The Heir

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 45981

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Audra1976 at a... wrote:
> In a message dated 30/10/2002 16:55:50 Eastern Standard Time, 
> pipdowns at e... writes:
> > Possibly he's the person who will reconcile all the divisions in 
> > the  WW; the born Gryffindor with the Slytherin talents; the  
> >wizard-born who was brought up by muggles; the heir to a pure-
> > blood line who is the son of a muggle-born.

> Audra replies:
> You mean...a child who will bring *balance* to the Fo--er, I mean, 
>wizarding  world?  I have heard some Star Wars-influenced theories 
>on where the Harry  Potter books are headed.  

Star Wars???? Is that in Star Wars? 

Sorry, I have seen the Star Wars movies (well, not the most recent 
one), but I haven't memorised the script. I don't think I could, the 
dialogue's truly dreadful. And you'd be amazed at the dreadful 
dialogue I *can* memorise. [Memo to any of George Lucas's lawyers - 
this is a JOKE. Honest.]

> Well, I suppose I should say influenced by Joseph 
> Campbell's "The Hero With A Thousand Faces"'s mythological hero 
> journey which influenced Star Wars. 

Ah. I haven't read that either. It is in my bookcase, and every so 
often I take it out and look at it - but I've always put it back in 
favour of some lighter reading. Like ' Understanding relational 
databases'.[grin]

I was actually thinking more of Christian theology when I talked 
about Harry's purpose being to reconcile all divisions. And, of 
course, of the point that he represents all the divisions of the 
Wizarding World within himself.

The WW, you see, has decided that instead of bringing magic to the 
world, it would rather withdraw within itself, creating its own 
society; that society being designed to preserve and improve magic.

Provided, that is, you're a wizard. If you're a muggle, tough. Magic 
is concealed from muggles, kept firmly within the WW. Muggle-borns 
get allowed in (with reluctance) if they have magical talent, and if 
they're willing to conform to the WW customs and laws.

Muggles are regarded with attitudes that vary from amused 
condescension to outright hatred. Muggles who know about wizards 
(most don't) regard wizards with attitudes that vary from thinking 
they ought to burn them at the stake to thinking they're a bunch of 
complete nutters.

The Christian theology bit is Mark Chapter 4 Verses 21 - 22: 

..."Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or 
under a bed? Don't they put it on the lampstand? 
Whatever is hidden away will be brought out in the open and whatever 
is covered up will be uncovered." 

which suggests to me that this separation from the muggle world, 
this hiding of magic's 'light' from muggles is wrong. 

It may have been originally made for what seemed sensible reasons 
[persecution by muggles], but the choice of the WW to withdraw is a) 
depriving muggles of the advantages of magic b) allowing them to be 
persecuted by evil wizards without understanding what the heck is 
going on [the Roberts's, anyone?] and c) depriving them of a sense 
of mystery and of a great deal of, for want of a better 
term, 'wonder'. 

'Light', whether you want to call it God, or gods, or spirituality, 
or magic, or just a plain sense that there is more to the world than 
can be seen with our eyes and heard with our ears, should not be 
hidden. 

And Harry, who is half-blood, brought up by muggles, and with his 
closest friends both muggle-born and pure-blood, straddles the two 
worlds. So he might be the person to bring the light of magic out 
from under its bowl (or bushel, if you want the King James Version).

Further, the WW has segregated itself within itself. We all 
recognise the obvious 'mudblood/halfblood/pureblood' prejudices. 
There is another prejudice, which is against the Slytherins.

Now the Slytherins undoubtedly contain a large number of very nasty 
lots indeed. Frankly, they're not very nice. Even Trustworthy!Snape 
is distinctly Not Nice. The group they correspond to in the four 
Christian gospels would probably be the tax-collectors, who were 
also Not Nice, being a) agents of the Roman occupying power and b) a 
bunch of extortionists who would collect far more tax than required, 
pocket the difference and live very nicely on the proceeds.

However, Slytherin is described by as a house with a 'noble'history. 
[McGonagall's speech to the new first years in PS/SS]. Salazar 
Slytherin was able to work with the other founders for some of his 
career. Slytherin has been part of Hogwarts for 1000 years. JKR 
appears to be implying that the Slytherins should be handled by 
inclusion, not exclusion.

