They are children's books (Was: the heart of it all)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 81754

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jeffl1965" <jeffl1965 at h...> 
wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "greatelderone" 
> <greatelderone at y...> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "feetmadeofclay" 
> > <feetmadeofclay at y...> wrote:
> > > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mom31" <mom31 at r...> 
wrote:
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > >   Joj says:
> > > 
> > > >   Joj,  who's husband thinks she's crazy for thinking JK 
might 
> > kill 
> > > off Harry.  "They're children's books" , he says.  Well, I can 
> > > forgive him his ignorance, since he's only seen the movies.  :-)
> > > 
> > > Golly: They are children's books.  And children's books have 
> > beloved 
> > > characters that die all the time.  
> > > 
> > > Charlotte's web for instance...    
> > > 
> > > Children often deal with death.  So their stories do as well.  
It 
> > is 
> > > a depressing way to end a series.  But if you are a christ 
> figure, 
> > > you have to die. 
> > > 
> > > Golly
> > 
> > Well that pretty much rules out Harry.
> 
> 
>    Jeff:
> 
>     *Exactly*! I've been having this discussion on another list 
with 
> a silly fan-girl who's in college. She harps on about how perfect 
> Harry is and that he alone will save the world on his own. She also 
> talks about Harry's eyes, hair and his voice in most posts. I 
wonder 
> what books she's been reading. It's not the series most of us have 
> read. I don't recall any books that a character speaks to you, or 
> that you can have him actually appear before you. 
>     i've also pointed out numerous times that Harry isn't Christ. 
> He's had a miserable life, has few social skills, and can't really 
> relate to others that well. He's also showing a dark side. She 
can't 
> comprehend this for some reason.  She also can't seem to understand 
> that Harry can't be like his parents since he never really knew 
them, 
> and wasn't raised by them. He didn't even really know what they 
> looked like until recently.
>     Harry is lots of things, but perfect or Christ-like, no. Not by 
a 
> long shot. I'm very curious about what he'll be like during the 
final 
> battle. Will his link to Voldie take hold so strong that he has the 
> same desire to rule and destroy? 
> 

Geoff:
I think we've shared a similar exchange of ideas along this line 
before. I do not see HP as a Christ figure but as a type of a 
Christian figure. Those of us who claim that position try to follow 
in the steps of Christ, accepting him into our lives but realising 
that, although we have the power of the risen Lord on call, we are 
ties up in our own shortcomings and like Harry, often fail to take 
the right advice, make the correct decisions and generally progress 
through life in a series of fits and starts depending on how much 
time we are giving to trying to see our way forward. That's why I can 
identify with Harry, especially when I was his age. He is not a 
plaster saint. Anyone with his background plus the problems of 
getting through adolescence and coming out at the other end as a 
reasonable human being with a modicum of social interaction is doing 
well.  I remember my own son in his mid-teens and when we see him now 
at 30, he's a swan transformed from an ugly duckling.... Go for it 
Harry!