Levels and contradictions in JKR's writing - Twisted Irony

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 138530

Steve:
> You must see the twisted irony in that. If Tom had not killed his
> parents, if he had live his life to the best of his abilities, he
> could have had everything he wanted plus been admired by the entire
> wizard world. Now, having chosen his dark and dangerous path of
> force, power, and destruction, he has doomed his self to an endless
> futile struggle to try and hold together a world of oppressive
> domination and force tenuous allegiances. 
> 
> "Tyranny is the architect of its own doom."

Jen: I'm cutting to the heart of your post here, because this quote 
says it all (and I agreed with most everything else you said).

I personally think JKR is on shaky ground psychologically, that 
Riddle was ever in a position to make the most of his inherent 
abilities and skills. There were so many strikes against Tom from 
the start. *However* given the context of the story and the choice 
theme, we have to believe Riddle was given the opportunity to change 
when he went to Hogwarts, and he continued to see the power of dark 
magic over Dumbledore's assertions that love is more powerful. If 
nothing else, Riddle had the chance to notice other kinds of magic 
and have role models who weren't using magic to hurt others. He 
didn't get sent to Durmstrang, after all!

So, Riddle/Voldemort chose his path and found out the truth of 
tyranny, that getting in power and staying in power are two 
different things. Desperation and fear undermine most any operation 
and the prophecy set in motion his greatest fear--for the first time 
a truly able opponent is presented. We know the rest ;). 

But back to the heart of your post, that Voldemort is set up to 
defeat himself. I really believe this is the most logical end to the 
plot we have so far. Harry has defied LV over and over, more times 
than anyone else, with no overt magical power or skills beyond that 
of many wizards we've seen. Harry cannot defeat Voldemort's magical 
abilities, something both he and Harry continue to overlook. Harry 
doesn't quite believe the power of love can defeat LV or he'd lay 
off the dark magic, and Voldemort, in his attempts to kill Harry, 
seems only to be strengthening Harry's protection and laying a trap 
for himself. In the end love WILL win out, because Voldemort made it 
so (another example of twisted irony). Harry just needs to be in the 
right place at the right time, which seems to be his *own* gift, not 
a result of Lily's sacrifice or Voldemort's power transfer or 
anything else. He asks for help, and help is given. 

> Jen wrote: 
> "Tom never had the chance to live the life of a Hermione or a Ron,
> but he actively worked against his base nature of goodness and
> *chose* to obliterate his soul, even after the opportunity
> presented itself to become a  different kind of person when he
> discovered he was a wizard."
 
> Del replies:
> I disagree on two points.
> 
> 1) I'm not sure Tom had any "base nature of goodness". We know
> that he never loved. I wonder how a soul that doesn't *know* love
> can be called good in any way. I'm not saying that he was evil to
> start with, but I do think that he was *not* good. He was neutral,
> in a way. And I don't know if he could *ever* have been good,
> truly good, good deep inside. He could have *acted* good, but 
> could he have *been* good, without knowing love, compassion,
> empathy? 

Jen: As a social worker in RL, I tend to personally agree with your 
assessment. But like I said to Steve's comment, I was trying to put 
the puzzle pieces together in the context of what JKR's intent seems 
to be: Riddle was not born evil, we don't have a context for a 
neutral category, the choice theme is at the core of the book; 
therefore, the logical syllogism is Riddle had a choice<g>. 

Del: 
> 2) You say that his entering the WW was some kind of chance to
> change his life. But I don't think Tom saw things that way *at
> all*. The very concept of changing one's life depends entirely on
> someone realising that there has been something wrong with the way
> they've lived their life up to now. As far as Tom was concerned,
> the things that were wrong in his life were the world he was
> living in, the people he was forced to live around, but it was
> definitely *not* himself. He was special, he was better, it's the
> others that were wrong.

Jen: I doubt he did see it that way. By the time DD got to him, it 
may have been too late for any real change. Yet he's a main 
character in a story chock-full of redemption, with characters 
evaluating and changing their strategies in response to new 
information. JKR implies through Dumbledore's words that Hogwarts 
can be a chance to learn something new about magic: "At 
Hogwarts...we teach you not only to use magic but to control it. You 
have--inadvertently, I am sure--been using your powers in a way that 
is neither taught not tolerated at our school." (chap. 13, p. 273, 
US).

So Riddle is exposed to a different kind of magic at Hogwarts, the 
kind Dumbledore professes to be more important and powerful than 
dark magic. Maybe DD hoped the idea of a powerful magic might catch 
Tom's attention. But Riddle doesn't learn what's offered at 
Hogwarts, instead he searches out the COS and dark magic banned from 
the school. 

I think this works in the context of the canon we've been given, 
although from JKR's comment that Snape is more culpable than 
Voldemort because he was loved, it's possible she is backing off the 
idea Riddle was offered the same choices as Harry or anyone else. 

Jen