veil/Ddore's cowardice? (longish)

[urghiggi]

No: HPFGUIDX 77935

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jwcpgh" <jwcpgh at y...> wrote:

> The grownups around Harry have failed him dismally by the climax of 
> OoP, that's for sure.  But it looks like they've finally learned 
> their lesson.  (Of course, Sirius paid with his life for Dumbledore's 
> cowardice, but that's another rant.)  The scene at the very end where 
> the group of adults from the Order lay down the law to the Dursleys 
> is very encouraging.  We can only hope that Harry is able to accept 
> what they have finally realized they have to give.

I think the whole veil device is a strong message re JKR's philosophy about 
death -- to wit, that it's not the end of the line for the soul, only the end for the 
physical body. All the stuff about James' spirit and Lily's love living on in Harry 
is further evidence for this view. How the "death is final but it's not the end"  
idea will manifest itself in books 6/7 is hard to predict. The suddenness of 
Sirius' death is clearly deliberate, as is the lack of a body for a mourning ritual. 
Unfortunately this is how it sometimes happens in the real world as well, as 
we saw on 9/11 at the World Trade Center (sudden catastrophe, lack of 
identifiable remains for many, lack of closure for many). The Wiz World's now 
on a wartime footing; these kinds of deaths happen in a war.

JKR's talking about some pretty hard stuff here, and she herself is a woman 
clearly marked by losing her mother at a rather young age. Death is a bitter 
thing to be discussing in what's ostensibly kid's literature, but being a kid is no 
shield from the harsh realities, so I think it's a brave thing for her to be doing, 
too.  The mystery of the veil is just one more sign of her powerful symbolist 
philosophy, which is so evident throughout the Potter books (ie the belief that 
there's more to existence than meets the eye), vs. the materialist worldview 
prevalent in the books of an author like Pullman (ie there's no such thing as 
an afterlife or any kind of transcendent existence, so life's pretty much a 
WYSIWYG proposition).

Re Dumbledore's "cowardice" -- I think that's a bit strong. He admits an error 
in judgment in trying to shield Harry from all the bitter truth before he's ready, 
and in allowing his affection for Harry to cloud his judgment regarding when 
"ready" might be. But as others have said, "Damn, if he couldn't be in the 
same room as Harry for fear of manipulation by LV, why didn't he just explain 
to Harry in a letter, and save everyone a lot of anguish?" (I have some 
theories about where JKR's going in the overall story arc, and feel this plot 
device was necessary in order for her to be able to explore one of the main 
issues I perceive in OoP -- which is how does a person try to make good/
obedient choices when his God/guide is silent? If this is one of the themes 
she's exploring, the plot device makes sense. If not, then it's really kind of 
lame.)

Besides, all kinds of errors combined to cause Sirius' death, not just 
Dumbledore's error. Sirius himself chose to leave the house though he knew 
that doing so could put him in mortal peril. It never occurred to Harry to turn to 
Snape first after having the Sirius vision, due to his mistrust of Snape, even 
though Snape is a member of the Order and would certainly have been able 
to get him more reliable info re Sirius' status than was available from 
Kreacher. Harry thus wasted valuable time with the floo powder stunt and 
getting caught in Umbridge's office -- and got fed a crucial load of 
misinformation to boot. Harry also forgot to try using the mirror Sirius had 
given him at the critical juncture. And (more important than forgetting), Harry 
deliberately chose to fight the occlumency lessons -- and even chose not to 
practice occlumency on his own, when the lessons got nasty -- although both 
Ddore and Lupin had made it clear that this was vital for his own protection 
and for the protection of the Order. He wanted the knowledge of what was at 
the end of that dark dream corridor more than he wanted to obey his elders. 
Thus he was in a perfect position to be exploited by LV, exactly as Ddore had 
feared. (But what can ya reasonably expect of the kid -- he's 15, and 
damaged, and the veteran of previous heroic rescue missions -- all of which 
baggage contributed to his errors in OoP.) 

The whole scenario will either make Harry irredeemably bitter (which would 
make sense in real life but not in a series like this), or it will make him humble 
about his destiny and his gifts in a character-building way, as further 
preparation for his final battles. The whole Hogwarts Express and Kings 
Cross 'solidarity" scenes in the final chapter were a hopeful touch, as I think 
he's slowly starting to realize how much he needs his teammates (including 
his DA peers and his OoP guides) in order to survive, both psychologically 
and literally.

urghiggi, Chicago