Jo's OWN Words about Political and Religious Overtones in...

[Dennis Grant]

No: HPFGUIDX 174053


> anigrrrl2:
> She  didn't keep her spiritual stuff secret because Harry was a
symbol > for Jesus -  

Y'know, I just don't buy this.

There's a major difference between the Christian sacrifice and Harry's
sacrifice - Harry has no real choice in the matter.

Jesus, in the garden the night prior to being crucified, has a choice:
he can go through with the plan; suffer and die. Or he can walk away -
Pilate keeps giving him opportunities to do so almost right up to the
very end. Or he can utilize his Godhood, work some miracles, conjure
up a little pillar of fire and smoke action, and save himself.

And there's no real downside - if he walks, he walks. Lives out his
life building furniture someplace. OK, so Original Sin isn't redeemed,
but what's that to Him, really?

His choice is a painful, horrible death in the service of others, or a
quiet and peaceful lifetime. He has an out, if he wants to take it.

Harry has no out. As long as he lives, he bears that little bit of
Voldy's soul with him as a de facto Horacrux, and Voldy cannot die.
Defeated, yes, but he'll be back again and again and again until Harry
finally accepts the inevitable and allows himself to be killed, or
until Voldy finally figures out what is really going on and figures
out some way to counter it.

So Harry has no real choice to make, save accepting the inevitable.
It's a mechanical sacrifice, not a spiritual one. Harry's sacrifice
redeems no-one; it is a means to an end. Indeed, it is an act of
finality that precludes Voldy's redemption - once that sacrifice is
made, Voldy is irredeemable. 

The much ballyhooed "twinkle of triumph in Dumbledore's eye" is the
realization on DD's part that Harry may actually survive his mission,
which up until that point, was purely a suicide mission - and Harry is
innocent of that fact. MUST be innocent of that fact, if Voldy is to
make the ultimate mistake that results in his final defeat.

Harry's sacrifice isn't Christlike at all. Instead, it is the
resolution of a soldier to do his duty no matter what the personal
cost, even the ultimate one. In a way, Harry has been manipulated and
forged into the ultimate anti-Voldy weapon by DD, and at the end,
Harry both realizes this and embraces it.

DG