The importance of death /Harry and Cedric

[susanbones2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 147358

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "susanbones2003" <rkdas at c...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "susanbones2003" 
<rkdas at c...> 
> wrote:
> >
> > Karen wrote:
> > > > How many times have we seen a child wiping 
> > > > > their face on their sleeve at a hurt? It's outstanding and 
> if 
> > you 
> > > > don't 
> > > > > see Harry as deeply grieving then I think maybe you are 
> > missing 
> > > > these 
> > > > > small types of gestures in OoTP and in HBP.
> > > 
> > > Geoff:
> > > I also find this very moving being a male who grew up in 
> the "boys 
> > > don't cry" era. I can remember a little over twenty years ago 
> when 
> > my 
> > > mother died having to confide six months later in a close 
friend 
> > that 
> > > I was worried because I didn't feel that I had grieved for her.
> > > 
> > > But the piece of writing which always gets to me on this issue 
> is:
> > > 
> > > 'The thing against which he had been fighting on and off ever 
> > since 
> > > he had come out of the maze was threatening to overpower him. 
He 
> > > could feel a burning, prickling feeling in the inner corners 
of 
> > his 
> > > eyes. He blinked and stared up at the ceiling.
> > > "It wasn't your fault, Harry," Mrs.Weasley whispered.
> > > "I told him to take the Cup with me," said Harry.
> > > Now the burning feeling was in his throat, too. He wished Ron 
> > would 
> > > look away.
> snipped
> 
> > > (GOF "The Parting of the Ways" pp.619-620 UK edition)
> > > 
> > > That I know how true can be - fighting to avoid crying and 
> keeping a stiff upper lip.
> >
> Jen here: 
> > You know what I also find really cool in JKR's writing? That 
she's 
> > demonstrated Harry growing up but in such small ways that like 
our 
> > own children, we have hardly noticed. Remember at the end of 
SS/PS 
> > when DD explained Lil.y's sacrifice to Harry. And Harry's 
> reaction? Again she treats it in a sort of an offhand way.
> >  
> > "Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the 
> > windowsill, which gave Harry time to dry his eyes on the sheet."
> > p.299 SS Scholastic Books ed.
> > 
> > In this book, Harry is younger and tears aren't yet a shameful 
> thing 
> > but still JKR mentions reactions (as in wiping his face on his 
> sleeve  
> > in OOP) but not the actual tears. It's a kind and gracious way 
of 
> > letting a person have his moment without making it an end in 
> itself. 
> > That distance is there, that Karen spoke of, but still the 
> aloneness of Harry in these moments, it just heightens the desire 
to 
> make human contact. I think that's one way JKR has made Harry a 
very 
> irresistable hero. She never lets us get too close in a 
manipulative 
> way. Even Harry has a right to his own moments.
> Jen D.
 
> > >
> >
>