Moral Simplicity - a New Perspective.

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 121310



Steve:

Guide to a Good and Moral Life-

1.) Do no Harm.
2.) Do some Good.

Is there really more to know than that?

As much as that might be a simple philosophy to aspire to, we are all
human, and sadly but surely will fall short of that goal, as will the
characters in the books.
I think JKR does make fine use of the Moral Grey Ground. Harry does
things that are wrong, but on the average, over the course of time, we
must ask how close his action come to successfully fulfilling the
rules of the 'Guide to a Good and Moral Life'. When it really counts,
Harry tried to keep others from harm, and even though he must break a
few rules, he most often acts for the greater good. 


Alla:

I agree with your Guide, Steve. :o)

Steve:

Snape is not nice, and certainly causes student emotional and
psychological harm, or at least, pain. But, since his redemption (ie:
truly joining Dumbledore or so we assume for now) have any of his
actions truly been evil? Has he acted with the willfull and spitefull
intent of causing harm? Not that I see. He's been really nasty, his
methods are definitly not very nice, but his broader objectives are
for the good (at least we assume so for now). 

Alla:

We don't know what his intentions are, do we? See, I firmly believe 
that words can hurt you very badly in RL and saying "words can kill" 
could be true in not only metaphorical matter, therefore I would not 
equal Snape's joining Dumbledore with his true redemption YET,but I 
suspect that JKR differs with me on that matter. :o)


Steve:

Percy is another grey character. I firmly believe that Percy is a good
guy, even if, like Snape, he is not always a nice or pleasant guy. In
addition, Percy is a good guy who, do to circumstances, made a bad
choice. I believe if the circumstances had been handled better by
Arthur, Percy would never have made the choice he did. So, let he
among you who is without mistakes cast the first electons. 
 
I think across the full arc of the books, we will see Percy's true
'good' nature. I think he will redeem himself from his mistake.
Although, I'm hoping for a method of redemption that is humorous for
us and embarassing for Percy. 


Alla:

Ummm. I do not necessarily cast Percy as evil yet. I think I am 
reserving my judgment. What I disagree with you on is that Percy 
would have never made that choice but for Arthur. I believe that 
since GoF we were shown VERY consistent pattern of Percy choosing 
what ministry believes in over what his family believes in. I cannot 
say that what Percy did was much of a surprise for me AT ALL. I 
honestly expected something to that effect to happen.

But there are also some things in GoF (as someone pointed out Percy 
being nervous about Ron, etc), which give me hope, so we will see 
about Percy. :o)


Just my opinion,

Alla