The Death of Cedric

[sashibuya at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 11210

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., msl at f... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., harry_potter00 at y... wrote:
<snip>
> 
> In this case I think that "unliterariness" was part of the point. 
> Cedric's death reminded me of one of those scenes in gangster movies
> where the bad guy reaches out with his .45 and blows some poor 
slob's
> head off just for the hell of it.  The closest literary parallel 
that
> jumps to my mind is in Richard III, when Richard orders the children
> in the Tower of London killed; it's not something he needs to do,
> necessarily, it's just convenient.
> 

Ummm. To be a little less highbrow, in some ways it reminded me of 
the "redshirt" phenomenon. You know how on Star Trek, when they beam 
down onto the planet, they bring along some random redshirted extra. 
Well, this guy gets eaten by the monster of the day/shot by the 
Klingons/killed in some horrible manner by the Cardassians, etc. The 
point is, it's this person we've never seen before, whose main 
purpose is his death. It gets so that you can predict it.  In this 
case, Cedric had other functions in the plot besides his death, but 
his death didn't have the same impact because he wasn't as important 
in the series as other characters. Plus we were waiting for someone 
more important to Harry to die, which may have affected our reaction. 
Cedric was someone whom Harry liked and respected, but they didn't 
hang out together much; I don't think he knew Cedric as well as he 
probably did some of the less well characterized Griffindors in his 
class. 

<snip>
> 
> I tend to count from Quirrel. If one does that, then we've got
> Quirrell, Frank the gardener, Bertha Jorkins, Crouch Sr. (and Jr.),
> and Cedric as known victims of V's second rise.  Although in the 
case
> of Quirrell and Crouch Jr., we might question their victimhood since
> they were on V's side.

Yes. Even if you don't count Voldy's hapless henchmen, Frank and 
Bertha were undisputably innocent victims, and Crouch Sr. certainly 
didn't deserve his fate. So I think part of the impact of Cedric's 
death is that he knew Harry personally, was innocent, died onscreen 
and in Harry's sight, and also was a young man with the rest of his 
life ahead of him, which makes his death especially horrible, as in 
the scenes with his parents. Even though he didn't die as horribly as 
Bertha probably did, this still gives his death more impact. 

<snip>
I agree with what Marvin has said about this causing anxiety in 
Harry. Not to bring in another clinical debate, but Harry may develop 
something like survivor's guilt, especially if more people close to 
him are injured. Goodness, PTSD, trauma....this series is getting 
dark. 

Charmian