Harsh Morality - Combined answers

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 121235


Carol wrote:
"But I think you may be underestimating other readers' ability to
detect and be wary of an unreliable narrator who shares the
perspective and prejudices of the POV character."

Del replies:
It's not so much their ability that bothers me, it's their *willingness*.

Carol wrote:
"We have to look beyond the narrator to the characters themselves, the
actions and words of the characters without the filter of Harry's
perspective and judge for ourselves."

Del replies:
I disagree. Simply put, we don't *have* to do anything. We *can* do
it, we can encourage other people (especially the younger readers) to
do it, but no reader has any obligation to do it. Readers are entitled
to stick to the "whoever Harry likes is OK, whoever he doesn't like is
bad" measure as much as they want. For that matter, they are even
entitled to have their own highly prejudiced, totally unfounded,
absolutely contrary to canon, preferences if they so wish. For
example, anyone is entitled to loving LV because they love the name
Tom, or to cheer on Draco because he has blond hair, or to hate Harry
because he wears glasses.

Readers have no obligation whatsoever, and many of them might not be
willing to, or might not see the point of, trying and looking at facts
and people from a more objective point of view. When all is said and
done, if the series once completed support the "whoever Harry likes is
good, whoever Harry dislikes is bad" morality, then any reader who
doesn't care about looking for something more elaborate won't have to.

Carol wrote:
"Remember Percy wading out into the water to hug Ron after the Second
Task in GoF? That, I think, was the real Percy, and I hope we'll see
him again."

Del replies:
I agree. But what if we never see that Percy again? We will still be
able to imagine that this Percy is still there somewhere, but that
won't be what the books say.

Carol wrote:
"I think we're meant to see the contrast between Harry's (and the
narrator's) perspective and "reality" as we, the readers, construct it
based on our reading."

Del replies:
I disagree that we are "meant" to see this contrast, and I'm not even
sure JKR hopes we do that. Do you remember her comments about Snape
and Draco being bad guys that girls shouldn't fall for just because
the actors playing them are cute? That's not a way to encourage people
to look at her characters from a different angle, IMO.

Carol wrote:
"I'm hoping that those two perspectives (the reader's and the
narrator's) will come closer together in the sixth and seventh books
as Harry starts to look more closely at other people's needs,
feelings, and values rather than always thinking about his own needs
and burdens."

Del replies:
I *hope* so too, but what if this never happens? This is what I'm
afraid of. Harry will still be a teenager by the end of Book 7, so it
is very possible that he won't truly start looking outside of himself
before the series is over, in which case all we will be left with will
be his side of the story. It's a real possibility, that would be
consistent with the books written so far IMO.

Carol wrote:
"And I also think we're meant to see certain characters, notably
Sirius Black and Severus Snape, as "gray" rather than "white" or
"black" (in the sense of Good and Evil)."

Del replies:
And yet OoP leaves us with a Harry who hates Snape more than ever and
a Sirius turned into a martyred saint because he fell for the cause.

Carol signed:
"Carol, heartily wishing she'd never brought up the question of
"innate goodness" as JKR perceives it"

Del replies:
Why not? It did give me a lot of satisfying answers to questions that
I had, distateful to me as those answers might be.

Del