Who is Harry Potter? (long)

[Victoria McLure]

No: HPFGUIDX 9388

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Kimberly " <moongirlk at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Amy " <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> 
> 
> What does it *mean,* *thematically,* if Harry is 
> somehow, from birth, the fated, anointed Conqueror of Voldemort (or 
> even Evil 
> > Itself)?  What does it mean, thematically, if his importance stems 
> > from something different than that, something not so much inherent 
> in his genes or background but emerging in the kind of person he is 
> > becoming?
> <snip>
> >I prefer whatever is 
> > extraordinary about him to emerge from his character, which we 
know 
> is 
> > imperfect and evolving, just like everyone's.  Yes, he's 
> > extraordinarily brave, etc., but not supernaturally so--his 
> qualities 
> > aren't beyond the reach of any of the rest of us.  
> <snip>
> > I think I'm backed up by Dumbledore here.  His pet peeve is 
"purity 
> of 
> > blood" and, by extension (and explicitly at the end of CoS), the 
> idea 
> > that we are fated by our birth to be one thing or another.  
*****"It 
> is 
> our 
> > choices, rather than our abilities, that make us who we are." 
*****
> 
> ------------------------
>      I don't know how it feels for everyone else, but to me, this is 
> the major theme of the books.  I think JKR draws parallels between 
> Harry and Voldemort and shows their great similarities specifically 
to 
> point out that it's their different decisions that set them apart, 
and 
> not their predetermined goodness or badness.  I think we're given 
the 
> same sorts of parallels with Neville and Peter.  Harry himself draws 
> this comparison, and McGonagal seems to react to the two of them 
> similarly, as well. She mentions in the 3 Broomsticks her regret at 
> having been particularly harsh with Pettigrew, and in the same book 
> tears Neville apart over the Gryffindor passwords, imposing 
> punishments that were to last throughout the rest of the term.  I 
> think we're going to see Neville make vastly different decisions 
from 
> those of Pettigrew.  To me this says that, great (Harry/Voldemort) 
or 
> small (Peter/Neville), we all have to choose who and what we will 
> become.
> 
> ------------------
And, in CoS (I think--I don't have the books in front of me), 
Dumbledore tells Harry something along the lines of "it's our choices 
that make us who we are, not our talents"--anyway, someone find the 
exact quote.  This is one of those lines that jumped out at me and it 
seems to hold for more that just the two pairings Kimberly pointed 
out.  Hagrid makes a choice not to be horribly embittered by being 
expelled and by the fact that he is half giant, for example.  So much 
of all of the books is about making conscious choices about actions 
and the consequences of those choices.
Just my 2 cents.
Vic