[HPforGrownups] Re: Seeking: Is it meant to be a good thing?

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 48293

In a message dated 13/12/2002 07:07:53 GMT Standard Time, 
Malady579 at hotmail.com writes:


> >In the Second Task, the competitors had to seek their lost friends.
> >All sought, but the winner was the one sought with the interests of
> >the "lost" uppermost in his considerations, rather than thought of
> >personal gain.
> 

Melody:

> <>Task Two:  Can you honestly say that the tournament was not about
> winning?  Winning for your school, house, country?  When they were in
> that lake they were wanting to get their hostage first because they
> wanted to get back to the finish line first.  No because they thought
> the person was in danger.  Only Harry was thick enough to believe
> that.  The object they were seeking was deeply felt, but the main goal
> they were after was glory.  I think this example divided between the
> two objects being sought (hostage and finish line) very closely.
> Close enough I don't think they could be separated.

Sorry, I think I was unclear. :-)

What I was saying was that the *actual winner of the event* - Harry - won 
because he put the interests of those in danger before his personal glory. 
(As the event was planned, you're right, it should have won by someone in 
pursuit of their own glory.)

Yes, the Tournament itself was very much about winning. But Harry didn't 
intentionally enter the Tournament and in the event seems to have been more 
concerned with surviving, than winning. But in the Second Task he risked even 
his survival out of concern for others. Only afterwards did he condemn 
himself as stupid, which he was in a worldly-wise way. He doesn't seem to 
have recognised the virtue recognised by Dumbledore and (most of) the judges.

So however the Tournament was supposed to pan out, it was the unworldy fool 
who was seeking, but not for his own gain, who won in the end.

In fact, it happened with the Third Task as well, didn't it? The task where 
they *sought* the cup. The winners were the two competitors who had shown 
consideration for each other, helped each other and in the end tried to give 
way to each other.

So again, I think we're being shown that it is the motive behind the seeking 
which is important. Harry *had* to compete because of the contract. Given 
that, his motive in the Second Task initially was to secure the safety of 
*one* personal friend. In the event he was prepared to lose the championship 
in order to save both his friends and a stranger.

In this he was unlike Viktor and Cedric, who played the game to win.

~Eloise




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