[HPforGrownups] I don't get it WAS Re: Death in the Wizarding World

[Katherine Coble]

No: HPFGUIDX 129846


On Jun 1, 2005, at 10:29 AM, Tonks wrote:

> <much good backstory that I enjoyed snipped...>

>  Maybe this is why LV isn't
>  painted by the author to be as evil to us as some of the others such
>  as Bella, or Umbridge. Or maybe it is just the bleeding heart
>  liberal in me.  I hate Umbridge, but still have hope for Tom.
>
>

K:

Forgive me for not hunting down and pasting in the other posts to which 
I allude, but they were so numerous I thought I'd serve this as my 
jumping-off point.

I don't understand why there seem to be so many people so hopeful to 
see the "bad" guys--ie. Snape, Malfoy, even fargin' LV--as Potentially 
Good, while there seem to be at the same time many people advancing the 
idea that "good guys" (ie. Lupin, Ron, Dumbledore) are really on the 
verge of turning into some flesh-eating bacteria.

I get the whole concept of moral ambiguity, and I get the concepts of 
fluidity of character.  As a Christian I definitely believe in the 
concept of redemption for any individual, regardless of their past 
actions or fallen nature.

That being said:

1.  I don't think the HP books are expressly Christian in nature.   
Moral, yes.  Christian, no.   Allegorical, in part.  Ethical, very much 
so.

2.  I think that JKR intends for us to be fairly sure of the dichotomy 
of parties in the WW.  There are good things and bad things.   There is 
some waffling to be sure (Sirius' origins vs. his outcome, the 
Marauders' indiscretions, HRH's numerous rule breaking sprees) but I 
think she is very clear on the nature of Malum Prohibitum (bad because 
it breaks a rule or law) versus Malum in se (Bad because the thing 
itself is bad)

Malum Prohibitum--Harry and Ron flying the car to Hogwarts
Malum in Se--Voldermort murdering hundreds of people

MP--90% of what Fred and George do in any given story
MiS--Barty and the LeStranges torturing the Longbottoms into insanity

I'm confused because while we often see the baddies engaging in MP 
behaviour (think Malfoy and the buttons or the being out of bed late at 
night to catch the goings on with the Dragon), we never see the goodies 
engaging in MiS behaviour.   We've never seen Hagrid murder anyone; 
we've never   known of Lupin to be torturing his DADA class members.

JKR does give us several examples of wizards who fell on the wrong side 
out of misguidance but their actions are not MiS.  The best example I 
can think of is Ludo Bagman.   He was accused as a DE, but his actions 
were those of passing information and doing so misguidedly.   These can 
be argued as MP or MiS, but I would place them as MP.

All of this is to say that I really empathize with all who want to hope 
to see the redemption of certain characters, but as far as this work of 
literature goes I don't think we'll see it.  I think that the various 
rainbow of baddies serves to show the stages of rot within the WW that 
are born of its exclusionary principles.     While the WW as a whole 
will be redeemed through unification and elimination of class 
disctinction, I think that the various characters who embody the 
elements of class disctinction will not see the light.

Lastly, as far as LV goes, I don't see how you can say he's not painted 
as badly as other characters.   He looks like a snake, he subsists off 
of snake venom, he advocates the murder of anyone that crosses his 
path, he drives others to committ crimes--even going so far as to 
possess an 11 year old girl.   He is so wicked that fully 99% of the WW 
is afraid to even mention his name.   I'd think the boat has sailed on 
this guy.   Besides which, the means don't justify the end.


Respectfully,
Katherine


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