Character Discussion: Lily

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 120388


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Hans Andréa <ibotsjfvxfst at y...> wrote:
> The lily, the rose, and the lotus are traditional
> symbols for our deepest spiritual self, our only true
> and immortal self, our inner God.
> 
> The imagery speaks clearly. A seed falls into the
> dark, slimy, rotting earth. A plant rises up and one
> day produces a breathtakingly beautiful and dazzlingly
> pure white flower that is in such complete contrast to
> the environment the seed was planted in.
> 
> This is not very flattering for us personally, but the
> idea is that we are the rotting earth and the flower
> is the potential Inner God in the heart. That's Lily
> Potter - Harry's mother.
> 
<long snip of much interesting material>
> 
> If my theory of what Harry Potter is about is correct,
> this means that we all have within us something so
> ineffably precious, so utterly sublime, so
> inexpressibly supernal that it should make us feel our
> heart is filled with a swelling balloon as Jo puts it.
> Just think: no matter what our physical circumstances,
> no matter what our role in life or where we live, we
> have the potential to open our hearts to the Lily
> within and give birth to Harry, who will go on a long
> and painful struggle to defeat the Voldemort within
> us, ending in total liberation and the restoration of
> the inner Prince as heir to the everlasting Kingdom.
> Go Harry!
> Hans
> 

Antosha--

What a lovely, mythic reading of these books! In the finest folkloric tradition, of course, 
you've also got two failed anti-heroines, the other flower-moms (Narcissa and Petunia) 
whose love is nowhere near as pure, and whose fruit (Draco and Dudley) is therefore 
nowhere near as sweet. 

Of course, there are many other themes going on here. There's Father Atonement--Harry 
come to grips his father's legacy, positive and negative, as it manifests itself within him. 
There's the good old Zarathustran battle of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness....

Still, Lily's sacrifice, and Harry's internalization of the meaning of that sacrifice, do seem to 
be the central symbol of the series, so far....