Harry's role (Was:Re: crowns and the Alchymical Wedding)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 84695

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


Hans:
> > <snipped>
> > 
> > > A few
> > > months ago there was a big debate in this group about whether 
Harry 
> > Potter
> > > is everyman or Christ. I say he is both! 
> > 
> > <snip> 
> > 


Geoff:
> > I feel that I can only disagree with your view on Harry Potter. 
He 
> > cannot be an everyman or Christ. No person can be a Christ figure 
> > except Christ himself, God in human form. We can be Christ-like; 
we 
> > are enjoined to imitate Christ – read Philippians 2 for example. 
> 


Geoff:
> I can't actually be quite sure what either of you mean here unless 
you
> define your terms more exactly.  For instance, one could debate
> whether C.S. Lewis' Aslan is Christ or a Christ figure (Geoff
> apparently seeing these as the same thing?), or whether Harry is an
> allegorical figure of Christ or just a normal person like any of us
> (aside from being fictional) deposited into special circumstances.
> 



Geoff:
In the Narnia books, once we leave our own time, we are seeing a 
different universe or world. In it, CS Lewis is using allegory to 
tell the story of Christ, his death and resurrection (and in "The 
Last Battle" his gift of salvation), in this universe where God comes 
in a different form - the form of Aslan, whom it is made clear is the 
Son of the Great Emperor. 

Harry is not an allegorical figure of Christ. we are not in a 
parallel universe but in a world which directly interacts with our 
own and with folk who move in both.



Annemehr:
> I had always looked at Harry as a normal person, and at his story as
> what one might do given that magic is real (and given that an Evil
> Overlord has marked one for death).  But the prophecy seems to 
change
>  his role completely.  If it is to be believed, Harry is the *one* 
who
> can save many people (not all mankind) from terror and death (not
> eternal misery). He is not Christ, but no longer quite everyman,
> either -- or at least that's the feeling I got by the end of the 
book.
>  There is now a disconnect between him and the rest of us.  



Geoff:
For that reason, Harry reminds me a little of John the Baptist who 
was marked for a special purpose, to warn of the coming of Christ and 
who would save many people by convincing them opf the need to change 
their life. His life style created a disconnect between him and other 
people.



Annemehr:
> Not only
> that, but there is the implication that he must do his saving by
> killing, which idea he likes no better than being killed, and which 
is
> nothing like what Christ had to do.
> 

Geoff:
Quite. You cannot necessarily make an allegory or an ordinary story 
totally fit something like the basis tenets of Christianity. You can 
draw parallels. Tolkien does the same with the interaction between 
Melkor/Morgoth (the fallen angel) and the angelic beings who remain 
faithful to Eru. My point was that you cannot make Harry be the 
teacher and the disciple at one and the same time. And, as I said 
before, I believe that there is only one Christ figure; Harry, like 
many folk in the real world, can be seen as Christ-like which is a 
different kettle of fish.