Why is PROFESSOR Binns a ghost?

[David]

No: HPFGUIDX 54302

larryngocnguyen wrote:
> J.K. Rowling has said in a number of interviews that the coming 
books
> will reveal a lot about why some people become ghosts and some 
don't.
> I was thinking: why then would Professor Binns become a ghost? 
Perhaps,
> there's more to that story then we know...
> Just some thoughts. Tell me what you think

This came up about a month ago, and I composed a reply and never 
posted it.  Here it is:

Elkins and Eileen wondered about Professor Binns and the nature of 
his ghost status.

I think it's reasonable to say that Binns has a massive piece of 
unfinished business.  He teaches - and we can suppose he taught 
before he died - history at Hogwarts.  Thus it is his business to 
tell Hogwarts students about the past and its effects on them.

That is a role that he singularly fails to fulfill.  He has plenty 
to say about Goblin rebellions and the like, but he is silent on 
crucial historical issues.  How did Voldemort rise to power?  What 
were the effects on WW society of his attempts to take over?  How is 
the MOM shaped by efforts to resist him? What was 

Salazar Slytherin's legacy to Hogwarts and the WW?  Did witch-
burnings leave a lasting impact on the wizarding psyche?

If anyone deserves not to be let off the hook until he has done what 
he is supposed to, it is Binns.
Notice how he comes alive the one time he is forced to explain 
historical material of relevance to his class.

His ghostly nature functions nicely as a metaphor for the author as 
storyteller, too, since it is he who most closely approximates JKR's 
own formal function as teller of the story of the WW.

David