Harry's Shadow (was:Re: Socks, Jung, and the Dark Lord)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 130261

>>Tonks:
<snip> 
>I am also beginning to wonder about Jung.  I am not a Jungian.  My 
training was more Freudian.  I wonder if one could make a case for 
LV being Harry shadow side?<
<snip>

Betsy Hp:
I'm not an expert on either discipline.  What I know I learned for 
the purpose of literary criticism, and that was a while ago.  I do 
recall that Jung had theories I liked (mainly because they tied so 
beautifully into universal myth ideas).  But as far as shadows go, I 
don't think Voldemort is Harry's shadow.  I think perhaps Tom Riddle 
played the role of shadow to Harry for a bit in CoS.  He was the 
evil opposite of Harry in so many ways.  But Harry faced and 
destroyed him at the end of CoS, so I don't think Tom is a factor 
anymore.

Honestly, I think Draco Malfoy is more Harry's shadow. He's the 
first peer wizard Harry meets.  He's the face of the house Harry 
almost joined, and therefore represents aspects of Harry that Harry 
would rather deny having - ambition, cunning, pride.  Harry uses 
Draco as his moral measuring stick.  When he's working through his 
feelings on Ron being made prefect instead of him Harry wonders if 
he's "as arrogant as Draco Malfoy".[OotP scholastic hardback p.166]

But Draco could also represent the strengths of Slytherin as listed 
by Dumbledore in CoS: resourcefulness, determination, independent 
thought (or a "certain disregard for the rules").  Not that Draco 
himself is a perfect representation of those strengths, but that for 
Harry to see the good in his own Slytherin side he'll need to 
acknowledge that there *is* good in Slytherin - or good in Draco. 
And so I wonder if Draco doesn't represent something Harry will need 
to embrace in order to become a man. 

In a sense, since Harry killed off the truly evil side of Slytherin 
(Tom Riddle) maybe he's now more open to harnessing the good side of 
Slytherin.  (Will Harry have to face and destroy the evil side of 
Gryffindor?  Who would represent that particular foe? Has Peter 
Pettigrew already played that part?)

I think Voldemort is more the evil father to Dumbledore's good 
father.  And Harry, as he grows into manhood is choosing which role-
model to follow.  Does he emulate Voldemort or Dumbledore?  In a 
sense Voldemort refused to embrace his Gryffindor side (the side of 
him that loved his mother, or didn't fear death?).  Whereas 
Dumbledore, by working so well with Phineas Nigellus, has embraced 
his Slytherin side.  It's possible for Harry to become either of 
those men and the coming of age factor of the books could be 
represented in Harry's struggle to become a good man.

I think the struggle between Snape and Sirius is also interesting, 
as it applies to Harry's development.  This may be more Freudian, 
because the mother and the father are involved.  But Snape seems to 
have been hurt by a bad father, and Sirius seems to have been hurt 
(and ulitimately killed - Bellatrix as Black matriarch) by a bad 
mother.  Harry may need to come to terms with both men's weaknesses 
to fully grow. (If Lupin is not ESE then he may represent someone 
who's come to terms with both mother and father and therefore 
someone who could help Harry in this aspect of his journey.)

I'm looking at this in a symbolic fashion, and I may not be making 
any sense, but it's stuff I've been kicking around in my mind. 
(Scary, huh?)

Betsy Hp, who's terribly afraid that none of this made any sense. 
<g>