CHAPDISC: HBP10, The House of Gaunt

[puduhepa98 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 149283

 Lealess:
> 8. <SNIP>Dumbledore trusts Harry to know right from wrong, based 
> on years of observation ? but observation alone did not work with 
> Tom Jr. It seems that Rowling is concluding, through Dumbledore, 
> that people are born with a "blood"-derived moral sense. Voldemort
> was descended from the debased Gaunts and the selfish Riddle Sr.; 
> they were bad, and he is therefore evil. Harry was descended from 
> Lily and James Potter; they were good, and Dumbledore can therefore 
> trust Harry to be good, even if Harry was raised without love. It 
> becomes pointless to teach moral lessons. All Dumbledore has to do 
> is sit back and observe how people show their moral character. Is 
> this, in fact, the assumption on which Dumbledore operates? <SNIP>

Alla:
>snip>
>> Harry does not even have to necessarily be born with it, maybe he 
got his "good nature" during the first year of his life, when he was 
loved and cherished by his parents. <snip>

And yes, Tom Riddle, who seems to be truly born evil. I could not 
come with the better example for this. <<


JKR has explained that she is writing as a Christian and that we 
can expect her story to reflect this world view, but JKR may be a 
Presbyterian or have been influenced by Calvanist thinking, which 
holds that we are born "saved" or "not saved" (salvation is 
predetermined) and there is nothing we can do about it.   In that 
case, the characters would reveal their essential nature through 
their acts. Just a thought.
 
Nikkalmati