JKR, Harry Potter, and the Nature of Evil

[foxmoth at qnet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19555

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Ebony Elizabeth Thomas" <ebonyink at h...> 
wrote:

	A wonderful post!


> Anne Frank wrote in her diary, "I believe in the good in man."  I 
> emphatically do not. 
	Anne was writing from the Jewish tradition, which teaches that the 
inclination to do good *and* the inclination to do evil are both 
natural to mankind. So  we have a dark side, which strengthens in us 
whenever we do what is evil, and a good side, which becomes more 
powerful when we do good. 

	What is evil?  And more importantly, how do we keep from doing it? 
One teaching is, "What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow man. 
The rest is commentary. Go now, and study."

> The secular nature of the Harry Potter series is all well and good, as it  allows people from all ideological backgrounds to enter into the world that JKR has created.

	Amen to that! I enjoy reading C.S. Lewis, but as a non-Christian I 
sometimes feel that I am listening from outside the room, as it were.

  To many, "evil is what I say it is", but when we 
> get to such a point, civilization itself breaks down IMO.

	Which is why we shouldn't study alone! We will probably never 
reach a consensus on what is evil, even on this list, because what is 
hateful to one (memory charms!) may be the lesser evil to another. But 
we can at least try to learn and improve our understanding, so the next 
time that *we* have to make a choice, we can make a wiser one.

>
> My question is this:  What *is* evil, and how is it expressed in the Harry  Potter books?  Conversely, where's the "good" in the series?  Is it always  diametrically opposed to "evil"... or do they sometimes exist in the same  context, the same scene... even in the same person?

	I see  self-aggrandizement in Lockhart and Voldemort..and in 
Snape's badgering and insults. They are all self-centred, which is the 
heart of the evil inclination, and this leads them to do things to 
others that they certainly wouldn't want done to themselves. 
	
	Yet Lockhart and Snape at least are also capable of doing good: 
Lockhart's books do entertain, and perhaps inform, Snape despite his 
hatefulness is willing to risk himself to protect Harry and the Stone. 

	Rowling indicates that Voldemort is no longer human, so perhaps we 
shouldn't be looking to find any good in him at all. He's a fantasy of 
what humanity would be like if we could exist without any goodness in 
us. His followers serve him solely out of fear: even Hitler could 
inspire hope and heroic sacrifice in his followers, though in a 
terrible cause. 

	IMO, our evil inclinations can be turned toward good ends if we 
accept guidance, yet even our good inclinations will lead us astray if 
we look for guidance only within ourselves. Anyone who wants to know 
how Harry's desire for a family to love could lead him to evil had 
better read the latest chapter of Ebony's fanfic Trouble in Paradise! 
But in terms of canon, we have already seen that for Hagrid's sake he 
was willing to do something he shouldn't do...Dragon smuggling. 
Pippin