Chicken Meat (was Analysis and HP4GU, and On Respect and Kindness)

[dfrankiswork at netscape.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 23442

Ebony wrote:

>Perhaps I can compare canon to a chicken leg (apologies to all 
>vegetarians--think of it as tofu!) to explain what I'm thinking 
>of.  ;-)
>
and
>Ah.  Love you guys anyway.
>
Firstly, thank you to Ebony, Luke and John Walton for freedom-inducing posts.

Second, I want to try to move on by suggesting deeper topics that I don't believe have been recently discussed, and I'm not sure were fully discussed earlier.

(I should just come clean here and say that I have certainly not read the entire archive - I have not even chased all the references in the FAQs, though I intend to do so)

Relationships.  The development of the friendship betwen Harry, Ron and Hermione has many nuances which I believe go beyond their romantic potential.

What makes Harry special?  This has been explored a good deal, but I think to some extent perceived as 'special Harry' versus 'ordinary Harry'.  I would say that Harry, even as conceived by the 'ordinary' proponents, is special, and that we have more of a triangular set of possibilities:
a. Harry is special in his innate characteristics (as foreshadowed by his Quidditch and Imperius resisting abilities, but with something more needed to defeat Voldemort)
b. Harry is special in his relationships, mainly that his mother loved him, but possibly also what he got from Voldemort (Parseltongue, the scar) or Gryffindor
c. Harry is special in his choices, in some ways the most interesting as he could stop being special at any time by changing his choices.

This topic is difficult to debate because the single most compelling piece of evidence that we have of his specialness, that Voldemort singled him out for attack, doesn't help us decide.  But all three views are firmly embedded in canon.  Can we put them together?

Wizard justice and prejudice.  We have generally agreed that the pensieve shows a very defective process.  Why is the wizarding world so bad at it?  Why, given what she writes, is Rita Skeeter an apparently successful journalist?

Good and Evil.  Ebony asked a couple of months ago what the conception of good and evil is in HP.  We all waxed eloquent about the nature of evil, and mostly ducked the question of what is good, IIRC.   It is sometimes stated that good and evil only exist in relation to each other: I couldn't disagree more.  The analogy I use is this: imagine good as a building being put up, and evil as knocking it down.  Then we could say a lot about the nature of evil - is it like a demolition crew, or dry rot, or neglect etc.  But this would tell us nothing about the nature of the building itself - I contend that there is fundamentally only one way to be evil, but a million possibilities for goodness.  What are they in Harry Potter?

I hesitate to add this one, but what is the nature of the sorting process at Hogwarts?  We have had endless discussions about why Hermione isn't in Ravenclaw, and whether Slytherins have to be evil, but I don't feel the interplay between characteristics (I am brave), aspirations (I want to be brave), priorities (I think bravery is the most important thing), morality (bravery is good) and choice (I want to be with the brave) has really been explored.  How does the pesky thing work?  Does the range of four possibilities say anything about the nature of humanity as a whole?

How could we miss this one out? Dumbledore's gleam. I will stick my neck out and say that I *don't* think that having Harry's blood in him will weaken Voldemort (yes, he is mortal, but the flesh blood bone spell does that anyway).  Being indebted to Harry might be part of it.  But I agree it's not obviously a discussion point that calls up the big themes.  I recommend message #27 for an alternative view which I also don't hold.

Finally, to keep the nitpickers happy, who sent the Valentine to Harry?  I warn you, I have a loaded draft e-mail and I'm not afraid to use it.  This has been discussed, but not got to the bottom of, IMO. (And here I *have* searched the entire archive on the word Valentine.)

Finally finally, I have some observations on the cutural differences between Brits and Americans that I will try to get to OT Chatter later today.

David, an unreconstructed carnivore - but you knew that anyway


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