Tom Riddle's Birth (Re: JKR Chat "The Crucial ...")

[onnanokata]

No: HPFGUIDX 92839

Naama wrote: 
> If Harry received the gift of love from his mother, maybe Tom 
> received a gift of hate? 
[Snip]

Jen wrote: 
> I think a curse of hate (or whatever would be the opposite of Lily's love 
> sacrifice) doesn't have to negate the choice theory. 
>
> Harry could easily have turned into a different person despite the 
> circumstances of his birth. The ground was certainly fertile for him to
> become a spiteful, hateful person after so little nurturing and 
> support. That was one of the risks DD must have considered in leaving 
> Harry with the Dursleys. 
[Snip]
> OTOH, while I like the parallels Naama draws above I'm not certain 
> it would make the point about choices as well as other 
> possibilities. More effective would be if TR had a similar love 
> sacrifice at birth, then spiraled off into the direction of evil by 
> his own choices. Then LV and Harry would truly be in opposition. 

Jen,

(This is my first post here, so please let men know if I'm hard to 
follow, or violating the norms.)

I tend to agree with your assessment on this issue. The choice and 
sacrifice themes do not seem mutually exclusive to me either, but for 
slightly different reasons than the ones you mentioned.

JKR has said herself that the WW really is not that much different 
than the Muggle World, so if that is true, then Tom Riddle has some 
different challenges despite his similarities to Harry. Riddle is a 
good candidate for some deeply anti-social behaviors, and deeply held 
self-loathing. This does not make his choices acceptable, but there 
are some differences that stand out to me between his life 
circumstances and Harry's.

Both are orphans, but Harry at the very least had a year to form 
attachments to his parents, and then, despite their abusiveness, time 
to form attachments to the Dursley's. Tom Riddle does not seem to 
have any of that available to him.

They both lost their parents in tragic ways. Harry initially thought 
that his parents died in an accident, only to find out that they died 
to save him. Mr. Riddle abandoned Tom before he was born, and his 
mother died without family right after giving birth to him. It might 
seem a bit on the nitpicky-side to make those distinctions, but to me 
they seem quite a bit different in scheme of human emotion. 

It makes sense to me that if Lily's sacrifice marked Harry's soul 
with love, then the death and rejection of "Mrs. Riddle" could mark 
Tom's soul with anger. Lily made and active choce to love. Tom 
Riddle Sr. made and active choice to hate. Harry and Tom's choices, 
in my opinion, come into play from the time that each was able to 
understand what truly happened to their families, and how it shaped 
different parts of their lives their lives. 

Harry is coming up in a time where there is still discrimination, but 
many in the WW accept wizards and witches who are Muggle-born or half-
blood. But the WW history that we currently have suggests that 
perhaps times were different for Tom Riddle. In chapter 6 of OotP 
Sirius tells Harry that Araminta Meliflua, his mother's cousin, was 
trying to push a Muggle hunting bill through the MoM. This is an 
interesting indicator of the political times for Muggle-born and half-
blood wizards during Riddle's youth. 

It is surely awful to suggest that hunting people down is 
entertainment or reasonable but, it is a great indicator of the level 
of societal prejudice to be able to propose such a thing be legally 
sanctioned? Contrast that with the Muggle Protection Act that Author 
Weasley is trying puss through the MoM in the CoS, and we have some 
interesting issues to think about in terms of what choices each 
character makes. There are more juxtapositions going on than just 
Harry's heroism and Voldemort's villainy. Their lives start to look 
quite a bit different to me in the details. The details are 
essential, for me as a reader, to follow the evolution of their 
choices.

Just my perspective.

Good cheer to all,

Dharma