On following rules

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 37434

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Porphyria <porphyria at m...> wrote:

> So, questions:
> Is the horror of Law and rule-abiding in the books justified? Do 
the  books teach common-sense over blind following of rules, or 
do they  promote a dangerous distrust of proper authority 
figures?

After reading the excellent _How the Scots Invented the Modern 
World_ by Arthur Herman I had a much better understanding of 
what JKR is getting at. JKR's ideas about rules are very Scottish: 
society needs rules  *and* it needs people who are willing to 
break rules. 

> What do you think JKR's deal is with rules and rule-breaking? 
Is being a  stickler for rules seen as a pathology? A symptom of 
a traumatized  personality? Something to outgrow and get over? 
When is it ever a good idea?<<

Rules are seen as unpleasant (at least from the point of view of 
an adventurous teenage boy) but necessary. The alternative, a 
society without rules, is not given serious consideration. It is 
clear that Rowling is not advocating a society where the Twins 
can do as they please, or where all children are raised to be like 
Dudley. The Sorting Hat says that their chivalry sets Gryffindors 
apart. The Gryffindors, then, acknowledge a chivalric code, in 
contrast to the Slytherins, who will do anything to achieve their 
ends.

Rowling  does show that  the rules themselves or the people 
who enforce them may be flawed. Rowling's most logical 
character, Snape,  is the most easily blinded by passion, and the 
most even-handed,  McGonagall, is the first to bend a rule to 
help Gryffindor House. 

> 
> When are characters punished or rewarded for rule breaking? 
What does  this mean?
> 

The philosophers of the Scottish enlightenment believed that 
people have common sense and can be trained to use it, a 
philosophy Rowling seems to share.  Generally, when Harry or 
his friends break the rules for a selfish reason, they are 
punished, either by being caught or by suffering some 
catastrophe. Hermione's stolen potion ingredients turn her into a 
cat creature, for example. She drugs Crabbe and Goyle and is 
later Petrified herself. Nothing comes of Harry's first excursion to 
Hogsmeade, but when he does it again, he loses the cloak 
*and* the map.  Harry is allowed to make mistakes, so that he, 
and we, can learn from them.

Pippin