Fairy tale v real life Was: Re: Innocent Alby?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 123022


SSSusan
> But, you're right, Renee.  If we've made that shift, what do we do 
> with characters who still seem to be sort of caricatures or 
symbolic,  rather than real?  
>  
> I'd never thought of DD in this way, but I think you're right.  We 
> saw his "breakdown" moment at the end of OotP, when we 
confessed to  old man failings.  And, since JKR called him the 
epitome of goodness,  we assume we're supposed to feel bad 
for him, forgive him, and move  on, still trusting & believing in 
him.  Clearly, not all readers are  interested in doing that and 
prefer to analyze him a bit more harshly  in the light of the RW.  
>  
<snip>
> Alla:

> Susan made a wonderful point - in more realistic setting, what 
 exactly we supposed to think  about the characters which still 
look  like caricatures? As you stated - some of the readers ( I am 
of  course speaking for myself) don't feel like  forgiving 
BECAUSE JKR  thinks of him like " epithome of goodness", 
because in my mind he did  not act like one.

Pippin:

I think the goodness remark is being taken out of context. 
Summarizing, JKR was asked whether the good characters 
were boring. She replied that she didn't think Dumbledore was 
boring and he was the epitome of goodness.

http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/0700-hottype-solo
mon.htm

I don't think she was claiming that he was the best example of 
goodness for all time, but simply the best example in the books 
of a good person, one who consciously tries to do the right thing 
and succeeds most of the time.

Then there is the additional problem that what JKR regards as 
the right thing may not be the same as what some readers think 
is good. JKR and Dumbledore, for instance, seem to hold that a 
certain amount of pain and distress is good for people, in the 
sense that they will not develop normally without it,  and the lack 
of it may do as much harm as too much.

I love the way Harry is making the transition from magical, 
fairytale thinking to a more realistic view of the world. I think
it's very realistic that  he has not made that transition completely. 
Some of the people he knows, he still thinks of in a childish 
black-and-white way, while he has come to a more grownup 
view of others.

Pippin