Vengeance

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51833

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer <jferer at y...>"
<jferer at y...> wrote:
>
> ...edited...
> 
> CINDY:
> "I do have to say that I sense a double-standard. Vengeance
> from an Evil character is bad; vengeance from a Good character is 
> OK, so long as no one gets hurt. And maybe sometimes even if 
> someone gets hurt. Ton Tongue Toffee, anyone?"
> 
> JIM: 
> Yes. JKR does not believe in moral equivalence. The good guys are
> good, and therefore don't deserve bad things happening to them. The
> bad guys are bad, and do deserve comeuppance. 
>
> ...edited...

bboy_mn:

I think you have stumbled upon something very important here.

The good guys are good.

Harry has, in the street sense, the right of vengeance because he has
something to avenge. He is endlessly attack by Draco (verbally,
emotionally, and Physically), and Draco seeks Harry out with the
specific intent of attacking him whether directly or indirectly. 

Harry has been 'offended', and has reasons to seek vengeance but the
vengeance he does seek is very small compared to the offenses he has
faced. He hit Draco with a soft mud ball not a brick, and he hit Goyle
(or was it Crabbe) with a small stick not a club. This is 'payback',
but it is extremely small payback and generally harmless. 

Again, Harry did not seek Draco out for the purpose of payback, but
when the opportunity presented itself unsolicited, it was just too
sweet to pass up. So he threw some mud at him, big deal, kids throw
mud at each other all the time. That splat of mud was nothing compared
to the calculated and unrelenting attacks by Draco. The pain Harry
suffered is far more substantial that the annoyance Draco sufferred.

Hermione's slap; that slap was nothing compared to the pain Draco was
causing. Draco was gloating over his own malicious attempt to hurt
someone she cared about. What hurts the people I love, hurts me.
Herione did not seek Draco out, she did not plot to hurt him, she
reacted out of anger and pain. She had the right of vengeance because
she too had something to avenge, but that slap was nothing compared to
the accumulated 'slaps' by Draco. 


The bad guys are bad.

What does Draco have to avenge? He is not the attacked but the
attacker. I'm sure in response to that question people will
instinctively point back to the incident on the train when Harry
refused to shake Draco's hand. When allegedly Draco offerred his hand
in friendship. But in reality, in the deeper reality, Harry did not
refuse to shake Draco's hand. 

Harry is a polite boy, even if he didn't like Draco, he would have
shaken his hand just to be polite and get it overwith. But Draco
insulted Ron, the first and only friend that Harry ever had. The first
person his own age to ever treat him decent. Draco insulted Ron in a
way that would have made shaking Draco's hand and additional insult to
Ron. So Harry didn't refuse to shake Draco's hand, in reality, he
refused to insult his first and only friend; he refused to insult Ron.

If Draco had reframes his request for a handshake into some neutral
format, Harry would have politely shaken Draco's hand.

So the bad guys aren't seeking revenge or vengeance, they are seeking
to offend, and THAT is the difference between the good guys and the
bad. Draco had that splat of mud and much more coming to him, because
he maliciously hurt people. Harry on the other hand, extracted his
'pound of flesh' in the weight of a gram. To constant malicious
offenses, to heartache, humiliation, insults and attacks, he response
in a way that didn't truly hurt anyone; a childish harmless joke. Best
friends could just as easily throw mud at each other, as worst enemies. 

Some one else brought up an old sports saying, 'No harm, no foul', but
perhaps we could reframe that into 'least harm, least foul'.

In conclusion, the good guys ARE good, and the bad guys are BAD.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn