Why to Like and Not Like OoP

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 71132

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "marinafrants" <rusalka at i...> 
wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "m.steinberger" 
> <steinber at z...> wrote:
> > > But Harry is not "quite fine," either at the beginning of OOP, 
> or at
> > > the end, or at any point in the middle.  He's as far from fine 
as
> > > we've ever seen him before.  If the book ended with Harry 
> traipsing
> > > through the daisies, going "tra-la-la, I'm so happy," but the 
> whole
> > > point of the story, to me, is that Harry is not dealing well, 
and
> > > his failiure to deal causes serious problems, for himself and 
for
> > > others.
> > >
> > > Marina
> > > rusalka at i...
> > 
> > All this would be fine if Harry had ended the book having learned 
> that
> > lesson. But Dumbledore explicitly says that it's *his* (DD's) 
> fault, not
> > Harry's. So what lesson is that supposed to teach?
> > 
> > The Admiring Skeptic
> 
> First of all, I think Dumbledore was being a manipulative bastard 
in 
> that scene.  I hated the way he pretended to take responsibility 
for 
> Sirius' death while subtly pinning the blame on everybody else.  
> Dumbledore is no longer the infallible voice of moral authority, 
and 
> I think Harry knows this.  Harry did not walk out of that 
> conversation thinking that the whole thing was totally Dumbledore's 
> fault.  We learn in the very next chapter that he still blames 
> Snape, and I think the scene with the mirror indicates that deep 
> down he's aware of his own culpability, too, even if he's not ready 
> to deal with it yet.
> 
> Second of all, this is the Harry Potter series, not The Boy Scout's 
> Guide to Moral Development.  I, for one, was getting a little tired 
> of every book ending with Dumbledore delivering "this year's life 
> lesson" in a neat little package.  OOP eliminated or subverted many 
> of the traditional elements we've come to expect from the series, 
> and I think it's a good thing.  Sirius' death was a huge blow to 
> Harry, the worst he's received yet, and his still in the early 
> stages of grief at the end of the book.  It's way too soon for him 
> to be extracting moral lessons from what has happened.  But the 
> readers can get the point even when the characters haven't.
> 
> Marina
> rusalka at i...

I think that the story of OoP made the point of the life lesson quite 
well. Harry didn't walk away without an enlightenment.
Sirius death took away Harry's reliance on his mental being.

Harry relied on his 'mental ego' so to speak in making his choice not 
to kick Voldemort out of his head. 
Harry may not have learned that he should keep Voldemort out like 
everyone told him to. But he did learn that his mind was not his 
weapon against LV. 

For a boy to learn all that took *all* of OoP.
He built up the mental ego throughout the book starting with his 
defiance of the Dursley's and continuing to his willpower exerted 
against Umbridges cruel punishment and refusing to practice 
Occlumency.

In the end one cruel blow smashed it to tiny pieces. Just when Harry 
began to think he had developed his ultimate power it became fallible.
Dumbledore's speech was about the fallibility of what we build in 
ourselves. Dumbledore was fallible and Harry was finding out that he 
was also.

I am sure that JK wrote the story leaving Harry at the base of his 
next climb upwards which for me was quite satisfying.

Valky