Dirty Harry (WAS: The intended murder of Pettigrew and moral corruption)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 116559


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Kelsey Dangelo 
<kelsey_dangelo at y...> wrote:

Kelsey:
> But I think I might see a hole in that bucket of water.
> 
> Harry's an angry teenager, but he's a goody-two-shoes. From day 
one, he just intrinsically knows what's right and what's wrong 
(knowing he doesn't want to be associated with "dark wizards" of 
Slytherin). Yeah, he gets fuddled in knowing who's good and who's bad 
(Snape vs. Quirrel). Sure, he falters when he gets mad. But his 
underlying motives are almost always so pure and good. They're not 
even for the sake of increasing his own fortune (i.e. winning the 
triwizard cup for fame, glory, and cash). His motivation may not 
exactly be saintly (the side of "good" was chosen for him the moment 
Voldie killed his parents and tried to kill him), but he's good by 
definition.

Geoff:
Sorry, but I don't see him as a goody-two-shoes.

There are many people who basically lean towards being good. I 
suppose I do because I had it firmly drummed into me as a kid 
that "You don't do that sort of thing..." and again I suppose I want 
to get on well with people; it's a sort of of instinctive thing with 
me now and I feel it be so with Harry.

But.

That does not make him perfect. As you said, his motivation isn't 
exactly saintly. He wants to be good, at least most of the time, but 
doesn't always make it. That's what I like about him so much. He 
messes up, he falls over his own feet, he loses his temper, he lies 
and don't we all? 

Speaking with my Christian hat on, I recall a minister saying once 
about Christian behaviour that some people have a start over others 
in the faith because they were already some way along the road when 
they came to belief; my description of Harry in the last paragraph 
makes me think of Simon Peter.

But my faith also teaches me that no one is beyond redemption - until 
they put themselves in that position by refusing to see anything 
beyond their own world view of what is right.

I have commented in the past about Gandalf's comment in "The Return 
of the King" that it would not enter his darkest dreams that someone 
would actually /want/ to destroy the Ring. He sees its power as the 
only thing worth wanting and is blinded to any other values; so it is 
with Voldemort. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. 
How true.

Harry seeks not only good for himself but that others are safe and 
cared for; in that respect he resembles the Christian seeker after 
truth. Voldemort is almost certainly unredeemable because he doesn't 
see that he needs to be redeemed. He is one of those folk who even as 
Tom Riddle came over as evil; he exuded something which made us feel 
uncomfortable. Not the sort of person I would seek to sit next to at 
dinner.

It comes back again to Dumbledore's views in COS. We all are a mix of 
good and evil and ultimately are the product of our choices.

Geoff
Pay a virtual visit to Exmoor and the 
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