Ambition in the Wizarding World

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 38716

I wrote:

> > 4.  Real Moody.  Sirius says, "If you ask me, he still thinks he 
> can 
> > bring back the old popularity by catching one more Death Eater."

Jo wrote:

> Er, Cindy, I believe that Sirius is referring to Crouch,Sr when he 
> makes this statement.
> "'Moody says Crouch is obsessed with catching Dark wizards,' Harry 
> told Sirius.
> 'Yeah, I've heard it's become a bit of a mania with him,' said 
> Sirius, nodding. 'If you ask me, he still thinks he can bring back 
> the old popularity by catching one more Death Eater.'" GoF Chapter 
27

Ouch!  Shot in the face with my own canon!  Those darn pronouns will 
get you every time.  What a mess!

Yup, Jo is right.  OK, then.

<flips pages for Sirius' discussion of Moody>

Ah yes.  Eh, maybe it's a stretch, but Sirius mentions Moody's 
ambition as well:  "I wouldn't put it past Mad-Eye to have searched 
every single teacher's office when he got to Hogwarts.  He takes his 
Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously, Moody."

<nods vigorously>

And Real Moody shows us some ambition in the Pensieve:  "Took me six 
months to track him down. . . "

<nods again>

There.  No pronouns.  :-)

Susanne adds:

> Hm, how ambitious is Harry, compared to Ron?
> Mostly, he already has the talent, and only needs a little
> help to bring it out.
> 
> Hermione certainly works hard, but does Harry?
> 
> Things happen to him, and he finds out he has many
> talents/abilities that help him out in those circumstances,
> but I don't really see him work very hard to make them
> happen.

Harry seems at the mid-point between Ron and Hermione on the 
question of ambition.  When Harry needs to take care of a problem, 
there is no limit to how hard he'll work at it.  Learning to 
Summon.  Learning to resist Imperius.  Learning the Patronus charm.  
Studying all night to prepare for the second task.  Practicing 
Quiddich at all hours and in all weather.  Working hard to win the 
Third Task.  Winning the duel with Voldemort (well, maybe that 
doesn't count because Harry was motivated by not wishing to *die* 
right then).   

Harry seems to pull it together under pressure and coast the rest of 
the time.  What is that, exactly?  Should we call it Transient 
Ambition?  Task-Oriented Ambition?  Adolescent Ambition?  ;-)

Jo again:

> Do you think that this reflects 
> JKR's feelings concerning fiercely ambitious people.  She 
certainly 
> seems to favor the characters who don't seem to be striving too 
hard 
> to achieve some material or status-related goal.  

Hmmm.  Maybe.  If so, this runs contrary to her own press clippings, 
in which she was portrayed as the single mother desperately writing 
a book at the local coffee shop.

But maybe this is just a common way to treat ambition in fiction 
dealing with a struggle between good and evil.  I mean, Evil 
Overlords are almost ambitious by definition -- they want to rule 
the world.  It's all or nothing for them -- they won't be happy just 
having a lot of influence or changing society at the margins.  So 
perhaps writers (and JKR) have the Good Guys be less ambitious for 
contrast and conflict and to cast them as the underdog?  

That said, the Good Guys always seem to find some major ambition 
from somewhere when the situation demands it -- like while battling 
it out on a rickety catwalk over a river of molten lava.  ;-)

Cindy (who would be ambitious about a great many things if there 
weren't so much darn *work* involved)