Original Order, Imperius and Inheritence and traits

[Eustace_Scrubb]

No: HPFGUIDX 108100

Jen wrote:
 
<snip>
> The part I keep wondering about is whether JKR isn't also sending 
> message about origins being important to understand who you really 
> are. Harry was certainly hurt by 11 years of not knowing he was a 
> wizard, thinking his parents died in a car crash. 
<snip>
> 
> And what Riddle doesn't know about his origins would probably fill
a 
> book. He's made a life for himself based on half-truths, 
> speculation, etc., it seems to me. Perhaps if he had known more he 
> would have made different choices? I don't know, but JKR did say he 
> wasn't born evil.
> 
> And then there's all the stuff Harry *doesn't* know about which 
> continues to haunt him--who was James, really? Why does he have no 
> other relatives? Would he have done better in Slytherin? There's so 
> much he doesn't know about himself and his & his parent's past yet, 
> but it continues to shape his actions & fuel his fears in the 
> present.
> 

Eustace_Scrubb:
And that's an eloquent point that you've made, as well, Jen.

As Amey said, blood (genealogy) in and of itself means little.  But as
you add, that doesn't mean that _history_ means little.  Many of the
problems the WW has are a result of the failure to record and
disseminate knowledge of its history.  Just as Harry (and Tom Riddle,
also) know little of their own heritage, the Wizarding World as a
whole tends to ignore its history, particularly anything unpleasant. 
Whatever we may think of the curriculum at Hogwarts, it's clear that
the history taught there is boring and nearly useless.  I doubt that
Binns was much better at teaching it when he was alive, but I think
the lack of value placed on the subject is pretty clear--not only did
Binns  just continue on his merry way not noticing that he'd become a
ghost, the Headmaster (whoever it was at the time) didn't bother to
fill the position with a living professor.

In the WW as a whole, the tendency is to ignore conflict (treatment of
house elves, relations with centaurs) and to create false symbols of
magical unity (the statue in the lobby of the MoM), avoid discussion
of  potential problems (the fact that Voldemort's demise was far from
certain after Godric's Hollow) and to forget the past rather than try
to learn from it.

So Harry is quite representative of the Wizarding World as a whole in
his lack of knowledge of his past and his failure to ask important
questions.  The latter is a pet peeve of many readers and has
sometimes been seen as a convenient if sloppy authorial tool to keep
the reader in suspense.  Maybe it's much more than that.  Maybe it's a
critical part of the overall story...and just maybe Harry will have to
overcome this to prevail in the end.

Cheers,

Eustace_Scrubb