ESE! JKR? Is it war?

[Patricia Hurley]

No: HPFGUIDX 154812

Ken Hutchinson <klhutch at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

I know what JKR and her characters say, but she has not sold me on
the notion that this is a war and I know I am not alone in this. The
DE are not an army, they hardly number 50 even counting those who
have gone missing. They have allies that swell their numbers somewhat
yet they are still hardly an army. They are a street gang. Maybe you
could consider them terrorists. <snip>

I'm not as familiar with the body count as many of you are but my
impression is that the DE are the only side that is slaughtering
their rivals. Aren't the order capturing DE's as often as they can
rather than killing them? Police capture thier opponents, soldiers
do not capture when they can avoid it. Soldiers would prefer to
seriously wound the opposing soldiers if possible, kill them if
they have to, and capture them as a last resort. <snip>

Another defining characteristic of a war is that military equipment
is used. What military equipment does the WW world have? The
closest thing I have seen so far is time turners and the less said
about them the better. Thank goodness they are gone. Like policeman
and gangsters this conflict is being waged with civilian equipment.
<snip>

JKR has said these books are about death. Any serious attempt
to consider death has to be limited to very few, preferably one,
death(s). When death is given to the reader wholesale it loses
its meaning. War cheapens death as much as it cheapens life.
Neither death nor life means much in a war. The death of
Harry's parents was a totally sufficient platform on which to
build a story about death. Because of Harry's partial responsibility
Sirius' death could have been added to the mix. All this additional
killing will just detract from the story, if its point is indeed
to consider death. <snip> It seems to me that the noise of all the
deaths that have happened and apparently will happen in the next book
will drown out the message JKR says is central to the story.


Patricia:
           The definition of war: A state of open, armed, often
prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties

  The American Heritage� Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition Copyright � 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

By this defintion JKR's conflicts in the HP series are a war. During
LV's previous onslaught it lasted many years, there was open, armed
combat. And the new war is beginning, though it may not be considered
war as of yet I do believe that she will make it an open, armed
conflict in the final book even if you don't consider the attack of a
school as falling under the open, armed combat category.

  As for using military equipment and not civilian weaponry, you
should consider any soldier who fought using only a gun or sword as
non-military and therefore not part of a war. This would also apply
to Native Americans who foolishly fought to save their land with bows
and arrows and tomahawks (civilian hunting equipment) in what they
thought (but were wrong) was a war. Also I can see the good that a
tank would do when you are presented with a man who can control your
mind and even possess your body. You're right, it makes much more
sense to launch a grenade at where he stands hoping he does not
apparate. This is a work of fantasy and being so it is much more
interesting to use magic and not missiles. This isn't a Clancy book.

  I can also see your point about how soldiers only want to maim and
not kill their enemies. This is highly evident in out current actions
over seas. But perhaps you have missed that the body count is indeed
very limited and not a single one of the Order or the DA has killed
anyone. It's only the opposing side that is doing the killing. This
may seem unlike a real war (what with the way that Al Qaedia was
trying just to maim american citizens with the terrorist attacks,
suicide bombings, and abducting and murdering foreign reporters.)

  And saying this book isn't about death seriously cheapens some of
the points JKR has struggled to present. She certainly stresses the
difference made by and the price of James and Lily's death. She
constantly mentions how different Harry's life would have been
without it and how it affects him. To say Sirius' death was cheapend
is preposterous. It drastically effected Harry and seems to have
really messed him up. And it is too early yet to see the effects of
DD's death, but I'm sure that it will be a driving force for Harry to
end once and for all the evil murdering. Even by seeing the death of
Madam Bones when she says that they didn't see Susan again shows the
affect of death even in war time. I think if anything, JKR has killed
off characters who were known very well by her audience and loved and
by doing this she shows that death is not cheapened by the quantity.
To the people who know, value, and love the dead each death is as
fresh, haunting, and heartwrenching as the one before. And we see
that through Harry.