JKR's Messages (was Re: Hermione In Trouble?)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 120686


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:
> 
<SNIP> 
> 
> SSSusan:
> Thanks for the clarification, Cory.  I understand what you are 
> saying, and of course I agree that there is little in our world 
which 
> is so clearly B/W in terms of good or evil.  It's funny, perhaps, 
> that I do still think JKR is trying to teach us about "gray"... but 
I 
> think it works because of the B/W endpoints; that is, if things 
were 
> too gray with the good vs. evil, then we have a real dilemma for 
much 
> of the readership, I think.  
> 

Hmmm.  I understand your point, Susan, and I agree with it to a 
certain extent.  However, overall I disagree with the idea of 
JKR "teaching us" about anything, at least in any subtle or hard to 
see way.  Oh, I don't deny that the books have messages.  However, 
JKR is not some mystic dispensing pearls of Zen wisdom through her 
novels.  IMO that is about as likely as the various "Puppetmaster!
Dumbledore" theories floating around.  JKR is a novelist, and a very 
good one, although I don't think she qualifies as one of 
the "greats," and I certainly wouldn't read her books for some kind 
of deep moral or psychological insight.  I think in the end, when all 
is said and done, any themes JKR wants to illustrate will be fairly 
obvious.  

Most of the rest of what we argue about, be it Slytherin House or 
rule-breaking or Dumbledore's lapses or a lot of other things will 
fall under the heading of "plot mechanics."  That is, I really don't 
think JKR is sending a subtle message at all through Hermione's rule 
breaking or Harry's.  I think those actions are meant to be part of 
an enjoyable adventure sequence that keeps the plot moving along.  In 
that regard one might just as well criticize Batman for not reading 
the Joker his rights or Indiana Jones for not following the 
International Convention on Antiquities.  For that matter one might 
as well criticize Dumbledore for organizing and leading an 
organization that does not hesitate to break all sorts of rules and 
laws instead of putting together a political action group to oust 
Fudge at the next election.  If there is a message about rule 
breaking to be heard I think when the seven books are over it will be 
painted rasberry red and beating us on the foot with a hammer.  
Indeed, Percy seems in some ways set up to be the "fall guy" for a 
message about adhering to the rules.  

Now, having said that I agree that JKR's writing brings up all sorts 
of ethical and moral questions, some of them rather intense.  But 
frankly, I don't think she's interested in most of those questions.  
I, for one, wish she was more interested in some of them.  I have 
said before that the implications of Dumbledore's speech in OOTP are 
problematic to say the least and in some ways horrifying.  But I'm 
not altogether sure that JKR is interested in the tacit ethical and 
moral messages some people perceive her as sending.  I suspect that 
ethical and moral questions she is interested in are the obvious 
ones, and I sometimes doubt she is even aware of many of the others.  
In other words, if someone asked her point blank about Harry and 
Hermione's rule-breaking, an honest answer (which she probably would 
not give as it would be impolite) might well be "Now it would be a 
mighty boring story if they just sat in Gryffindor Tower like good 
children, wouldn't it?"

Lupinlore