[HPforGrownups] Re: They are children's books (Was: the heart of it all)

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 81797

>    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?
>

I don't know who this girl is, what she's done to you, or why you 
happen to be obsessed with her.  However, I *have* noticed that this is 
your second message posted *solely* for the purpose of complaining 
about her, and I would ask you to please *stop* using the HPfGU and OTC 
lists as your personal venting grounds.

As for the secondary topic of your post, I would point out that there 
are many people who suspect that HP may be a Christian Allegory, and 
most of them aren't "fan girls."  And while I am not sure that I count 
myself among them, I *can* see where they're coming from.

First of all, for Harry to assume a Christlike role in the 
hypothetically allegorical HP books, he hardly needs to mirror Christ's 
Godlike personality or lack of sin.  Allegory isn't about rewriting 
Scripture.  It's about taking a theme from an epic tale and fleshing it 
out so that it becomes more human (and, incidentally, more accessible 
to the reader).

Furthermore, while I can't quite grasp what this has to do with 
anything, I would like to point out that, not only do plenty of 
children grow up to resemble absent parents, but that JKR has several 
characters (Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius, to name a few) throughout the 
books comment explicitly on how much Harry reminds them of James.  In 
OotP, we found out that they were not as similar as we had previously 
assumed, but, still, there must be *something* that causes so many 
adult to comment on Harry's resemblance to James.  Also...what does 
knowing what they looked like have to do with anything?  *puzzled*

Laura