Harsh Morality

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 121064


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nrenka" 
<nrenka at y...> wrote:
<snip>
> Do we want to consider courage to be a form of love, as it's the 
 virtue that JKR has said she values most highly?  It does seem 
to  also be a great one throughout the Potterverse: courage to 
fight the  basilisk, courage of some sort to turn away from 
Voldemort, courage  to join the Order, courage to defy your family 
and become the black  sheep?<

Pippin:
I don't think Dumbledore left us much choice. He said  what 
saved Harry was his "heart" --a word which means both love and 
courage. Though as feelings they are separate, as virtue they are 
united in the Potterverse, neither worthy of the name without the 
other.  Courage without love is mere bravado, pointless and 
dangerous. Love without courage is mere sentiment--Fudge is a 
good example, ESE!Lupin may prove to be a better one.   And 
without courage, the Christian directive to love your enemies can 
hardly be carried out.

Nora:
>  It is definitely not a moral positive, in the Potterverse, 
to be feared--I think fairly categorically, really.  Maybe Snape 
 will figure that out, sooner or later...
> 

Pippin:
Dumbledore is feared by Voldemort.  What Snape has to figure 
out, IMO, is that Harry has true courage, not bravado. The 
bravado is all he sees, and he despises it, as well he  should. I 
don't want to be too soft on Snape, but before we castigate him 
for despising a child, how many of us are lucky that Draco is 
fictional?

What Snape sees in Harry, IMO, is what we are shown in Draco: 
an arrogant, rich spoiled brat who doesn't deserve his popularity, 
is indulged far too much by certain adults, breaks rules 
whenever he feels like it, and utterly idolizes his hideous father, 
whose true nature is not at all what everyone thinks.

You could argue that Snape ought to perceive what Harry (and 
James)  were really like, but how, if JKR is as good at hiding 
things from him as she is from us?

Pippin