Transcendant Wisdom?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 128463

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tonks" <tonks_op at y...> wrote:

> 
> Annemehr:
> Here's one example ... World Book Day chat of March '04):
> 
> Majeed ... - Bristol: "To what extent did you conceive Harry Potter 
> as a moral tale?"
> ****SCHOOLS COMPETITION WINNER****
> JK Rowling replies -> "I did not conceive it as a moral tale, the
> morality sprang naturally out of the story, a subtle but important
> difference. ..."
> 
> 
> From the Diane Rehm Show of Dec. '99 ...
> 
> "[Literature is] a fabulous way to explore those things. ... I'm not
> driven by the need to "teach" children anything, although those 
> things do come up naturally in the stories, which I think is quite 
> moral. ... But I do think, that to pretend to children that life is 
> sanitized and easy, when they already know - ... - that life can be 
> very difficult. ... Harry is a human boy, he makes mistakes, ... And
> to see a fictional character dealing with those sort of things, I 
> think can be very very helpful."
> 
> 
> For the record, I think of Jo as a wonderful teacher, ...
> 
> Annemehr

bboyminn:

I'm reminded of the old axiom that the lessons we learn best in life
are the lessons we teach ourselves.

Your mother says 'don't touch the stove, you'll burn yourself', so
what do we do, we touch the stove, and we teach ourselves that
absolute and sure lesson that a thousand warning from Mom failed to
teach us.

In literature, the author who simply tells the story, and lets the
reader make of it what they will, is the type of author the lets us
discover the moral of the story on our own. To quote another axiom,
revalation is a far greater teacher than explanation. When kids see
Harry stuggle and make mistakes, they see real life, they see the
decisions they themselves struggle with every day. Then they see Harry
in the most critical and important points make decisions that are
difficult and dangerous, but they see him put others above himself,
and without the author having to say so, they have a revelation,
without being told, they determine on their own, what is right and
what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. That is a lifetime's
worth of knowledge gained in an instant.

I think we allow kids to become so isolated and pampered that we never
give them a chance to have moral revelations as an on-going experience
in their life. Consequently, when the time comes, they are far more
prone to making impulsive self-serving decisions that get them in
trouble, and sadly sometime have dark and deadly consequences. 

Any author that is trying to force a moral perspective, or 'preach' to
the readers, with a few exceptions, is very likely to create a very
hollow reading experience, an experience that while it explains it
lessons well, will generate virtually no revalations.

In a sense, like many great authors and teachers before her, JKR is
telling the universal tale, the hero's journey, and each of us will
take from that whatever univeral wisdom servers us.

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn