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

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 120842



> Nora wrote:
> My personal parsing is that, in JKR's world, I suspect that some 
> people are more inclined to do what is good, and some inclined to do 
> what is evil.  Those essences are affected by upbringing, but their 
> manifestation into the world is a case of choice on the part of the 
> person.  Draco, for instance, is naturally inclined to be selfish and 
> jealous, and his choices as manifested in his actions show us this.  
> Snape is naturally inclined to be god-knows-what...forget I mentioned 
> him.  Pointless to argue about a character who none of us really 
> understand.  Harry is naturally inclined to be a good person, and at 
> times has to struggle to make the choices that correspond.  Compared 
> to Draco, perhaps it's that Draco is unwilling to invest the effort?
> 
> Let's not talk about free will.  Please.  :)

Neri:
Well, if we DO choose to argue about free will in a story, we should
differentiate very clearly between the plot level and the author's
intentions level. In the author's intensions level (I leave it to
Carol and Nora to supply the exact terms) no character in the story
has free will. They all do what the author makes them do, so if she
decides that Harry is good and Malfoy is bad, then these are the
"choices" she will make them take. But within the story, there's no
need to assume that someone is innately good or innately evil. As long
as they are persons, they have free will. Some of them chose to do
good and some of them chose to do evil. Assuming they were innately
bent on good or evil discredit their free will and thus their personhood. 

So I'm sure that the trio will generally make the good choices because
in the level of the author's intensions they are obviously the good
heroes of the story. But I still maintain that within the story, to
assume that they are innately good is to discredit their personhood. 

I know this sounds like a paradox, but it's not my fault. It is the
built-in paradox of fiction. A "character" from outside the story is a
"person" within the story.   

Neri