Finding one's views in the author's mind was Christianity and HP

[Pat]

No: HPFGUIDX 112679

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Amy Z" <lupinesque at y...> 
wrote:
> Pippin quoted:
> 
> > Is she a Christian?
> > 
> > ``Yes, I am,'' she says. ``Which seems to offend the religious 
> > right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every 
> > time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because 
I 
> > do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than 
> > that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too 
> > freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 
> 60, 
> > will be able to guess what's coming in the books.''
> 
[snip]
> To some people, any conversation about religion (if it deviates 
from 
> their own) is provocative.  To others, feminism is the hot button; 
> to others it's foreign-policy politics; etc.  I hope we can 
continue 
> to talk about these sensitive subjects, as Poppy Elf assured us we 
> can, and know to bow out and take a nice brisk run around the 
block 
> if the conversation gets too hot for our personal taste.  Our 
brave 
> Elves will make sure everyone's polite about it, right, Elves?
> 
[more snipping]

Pat here:

This is so important.  As I said in a previous post, one of the best 
ways for us to learn about each other is through discussing our 
ideas--and that includes all the ones that make some people run 
screaming from the room--religion and politics, especially.  But you 
are so right, that some are threatened by any disagreement with 
their own views.  (Not here, but on another forum, this was such an 
issue that all talk of religion and politics was banned--which makes 
any book discussions a bit boring and flat, to be honest.)

But it is crucial to remember that there is a real person on the 
other end of our own computers, whose views and culture might be 
drastically different.  Respect is so important--and sometimes we 
all hit upon a topic that requires that we take that run around the 
block, and perhaps just stay away from a topic altogether.

 
> So if I may lift this conversation to a meta-level, do we read the 
> books to be affirmed in our views, challenged in them, a mix, or 
> neither?
> 
> Amy Z
> 

Pat here:

Good question, Amy.  I, like many others I'm sure, started reading 
the books out of curiosity.  Why were they so hugely successful and 
why were there groups that wanted to ban them in the US before very 
many had had the opportunity to read them?  Banning books is my hot 
topic, so I went to the store and bought the first book. (Before I 
had finished reading it, I went back and bought the 2nd and 3rd 
books, and encouraged my teenage daughter to start reading them.) I 
wasn't looking for anything in particular, even through the first 3.

But what I have found with the 4th and 5th books is that they do 
affirm my views--or many of them.  That's still not my motivation to 
keep reading, though.  I'm thoroughly engrossed in the story and 
want to know where JKR is going to take it.  And I've decided that I 
won't be disappointed if it isn't "my" vision of what should 
happen.  Most of "my" theories didn't work out anyway, but there 
isn't anything I would change.  It just happens to be comfortable 
for me, that the moral directions of the books lines up with my own, 
at least so far.

The discussions of the books have actually made me do more soul-
searching than the books themselves, and that has to do with other 
people seeing things from their point of view that might be very 
different than my own.  I see that as a positive, even when talking 
to someone with whom I will never agree.  It's important to 
sometimes agree to disagree.  And I think that is one of the themes 
in the book--with Hermione wanting to free the House Elves.  Her 
intent is noble, but the others just don't see things her way--and 
might never agree with her.

I want to add a thank you to the Elves for allowing this kind of 
discussion--it's an opportunity for all of us to gain more insight 
into each other and into the books and their meaning.

Pat