Cruel, Mean, and Nasty - Is this the way of the WW?

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 158788

> Tesha wrote:
>
>  The one thing that struck me - from the first chapter of the first
> book - is that life as we read it here is darned unfair. And I see
> others agree in this forum where rants go on about Harry, DD, the
> Dursleys and Sirius. Parents get blown away, babies get left on
> doorsteps, folks get sent to Azkaban at the blink of an eye - no one
> is safe, no one is protected. There just seems to be a different
> mindset in the WW. 
> 
>    My questions is--- While we analyze the story, should we try to set
> aside out our experiences and prejudices to fully enjoy the story, or
> is feeling the injustice personally an important part of JKR's stories?
> 
> btw: I think DD is great, tho' flawed and imperfect like all of us,
> still pretty terrific.
> 

Ken:

I really don't see any difference between the Potterverse and real
life in this regard. For those of us who live in modern, prosperous
democracies and have even a modest level of personal prosperity then
sure, life in the Potterverse is far removed from our daily
experience. Step into the shoes of the poorest members of those same
societies and the Potterverse is not so different. Live the life of
the average person in the developing world and you get the same
answer. Historically speaking life in the Potterverse is probably
better than that many of our forebears had to endure. Life is not as
easy as those of us near the top of the pyramid imagine. Human beings
are not as nice as we like to think. Our species is red in tooth and
claw too, we just had to augment our teeth and manufacture claws.

I see these stories as partly a warning for the legions of relatively
pampered children that prosperous countries produce. It is important
that children understand that humans have a great capacity for evil as
well as for good. It is important that children understand that humans
don't even agree completely on what is evil and what is good. As they
mature children have to step into adult roles, make adult decisions,
and face adult risks as we see Harry doing. Children need to be
prepared for this even if the most dangerous thing they ever have to
do as adults is to sift though the blather of competing political
parties and make wise decisions as voters. In a democracy that is one
of the most important things anyone can aspire to do. Anyone who hopes
by their voting to help create a better world has to truly understand
how the world is and how short a step it is from where we hope to be
to where we were, and often still are. And we know that the personal
danger you face on the streets of many cities around the world at
night is far more serious and immediate than the consequences of
making a poor decision in a voting booth. Your life can change in
moments if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, fiction is
not stranger than truth. We should not deceive ourselves or our
children about this.

I don't quite understand the dumping on Dumbledore and the other white
hats in these novels. The black hats and gray hats are so bad that if
you demonize the white hats what are you left with? Why bother to read
this tripe if that is how you think of the best people in the
Potterverse? I see Dumbledore as similar to Abraham Lincoln. He has a
great mind and he does act on his convictions. He does not seem to act
as quickly and decisively as events seem to demand but then Abe was
not always able to do the things that he wanted to do, when he wanted
to do them, or as he wanted to do them either. Neither man is perfect.
Neither man is a demon. Both men refused to flinch in the face of
personal danger. Both were assassinated for that matter. We know Abe's
story about as much as we will ever know it. Dumbledore's story is not
even finished yet, how can we condemn him *now*? It is really hard to
find a finer example of a human being that Abraham Lincoln, flaws and
all. Can we be sure we won't say the same about Albus Dumbledore when
the story is complete?

I've recently read Simon Schama's _Rough Crossings_, a discussion of
the fate of the American slaves who crossed the lines to serve the
British during the Revolution in return for their freedom and the
beginnings of the British anti-slavery movement. In that book you see
the stark, tragic contrast between the high ideals of America's
founding fathers and their failure to extend it to their slaves, or
even to their wives and daughters for that matter. I guess I see the
white hats of Dumbledore's generation and those up to Harry's as the
same sort of people. They have the ideals, they may not have been able
to bring them to their logical conclusion but they at least have them.
Like Lincoln they are constrained by a bitter, deadly conflict in what
they can do with them too, we are not seeing them in a context where
they might be able to transcend their flaws. That is the hand that
events have dealt them. Harry's generation has the capacity to sail
that ship to port, and they may be in a position to do that when
Voldemort is finally vanquished. I hope we see that yet I doubt that
Rowling is setting that course.

So yeah, I agree that Dumbledore is a great man based on the evidence
we have so far. He is a Theodore Roosevelt sort of man too. He has put
his ideas as well as his person into the ring. He has risked failure
and ridicule to advance his cause. He has been knocked to the ground
and has risen again to keep fighting. Win or lose there will be no
shame attached to Dumbledore's name. He did when others merely stood
by and watched and hoped. If there is any hope for a kinder, gentler
Potterverse that hope stems from its Albus Dumbledores, imperfect
though they be.

Ken