was a bone (which is funny in a way) and all members of his
> family have been as good as destroyed. And remember how, in the
> chapter of GoF, the encounter with Voldemort, where the DeathEaters
> come? Voldemort muses over how they've changed.
>
> All the befores and afters; is this a hint towards how Harry will turn
> out?

I think it's a sweeping, ongoing illustration of the theme that
Dumbledore summed up, that "it's not our abilities but our choices that
define us" [paraphrase]. None of the characters you listed turned out as
their abilities might have strongly indicated; all have been shaped by
their choices. Any hint about Harry, or any of the younger "in progress"
characters, must be that we should watch the choices they make, rather
than the abilities they display. At least that's what I get.

Wonderful post; I'd never spotted the contrasts of so many characters!
Thanks.

--Amanda


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