seeking knowledge and keeping secrets-long

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 80812

> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jwcpgh" 
> > <jwcpgh at y...> wrote:
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > > This whole line of discussion really struck me.  Why is it that 
> > > adults would want to hide information from children (especially 
> > at a 
> > > school, for Pete's sake!).  <snip>
> > > 
> "angelberri56" 
> > If JKR just told us 
> > (Harry) straight out all we needed to know, well then it wouldn't 
> > be the teriffic book it is. <snip> 


> Karen:
> 
> You are 100% correct in saying that it is part of a literary device 
> to further a 7-book plot! However, I think that secret keeping is 
> something that is a symptom of the problems in the wizarding 
> world... <snip>the wizarding world is keeping an ENORMOUS secret 
all the 
> time from the muggle world, and we have an entire society based on 
> secrets. Every teacher in the school has a secret of some sort. 
> 
> Of course, a world full of secrets provides lots of good plot 
> devices, doesn't it? Still, from a parent's point of view, there 
are 
> many things I don't want my child to know all about. <snip> 

> I think Dumbledore was trying to give Harry enough information to 
> operate on without scaring him to death. If Harry had known 
> everything, including the fact that either he or Voldemort must 
> eventually die, he would have a hard time having any sort of normal 
> life, even if he knew that he was being watched and protected. 
<snip>

Laura again:

Well, sure, the secrets are plot devices.  But the question then is, 
why did JKR choose these particular devices?  There are so very many 
secrets in these books.

Yes, of course, we tailor our responses to our children's questions 
to their age, maturity level and any number of other factors.  But if 
a child asks you a direct question I think you should tell them 
*something*.  Maybe you try to answer the real concern under the 
spoken question if you think that's what's going on.  But Harry has 
learned already in PS/SS that LV has a vendetta going against him.  
That's not going to change.  The reasons for it are immaterial-it's 
the behavior of LV that's the problem. DD should have begun to 
explain to Harry at an age-appropriate level rather than refusing 
outright.

Kneasy suggested a few posts ago that kids Harry's age in PS/SS don't 
have a sophisticated understanding of death--that it's forever and 
that it can happen even to children.  So even if DD had told Harry at 
that point that LV wanted to kill Harry, would he have been as 
fearful as you think?  The idea would still be pretty abstract to 
him.  And remember, at the end of PS/SS, CoS, and GoF, Harry has 
defeated LV(albeit temporarily).  So he knows he's not completely 
powerless.  So telling him the general gist of the prophecy wouldn't 
have changed anything except that it would have been in Harry's 
consciousness as an idea he would grow to understand more fully over 
time (and something DD could build on to help him come to that 
understanding instead of acting like nothing was going on). And as he 
did, he'd also begin to understand the ramifications of that and what 
he'd have to do to deal with it.  So learning Occlumency would have 
made a lot more sense to him, for instance. 

I believe that there are times when adults need to withhold or edit 
information from children, for the sake of the mental health of the 
children.  But I don't think that's what's happening in these books.  
The adults are keeping secrets to protect themselves or to avoid 
difficult subjects.  Neither of those are good reasons, imo.  Kids 
know when they're being snowed or lied to, and that knowledge can 
create a level of anxiety that just answering the question never 
would have.