Harry IS Snape.

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 141353

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Kathryn Jones <kjones at t...> wrote:

<massive snip>

> The enormous contrast between Snape and Harry is Harry's inability to 
> sacrifice anyone for the good of the cause. Harry already refused to 
> allow the death of Peter Pettigrew, who became the one responsible 
> for the return of Voldemort. This might make Harry "good" and a hero 
> in the eyes of many, but his decision was obviously the wrong one in 
> lives cost as a result.

How do you reconcile that Realpolitiker reading with the Dumbledore-
stated (and thus probably authorially sanctioned) moral grounds on 
which Harry spared Peter's life?  Dumbledore says, pretty flat out, 
that it was The Right Thing To Do, regardless of the outcome in later 
books.  In a sense, killing Pettigrew is the *easy* thing to do--
gratifying the vengeance-instinct and all of that--while letting him 
live and remain an agent in play on the field is the hard, yet morally 
correct, thing to do.

I don't see JKR going towards this 'ends justify the means' philosophy 
at all.  Far too Slytherin, whose values may be occasionally 
appreciated but are certainly not glorified.  That's not to say that 
there are not difficult choices and decisions to make about ends and 
means, but the emphases Rowling seems interested in are rather Stoic.  
One has responsibility for one's own actions/volition, but you can't 
control what other people do, even as a partial result of them.  [This, 
for instance, is why in my estimation, Fred and George are not omg 
ebil!: what wrongs they've abetted in HBP were not rooted in a volition 
to do so.  But that's a tangent.]

Many a poster, in the past, has tried to read HP as akin to John 
LeCarre, with the same ethical morasses and similar solutions.  I have 
to admit that I don't quite see it, but I do see a generally positive 
outcome for Harry's moral instinct in this situation.  It's not real 
life, but since when has fiction ever been?

-Nora dries her shoes out from yesterday's deluge