Politics and Swearing in HP

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 84800

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dicentra spectabilis"
<dicentra at x> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nibleswik" <nibleswik at y...> 
> wrote:
> 
> > I may have been seeing politics where there was just storytelling, 
> > but to me (and many of my friends, and, I'm sure, many on this 
> > list), the Grand Inquisitorial Decrees just reeked of the Patriot 
> > Act. 
> 

> Given that JKR devised the plot of the entire 7-book series before 
> 1997, I think it's safe to say that she's not parodying the Bush 
> administration or any part thereof in Book 5.  Furthermore, as a 
> British author, I don't think that commenting on U.S. politics is 
> uppermost in her mind.  The HP series deals with The Big Issues Of 
> Life, and therefore tends to address general principles rather than 
> particulars.

When it was suggested that LotR was an allegory of WW 2, Tolkien wrote
that people usually confuse *allegory* and *applicability*. LotR tells
a tale of power and war and the moral dangers of using the enemy
weapon against himself. WW 2 was about power and war. Yes, there are
similarities.

Rowling does applicability, not allegory. IMO you'd have to be blind
not to see the political themes in the books, but trying to pin them
on one particular case mgiht not be such a good idea. From history and
politics we all know different cases of corrupt governments,
appeasement politicians, interfering bureaucrats etc. Humanity will
see it happen again and again and will applaud when the common people
rise up against them. A lot more interesting than just political
allegory, which tends to age rather quickly and be impenetrable to
outsiders.

Alshain, a political animal as well