musings about things, mostly PoA Chapter 17

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 21500

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., joym999 at a... wrote:
> I think that the reason many of us like the HP books (aside, of 
> course, from wanting to be wizards or witches and go to Hogwarts, 
or 
> just wanting the world to be a more magical place) is because of 
> JKR's strong sense of social justice, and the powerful yet never 
> preachy, often metaphorical, treatment of some important political 
> and moral issues.
>

snip 
> 
> There is another issue which I believe that JKR treats 
metaphorically 
> in PoA.  In her summary of Chapter 17, Marianne asks "What stopped 
> Harry killing Sirius?"  I believe that Harry does not kill Sirius, 
> and later does not allow Sirius and Remus to kill Peter Pettigrew, 
> because he realizes the moral implications of doing so.  I think 
that 
> this whole chapter is a metaphorical argument against the death 
> penalty.  I am basing this conclusion not only on the text, but 
also 
> on the fact that we know that JKR's political leanings are to the 
> left and that she once worked for Amnesty International, an 
> organization which is adamantly and actively opposed to the death 
> penalty.
> 
> Harry is, at one point, consumed with anger and convinced that he 
> wants to kill Sirius Black.  However, when the opportunity is 
> presented to him, something prevents him.  He "knows" that Sirius 
> Black killed his parents, is the right-hand man of a mass murderer, 
> and is the cause of much of the misery and pain he has experienced 
in 
> his young life.  Yet he pauses, perhaps wondering if he has the 
right 
> to kill Sirius, perhaps thinking that maybe it is wrong to kill no 
> matter what Sirius has done, or even that maybe there is no way of 
> knowing for sure that Sirius is guilty.  Then again, maybe Harry 
> pauses because he realizes that he's a 13-year old wizard who 
doesn't 
> know enough magic to actually kill anyone.  Anyway, he pauses long 
> enough for Crookshanks to get in the way.  This ups the ante.  Now, 
> in order to kill Sirius Black, Harry will also have to kill an 
> innocent cat who has befriended Sirius, which will in turn cause 
pain 
> to his close friend Hermione, reminding us (IMHO) that if you kill 
> one person, you will also injure anyone who cares for him or her.
> 
> And of course it turns out that Sirius Black is not guilty at all, 
> reminding us that just because everyone believes something doesn't 
> make it the truth.  We find out who is really responsible for James 
> and Lily's deaths, who is really Voldemort's right-hand man.  But 
> Harry stops Sirius and Remus from killing Wormtail, despite the 
fact 
> that he admits his guilt and clearly (again, my opinion) deserves 
to 
> die.
> 
> There are several reasons why people are opposed to the death 
> penalty.  (There are also a lot of reasons why people support the 
> death penalty, which I won't recount here, not because I am biased 
> but because I am trying to explain only what I think it is that JKR 
> is trying to say.)  Some people feel that any killing is wrong.  
> Others feel that justice systems do not always reach the correct 
> conclusions about guilt and innocence, therefore one can never know 
> for sure if the person executed is truly guilty.  Just before 
Timothy 
> McVeigh's execution, Helen Prejean (the nun who wrote the 
book "Dead 
> Man Walking," who was played by Susan Sarandon in the movie) said 
> (not her exact words) "The question is not whether Timothy McVeigh 
> deserves to die but who deserves to kill him."  
> 
snip 

> OK, back to HP.  I think that Harry goes through some of the same 
> thought processes I have just recounted.  I think he gains a 
> tremendous amount of maturity and knowledge in this process, and 
this 
> is why I think that this chapter is the most powerful and moving in 
> what is my favorite HP book so far.  I don't think that Harry 
> necessarily becomes convinced that killing is always wrong – I 
think 
> that probably Harry will, eventually, kill Voldemort.  (And good 
> riddance to him, IMHO.)  He just realizes that the best decisions 
are 
> not made in anger, and that there are tremendous moral consequences 
> to killing someone, whether or not they deserve to die.  He decides 
> that although Peter Pettigrew probably deserves to die, Remus and 
> Sirius do not deserve to have to kill him.
> 
> Well, anyway, that's my point – that JKR is arguing against the 
death 
> penalty in this chapter.  I hope my analysis is coherent.
> 
> --Joywitch

Beautifully stated.  I, too, have similar feelings regarding the 
death penalty.  However, I do think that, if Harry had had his wand 
in his hand when he originally attacked Sirius, he would have tried 
to do some harm.  Not necessarily kill, but I think he was so 
consumed with rage that he may have done something in the heat of the 
moment.  

I think his hesitation, both before and after Crookshanks 
intervention, was caused by a combination of uncertainty on how to 
actually kill someone and the knowledge that action would be wrong.  
Harry goes through an internal dialog about killing Crookshanks, 
too.  He tries to convince himself that Sirius deserves to die and 
hears the voice in his head say, "Do it now"  but doesn't act on that 
command. Plus, Sirius tells him he doesn't know the whole story about 
his parents' deaths.  That pushes a button with Harry.  

It brings up the whole question of who you can believe and the 
reliability of witnesses.  As we discover, the street full of people 
who saw Sirius kill Peter and the Muggles were wrong.  Sometimes, 
even with the best intentions, people don't see what really 
happened.  

Marianne