Biblical Parallels

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 97946

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" <vmonte at y...> wrote:
> Requoting Jim Ferer:
> 
> JKR has said in an interview something to the effect that there are
> Biblical parallels to her story and that those familiar will the 
Bible
> will figure out what's coming. 
> 
> vmonte responds again:
> 
> I've been thinking about JKR's statement.  If Harry represents, to 
> JKR, a Christ-like figure; then Harry's future looks pretty grim. 
To 
> be marked, from the time of a toddler, as the choosen one--what a 
> curse! And all of DD's talk about free-will, and choice. I wasn't 
> surprised at Harry's anger during OOTP, considering that the 
weight 
> of the WW is on his shoulders. 
> 

(SNIP) 
> If Harry is the Christ-figure in this story, he has to be the one 
to 
> sacrifice himself.  (Not that he hasn't been putting himself on 
the 
> line all along.)
>  
> vmonte

Now me:
(Lazily adapting something I posted two months ago on another list 
as an answer to your message).
Harry appears since the beginning of the series as a Christ-figure. 
The scenes at the end of the first chapter of the series, when he 
arrives and we "meet" him for the very first time, sound like an 
evocation of Epiphany. It happens after "a downpour of shooting 
stars"; there's a baby poorly settled on the threshold of a house, 
and three magi watching him as a miracle. Doesn't it remind some 
other similar situation, two thousands years ago? Everybody knows 
that there are Christians influences in the HP books; well, in my 
opinion, they show clearly in the way JKR makes Harry appear. Since 
the beginning, we can feel that this tiny baby has a destiny to 
fulfil, and that there is more than a fairytale in what we are 
reading. We are nearly facing a sacred scene, with its part of 
revelation (there's a child called Harry who is able to vanquish 
evil) and its part of mystery ("How in the name of heaven did Harry 
survive?" Mc Gonagall asks. And Dumbledore replies: "We can only 
guess. We may never know"). I read several articles about the 
reactions of some very radical churches that sentenced the books to 
burning because they were "satanic". I wonder why JKR's censors 
didn't accuse her books of blasphemy, because they melt sacred 
themes and a profane story of wizards
 "For unto us a child is 
born", just like in Handel's "Messiah"; that's what the end of the 
very first chapter of the series could mean. But JKR's choir is a 
whispering choir: "To Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived"


Amicalement,

Iris, back after a long break.