[HPforGrownups] Utopia vs Reality- in HP there's both of it

[Alexander]

No: HPFGUIDX 33395

  Greetings, Susanna/pigwidgeon37!

p> Mmh, so it seems that Luke is a follower of the doctrine brought up
p> (IIRC) during the period of Enlightenment, claiming that literature 
p> in general and theatre in particular had to fulfil a moral task: 
p> Lessing's "theatre as moral institution" comes to my mind. Though, 
p> and this is the tricky point, an author can meet this requirement 
p> both by depicting reality and by presenting a world "as it should 
p> be". Whichever method he or she chooses, the important point is the 
p> message conveyed to the reader: "This is reality as we find it every 
p> day, but this or that should be changed" vs. "This is how I think it 
p> should be and please participate in creating it". So, basically, what 
p> matters is the message, not the method.

  There's the third way, of course: to depict the reality as
is _could_ be. The message conveyed to the reader then is as
follows: "This is the reality that could be if this and that
did (didn't) happen".

p> In JKR's case, I'd say we are confronted with a mix between utopia
p> and reality. And I don't mean that the whole wizarding world is 
p> utopia in itself, on the contrary, it contains the same elements as 
p> our everyday Muggle world, they have just been shifted into a 
p> different reality. There is, however, one utopian element in the 
p> wizarding universe: The hope that one day, Good might triumph over 
p> Evil, represented by Harry and Dumbledore. Introducing these two 
p> characters and presenting them in the way she does, JKR very clearly 
p> confers her moral message- no matter whether to children or adult 
p> readers.

  I don't think that there's utopian elements in the JKR's
books, though. Remember, one is powerless to depict reality
absolutely accurately - there will always be errors,
mistakes, gaping holes - which will be filled by author's
imagination. It's not the result that determines the utopia
style, but the intent of the author.
  Hence I find JKR's books to be realistic (hmm... from the
point of view of character psychologies and reactions - not
from the presumption of magic existance :)

p> On the "reality level", this essential message is reinforced by
p> certain characters clearly marked as "good persons" whose words and 
p> behaviour help the reader to decode it: Dumbledore's "right vs. easy" 
p> speech,   Lupin's words to Harry about his irresponsible behaviour 
p> (sneaking to Hogsmeade), Harry who gives the 1000 galleons price 
p> money to Gred and Forge, every decision to bend rules for a higher 
p> purpose (use of the Time Turner to rescue Sirius, brewing Polyjuice 
p> Potion to detect the Heir of Slytherin etc.etc)- all these words and 
p> deeds serve as a means of clarifying the message of "This is reality 
p> and this is how we should behave in order to achieve JKR's very 
p> personal utopia".

  Characters like Harry/Dumbledore/Hermione/whoever-else are
indeed good but their existance is not an attribute of
utopia - or an utopia element. Such people exist in real
life, too, though they are as rare in RL as they are in the
JKR's books. Because either we agree that our world has no
such characters (IMHO a _very_ pessimistic idea) or that our
world has utopian elements (impossible due to the very
definition of utopia) or JKR's world has no utopian elements
as well. Only three options again (why there's always three
of them? :)

p> Hope that was clear?!
p> Susanna/pigwidgeon37

  Hope always dies last... ;)

Sincerely yours
Alexander Lomski
(Gryffindor/Slytherin crossbreed)