The Christian theology bit here is twofold. One, Jesus dealt with 
the tax collectors of his day by including them, not excluding them. 
By eating with them, by making a reformed tax-collector one of his 
close disciples, by telling pointed parables that said 'whatever you 
have done in the past, the important thing is for you to decide to 
work for good. It doesn't matter at what point in your life you 
decide it - the important thing is to make the decision.'

Dumbledore is trying to do this [Snape]. But he doesn't always get 
it right [The Dissing the Slytherins scene where he springs the 
Gryffindor victory on them at the Leaving Feast]. Harry, if he gets 
over the '*all* Slytherins are evil' prejudice,might actually be 
better at including Slytherins, because he has the Slytherin 
qualities that made the Sorting Hat want to put him in the House. 
Harry might actually understand the Slytherins a lot better than 
Dumbledore does [if he lets himself try].

 And [theology again], he *should* be trying to reclaim House 
Slytherin - it's the moral thing to do. Because the second Christian 
theology bit would be the argument that it is actually the 
Slytherins who are most in danger from Voldemort. Voldemort will 
destroy the lives of his enemies - but he will destroy the very 
souls of his supporters.

And if you think killing people is worse than corrupting them, I 
would invite you to consider Cedric Diggory, whose death has both 
caused pain [for those who loved or liked him] and been a rallying 
cry. 

Then compare his death with the corruption of Peter Pettigrew [o.k., 
he's a Gryffindor, but he's the most obvious example]; who has 
betrayed the Potters, orphaned Harry, killed 12 people, caused 
Sirius to be falsely imprisoned, betrayed Bertha Jorkins to her 
torture and death, killed Cedric - and so on, and on, and on.

An excluded, hated, despised House Slytherin is fertile ground for 
Voldemort. And when Voldemort is destroyed, it will still be fertile 
ground for the next dark wizard who comes along. Voldemort has to be 
defeated - but Slytherin has to believe that it's members who fought 
against Voldemort will be welcomed back into the WW. And possibly, 
it has to believe that the next time it fights Gryffindor for the 
Quidditch Cup, *some* of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws will decide 
to root for them. ;-)

[Back to Joseph Campbell]
> Forgive me if this has been  
> beaten into the ground.  I am new here, but I didn't see anything  
> about Joseph Campbell in the VFAQ or the forbidden topics.  

I think it's been mentioned in the past, but since I [and probably a 
lot of other listies] don't know much about Campbell, feel free to 
carry on. 
> 
> "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" tells us that the mythological 
> hero is classically a person from whom something has been taken 
> and/or feels there is something lacking in their life.  In Harry's 
> case, he lost his parents, and  what is lacking in his life is 
> their love and acceptance of his magical ability.  The story 
> begins with "the separation," in which the hero "ventures forth    
> from the world of common day into a region of supernatural        
> wonder."  
> Then comes "the initiation," in which "fabulous forces are 
> encountered and a  decisive victory is won."  Throughout is a 
> series of trials and revelations. All the great hero myths  
> revolve around a transformation of consciousness. The hero starts  
> out thinking one way, then they are challenged to think a 
> different way through a series of trials and revelations.

I would think that any great novel revolves around a transformation 
of consciousness (and quite a few not-very-great ones). Elizabeth 
Bennett in 'Pride and Prejudice', for example, while not wandering 
into a region of supernatural wonder, is challenged to think in a 
different way.

I keep remembering that we are only half-way through the entire 
sequence. Harry is certainly growing up – but possibly the challenge 
to 'think in a different way' is going to come in the next few 
books. 

> 
> According to Campbell's formula, in most cases the hero will 
> *found* something new--something material, like a city, or 
> something like a new way of life or a new age, and share his new 
> consciousness with his fellow men.  I believe that Harry will 
> eventually be responsible for founding a new age in the WW.  The   
> new way of thinking may be not only an end to prejudice against 
> non-purebloods--it may even be a union of "muggles" and wizards 
> living together openly.
> 
> Audra

Hear, hear. So long as he doesn't have to die to do it.

Or perhaps, so the fantasy world remains intact, the books will end 
at the point where Harry is about to *start* the movement for 
founding the new age, and new way of thinking for the WW. So the 
readers can always imagine it as 'just about to happen', whenever 
they may be reading the books.

Pip!Squeak
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]