Choice and Essentialism/Understanding Snape)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 153985

Pippin:

> Yeah, I think you're on to something here. Rowling is 
> essentialist,but her position is that everyone is 
> essentially good, ie  that there is something uniquely 
> and infinitely valuable in everyone. That is what makes 
> murder the greatest evil: not because death itself terrible, 
> but because murder denies the existence of that essential, 
> irreplaceable good. So while no character is essentially 
> evil, even Voldemort, some are morally evil because they 
> deny the goodness of others. [snip the rest because I couldn't 
> edit it and do it justice]

houyhnhnm:

I agree with nearly everything you said except for the first clause in 
the second sentence.

In the Mugglenet/Leaky cauldron interview last July, Rowling said "... 
I think there's a line there between the moment in Chamber of Secrets 
when Dumbledore says so famously, "It's our choices that define us, 
not our abilities," straight through to Dumbledore sitting in his 
office, saying to Harry, "The prophecy is significant only because you 
and Voldemort choose to make it so. If you both chose to walk away, 
you could both live!"

She goes on to say, " It's the "Macbeth" idea. I absolutely adore 
"Macbeth." It is possibly my favorite Shakespeare play. And that's the 
question isn't it? If Macbeth hadn't met the witches, would he have 
killed Duncan? Would any of it have happened? Is it fated or did he 
make it happen? I believe he made it happen."

That is clearly an existentialist position. 

When asked about Dumbledore's admonishment that "If the time should 
come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is 
easy ...." in a 2000 interview with the _Toronto Sun_, Rowling said 
that the choice between what is right and what is easy was key for her 
"because that, that is how tyranny is started, with people being 
apathetic and taking the easy route and suddenly finding themselves in 
deep trouble."

I think this is pretty unequivocal.  Sometimes Rowling is coy or 
evasive in interviews, but I don't think she is being so here.  I 
think what she says is what she truly believes.  And notice how she 
paraphrased herself--"It's our choices that *define* us".  I think it 
is much more likely that in writing close to 900,000 words, she may 
have been have been guilty of selecting one imprecise word--"show" 
instead of "make", than that she really was making a statement that 
what we are is predetermined, only to be revealed by our choices.

I think what she is saying, both in the interviews and in the books, 
is that people may be born with a certain kind of nature, but they can 
choose to go against that nature when it is the right thing to do. 
That is, by nature a person may be happy or unhappy, resentful or 
forgiving, impulsive or deliberative, brave or timid.  For those who 
are forgiving by nature, to forgive may not take a very great effort.  
They can simply follow their nature.  But the same person who is 
naturally forgiving may also be naturally timid and may thus be thrust 
into a situation in which doing the right thing requires going against 
his or her nature.  Since no one is born with every perfection of 
character, everyone may expect to be faced with a choice which rquires 
going against one's own nature in order to do the right thing. Evil 
results when people refuse to make that choice and simply follow the 
path of least resistance.

Pippin:  

> Dumbledore seems to be an example of this -- he says that
> he never thought he would have someone like Harry in his life. It
> seems that it took him 150 years before he felt close to anyone.
> Between that and the awful contents of the green basin, I
> venture that he was once more like Tom Riddle than anyone 
> would imagine, Gryffindor or no.

houyhnhnm:

This I don't agree with. I didn't think Dumbledore was referring to 
his *personal* relationship with Harry (although I do think he has an 
affection for Harry which is personal)  I interpreted it to mean that 
DD never dreamed he would have a young student of Harry's caliber to 
guide and help mold, not that he had never had anyone like Harry "in 
his life".