The Mirror and the Heart

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 105238

Hi all,
I don't know if the following possibility has been debated already 
on this group; if it's nothing new, or if it's pointless, I 
apologize. 
It's about the Mirror of Erised, and the possible way the series 
will end.
Since the first time I read the series, I had this feeling: maybe 
the Mirror of Erised is a two-way mirror, and it will play a part in 
the outcome. 
I always thought that the sentence written `back to front' on the 
frame wasn't just a pleasant detail, a game between JKR and her 
readers. I suppose it's written `back to front' because it's 
actually the reverse of an inscription you can read `normally' when 
you stand on the other side of the mirror. The Mirror of Erised 
could be just like the Stone Arch in the Death Chamber: a gate 
between two worlds, two dimensions or two realities. JKR herself 
suggests that the Mirror is maybe just a gate, when she writes in 
PS/SS (chapter 12): "The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he 
stared hungrily back at them, his hand pressed flat against the 
glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach 
them."
And at the end of the book, the Philosopher's Stone passes through 
the mirror, from Harry's reflection to Harry himself.
One last detail: you all know that in the PoA movie, some details 
anticipate what happens in the two last books. Did you notice what 
happens during Lupin's Boggart class? We see a huge wardrobe with a 
mirror. In the mirror, we can see the students' reflection. The 
camera moves forward, `passes through' the mirror, and joins the 
students, who are waiting for the class to begin. The same thing 
happens at the end of the class, and this time the camera 
moves `through the mirror', from Harry himself to his reflection.  
Some say this scene is a goof, because the scar on Harry's 
forehead `is not at the right place': in fact we are facing Harry's 
reflection, but the camera movement gives the impression that we are 
facing Harry himself (hope I'm not too messy here!). Maybe that's 
one of the `foreshadowing details'? We pass `through the mirror'
If 
you are not convinced, well
 see the movie again. As for the exact 
part the Mirror will play in the last book, there are many possible 
scenarios (and it could be a rather pleasant guessing game
)

The Mirror, in PS/SS, represents the seventh ordeal Harry has to 
pass through to find the Stone. If you acknowledge (as I do) that 
the seven ordeals are a summary and a metaphor of the whole series 
(1st ordeal= 1st book, etc
), well, you can suppose we'll see the 
Mirror again (the Mirror, or something similar) in the seventh book. 
And, maybe, Sirius' small mirror will play a part in the outcome. 
Simply because mirrors, small or huge, play an important part in 
initiatory processes. For example, they are used in the Masonic 
loges; the initiate is locked in what they call a `meditation room', 
where he/she finds a curtain and the following sentence: `If you 
have a genuine wish, if you possess courage and intelligence, draw 
this curtain.' 
I saw one of those cabinets once in Venice. I drew the curtain, and 
faced my own reflection in a mirror.
I'm not a Mason myself, but the message seemed to be quite 
clear: `Face the heart of the issue; face what you are; face your 
own consciousness,'. 
I suppose it's what Harry will have to do if he wants to defeat 
Voldemort. In OotP, he's not ready to do it, as JKR states on her 
website. She writes, as an answer to a question about Sirius's two-
way mirror: 
"[
] the short answer is that Harry was determined never to use the 
mirror, as is clearly stated in chapter 24: `he knew he would never 
use whatever it was'. For once in Harry's life, he does not succumb 
to curiosity, he hides the mirror and the temptation away from 
himself, and then, when it might have been useful, he has forgotten 
it."
Harry doesn't want to know what is wrapped in the parcel his 
godfather has given him, because he worries for Sirius, and doesn't 
want to endanger him. It's because he loves his godfather, but also 
because of what happened before Christmas, because of the nightmare 
he had  in which he `was' a snake and `attacked' Arthur Weasley. At 
that moment, Harry is afraid of himself. He doesn't know what is 
happening, and he probably prefers not to know, because he could 
discover terrible things, things he is not ready to face yet. He 
doesn't know whether that horrible nightmare didn't reveal what he 
is actually. He is confronted with a terrible possibility: he could 
turn out to be a monster himself, just like the Basilisk he killed 
three years before, just like Voldemort. Harry already knows he is a 
Parselmouth. He doesn't like that aspect of his own personality. And 
he has the `average' reaction people tend to have when there's 
something disturbing concerning their personality: he prefers not to 
know any more. That's probably why the Occlumency lessons are 
pointless. They don't work, maybe not because Harry doesn't want to 
learn, or because Snape is a `bad' teacher. Harry fails because he's 
not ready to learn, because he's afraid of what is hidden in his 
heart, in his soul. He's afraid of what he could discover, of what 
he could be, of what he could become. So he doesn't want to face 
himself, to face this consciousness the Occlumency lessons make him 
feel painfully. His scar burns when he tries to learn; it burns 
because consciousness is a burning thing. We can't blame him for 
trying to avoid the pain, for trying to forget. 
But Harry will have to learn to face himself in order to defeat 
Voldemort; he will have to face his own heart and soul. It's a vital 
question. It's `the heart of it all', to take JKR's own words. The 
solution is hidden in Harry's heart, because there his soul and 
consciousness lie.
JKR writes in PS/SS, chapter 15, when Harry realizes Voldemort is 
back: "It was as though an iron fist had clenched suddenly around 
Harry's heart". That iron fist symbolizes at the same time Harry's 
doom falling over him, and an unconscious protection he tries to 
settle between him and that doom. At that very moment, when Harry 
realizes Voldemort is still `alive' and is back, he probably knows, 
consciously or not, that he will have to play a key part in what is 
going to happen. He doesn't know he is the Prophecy Boy (though we 
readers can at that moment have the intuition, because there are in 
the chapter many references to the stars writing Harry's destiny 
through the sky), but he has been told he was famous for defeating 
once the Dark Lord. How couldn't he understand that he will have to 
face him again, that maybe the others are waiting for him to protect 
them, because there's something in him that made him vanquish 
Voldemort? But it's not an easy thing to accept, especially for an 
eleven-year old boy. It's a burden an adult could barely take, 
because it requires a very hard to gain knowledge. If he wants to 
know what gave him the power to vanquish Voldemort when he was a 
baby, Harry will have to examine his own heart, his own 
consciousness. And that introspective work is not easy, even to an 
adult. Becoming `a well prepared mind' is a very hard job.
 Voldemort didn't manage to face his own consciousness; we see the 
result.

`Erised stra  ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'; `I show not your 
face but your heart's desire': how could Harry learn better than 
facing the Mirror of Erised? 

Two Knuts, and one more for Hans

Amicalement,

Iris