veil/Ddore's cowardice? (longish)

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 77980

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "urghiggi" <urghiggi at y...> 
wrote:
> 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).(SNIP, 
lots of interesting stuff)>
(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.)
(Another snip)
> 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.
> 
Some very interesting ideas in your post, and I agree, I think OotP 
was a "dark night of the soul" book for Harry.  I think the 
Christian parallels are getting too strong not to notice; one thing 
that jumped out for me in your last paragraph was the name of the 
train station.  Funny, but it never really registered before that 
the station Harry uses to go between the wizarding and the muggle 
worlds is "King's Cross".  I think Rowling is modelling her story on 
the Way of the Cross, and Harry is going to suffer like Christ 
before winning in the end.  We should make a list of all the Christ-
symbols used so far.  One I noticed just by chance when looking 
through GoF last week was during the Weighing of the Wands chapter.  
First of all, Harry's wand is made of holly; the Christmas 
carol "The Holly and the Ivy" lists all the Christian associations 
with holly - blood red berries, sharp thorns, green in winter, etc.  
Also, when Mr. Ollivander tests it out, it spouts a fountain of 
wine, which reminds me of Jesus turning water into wine, not to 
mention all the other associations with wine in the New Testament.  

Wanda