Dumbledore's death (was JKR's site up-date - Rumours Section)

[deborahhbbrd]

No: HPFGUIDX 127420



<Lots of big snips>
 imamommy:
> 
> Whether DD will be proven physically immortal, as Tonks suggest, or 
> whether he will only live on in legacy and memory, is anyone's 
> guess.  I hope, for his sake, he gets to leave the confines of this 
> world and go on to a better place, but that's just me.

Deborah, now:

A better place in whose opinion? Moaning Myrtle's? Any random Muggle 
televangelist's?  I see no signs of DD experiencing any need or wish
to opt out of life, however long he's been living it. On the contrary,
he copes magificently with an extremely busy schedule, the parents,
the staff, the students, the population of the Forbidden Forest, the
portraits on his walls, the odd DE, LV past and present, the burden of
his secret knowledge etc, etc - the old dear is having a wonderful
time. And, as JKR informs us, humming cheerily to himself all the while!

This 'leaving this world for a better place' idea is, IMO, a prime
example of what I would not like the 'message' of the series to be,
assuming that it will prove to have one and one only incontestable
message. That this world is at some deep level unsatisfactory and not
worth the effort and that our focus should be elsewhere.
(Unfortunately this is the message of the Abrahamic religions in
general, and, though rather differently, of Hinduism. I find it
interesting how the Buddhist message is featured increasingly by
fantasy novelists eg Pullman, Le Guin. Seems a bit healthier!) What
are we telling our children to become - passive, dependent and lacking
initiative?

Anyway, as a (past) headmaster, DD will join his predecessors on the
walls and, within those confines, will continue to be part of
Hogwarts, albeit in another dimension. So, what's the problem?


Deborah, happy in the here and now (but will be happier in mid-July!)