Your greatest fear . . .

[Dan Feeney]

No: HPFGUIDX 121275


Luckdragon:
> My greatest fear at the end of the series is that Harry will wake 
> up one day, look in the mirror, and seeing no scar on his forehead 
> will realize it was all a dream.

Boolean:
> My greatest fear is that, after years of waiting, speculating and 
> excited anticipation, I will finally get to the end of Book 7 and 
> know the answers to all the questions I have and 
> be.......disappointed.

Dan:
The system I find in the books, with my unpopular reading, is one of 
mirroring. Characters from different generations reflect in each 
other in fundamental ways, such that, in the back of our heads, we 
are seeing parallelism between MWPP and the trio (sextet, now), for 
example, and also, a kind of parallelism between certain elements of 
the magical world and the muggle world. (I've noted before the way 
the magical world reflects our own world more closely than Rowling's 
muggle one.) However, the true core of the books, ethically, seems 
centred on the idea of deceit. (Probably why it doesn't surprise me 
there are so many quasi-paranoid theories here on the list and 
elsewhere. Anyone could be hiding something of great import, that 
would change our view of what we've already read, etc.)

The idea of "inhabitation" or possession by external will, is a 
recurring theme, recurring plot: Quirrel, Ginny by the diary of Tom 
Riddle, Lupin as werewolf, Fake!Moody, Lord Voldemort using 
legilimency against Harry etc. There are ongoing deceptions as well - 
particularly exemplified by Dumbledore's "reticence."  What that 
creates is the circumstance where decisions might be made in "good" 
but be enveloped wholly by "evil," or vice versa.

What is this deceit? Why is it in every book?

Lack of true omniscience in JK Rowling's books strikes me as a kind 
of abhorance of moral procedure. It won't get you where you need to 
go, she seems to be saying. There is something else motivating and 
directing, or rather, urging. Other times I am reminded of my 
friend, who was moaning about her time in art school - it often, to 
her, seemed like standing in an empty warehouse, shouting into the 
emptiness. Is there something in the books that will stand like a 
band of pure white light inside, guiding us truly home, some soul 
signpost on the journey? The essential question being asked on the 
list seems to be "JKR, what are you saying (about the characters, 
about us)?" Is it projection? Do we wish to measure ourselves against 
her ethical stance? And, measuring ourselves against her ethical 
stance, will we judge her according to where we see ourselves in that 
system? Does the sense that Rowling lives in ambiguity strike a 
deeper chord with us than any formally structured cosmology?

It is not impossible that the entire series is a kind of spell, in 
fact, or, more accurately, a kind of enactment of liberation, almost 
solely wrought in the mind of an imprisoned boy. In this way, Hans 
and his intepretations and reflections is close to the mark, though 
he uses a particular, peculiar language to express it. I have posted 
on this many times. To read the series this way is an art, yes, and 
not casually similar to my friend's art school plaints. And yet, 
reading the series this way, I feel no immense dread/apprehension 
about "ending."

My greatest fear, then, goes something like my greatest joy. That the 
series will end less tightly then some hope, and that my reading, 
allowed to continue, will gain almost no converts, and I alone, or 
with a few others, will see the ethical immensity of Rowling's 
project, how it has entranced so many, who examine the minutest 
things, but leave the "soul" question aside, as if it were 
extraneous, something inessential, or too "open to interpretation" to 
be worth discussing.

Cause for me, Rowling is as clear as day, with all her ambiguities. 
It is, in a large part, a cautionary tale. Maybe the end of dialogue 
and ethical questioning, the rise of "moral codes" is part of what is 
being flagged....

Dan