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

[jeffl1965]

No: HPFGUIDX 81775

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
> 
   <Snipped>


> 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!

   Intresting point, but I don't seem to feel that's what the other 
poster meant. I guess I should say that Harry isn't the Second 
Coming, and perhaps that will clear things up. Harry is good, but not 
necessarily a Christian. I've met good people who were agnostic, so 
its not always correct to associate good with The Lord. Even good 
people have dark secrets.  Just like in another book, Sir William 
Golding's Lord of The Flies, many mistake Simon for being Christ. 
Simon has lots of faults, and is even presented as being a bit 
mental. Not a good example. Anyway, to keep this on topic, as Sirius 
said there aren;t clear b&w lines in the HP universe, and the same 
can be said for RL as well.  While I think The Malfoy family are 
snobs and racists, I don't think they're totally evil. Not the kind 
of folk I'd want to have over for dinner, but not the kind I'd want 
to go casting stones at either. ;) Same for Crabbe and Goyle. I think 
they're too ignorant of life to really be evil. They may hang around 
with Draco, but that could be because they were told to, if nothing 
else. Snape is bad, but not totally evil, I guess. If he turns out to 
be a double agent, that would really stun lots of folks, but not 
really me. Same with Percy. He was good, but now it looks like he's 
evil, or is he just ignorant? I think blind ambition doesn't always 
mean a person is evil, but sometimes I've felt that it is the case 
with some people I've met.


  Jeff