Redemption, Child Abuse, and Literary Taste

[Bruce Alan Wilson]

No: HPFGUIDX 147555

Lupinlore:
"And what's so great about that?  Seriously, I've never understood the whole
"Harry must stand on his own," thing.  It seems a slavish service to the
hackneyed Hero's Journey.  I do understand it better, however, now that JKR has
discussed her death neurosis.  She is attempting, through Harry, to grapple with
something she finds terribly important and frightening.   Unfortunately, to
those of us who don't share her neurosis and are tired of constant harping on
the Hero's Journey, the deaths of Dumbledore and Sirius were pointless and
annoying."

Hey, if you don't like HP, that's fine; not everyone can like everything.  But
why spend so much time and energy on reading, discussing, and analyzing a body
of literature that you obviously dislike?  Why not concentrate your energies on
something that you do like?  There are other books in the world, you know.

Lupinlore:
"Absolutely I foist my moral expectations on JKR and I make no apology for that
whatsoever.  I fight tooth and nail for what I am firmly convinced is morally
correct and I expect others to do likewise, and to give as good as they get.
And absolutely I hold that if Snipe is not punished for his child abuse that JKR
will have reprehensibly failed, and I think that is a perfectly fair judgment,
which, as you say, will not bother her in the least.  And you are quite right
that I am a very pompous individual, for which once again I make absolutely no
apology whatsoever, nor am I going to change."

Your moral values are that--YOURS.  To expect that everyone else--especially
JKR, whose background, upbringing, and culture are all very different (I'd
imagine) from your own--is ludicrous.

And how is Snipe a child abuser?  He is harsh, unfair, and mean, but those do
not rise to child abuse.  I've seen real child abuse.  Snipe is nowhere in that
league.  And, for all his harshness, unfairness, and meanness, he is a good
teacher--his students LEARN THE MATERIAL.  It is not necessary to be cuddly to
be a good teacher, and in a subject like Potions where a mistake might get one
killed, a harsh, unforgiving teacher may well be better than a sweet
understanding one.

Michelle:
"LV is unredeemable.  There is nothing he could do to make up for all the damage
he has caused, there just isn't.  Besides, throughout this series JKR has
multiple times reminded us that he cares for no one, he has no friends and no
desire to have friends.  IMO he is without 
humanity and therefore unredeemable."

JKR has stated that she is a Christian and that anyone who knows this should be
able to figure out the ending.  Christianity is all about redemption.  A central
teaching of the religion is that God became human in the person of Jesus Christ
who gave his life not for good, righteous people, but for the worst sinners.  He
came to seek and save the lost, the sinful, the broken, the unloved.  And who is
more of all those things than Tom Riddle?

BAW








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