The Message of DH - Moral Superiority

[nitalynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 174706

bboyminn wrote:

<snip>
> And to further make the point that Harry's morality is
> in his actions, all of his actions, not a single
> isolated event. 

Nita:

But don't "all of his actions" consist entirely of single events? Or
if not, how do we decide which events to ignore? What if I think that
his self-sacrifice was atypical (say, he was still shocked and numb
after the LOLLIPOPS revelation), and so we shouldn't take in into
account? 


> Extending that even further, morality
> is in his action, NOT in moralizing and sermonizing
> and preaching to the choir. 


I think the author should know which actions are moral and which
aren't in her universe, and in a Good vs Evil story, there should be
some hint of that in the text, and NOT in the form of lectures. After
all, she can do whatever she wants with the laws and nature (magic),
the principle of cause and effect depends entirely on her will. She's
in no way limited to sermonizing.


> I think the moral courage Harry displays would have 
> been greatly diluted if the books had stopped every
> 20 pages while the narrator breaks the flow to give
> a long moralizing sermon on right and wrong. It
> is the very fact that such sermons do NOT exits that
> makes Harry Potter such an effective morality tale. 


Luckily, no one here suggests that the book needed more long
moralizing sermons. Unfortunately, some of us believe that the moral
courage Harry&Co display is greatly diluted by the author's
inconsistent attitude to certain actions.

 
> We learn by the example of a flawed but basically good
> courageous boy who will not tolerate the forces of
> evil winning, and is determined to beat them regardless
> of the personal cost. 


Do we? I wouldn't want my little brother to learn too much from Harry,
actually. And if I did want him to grow up that way, a few cheap
action movies can provide the same example more effectively, without
contradicting themselves.


> Once again, I point out the Revelation is a far better
> teacher than Explanation. A deep and real understanding
> of a character, and by extension of yourself, is a far 
> far better teacher than long droning boring lectures on
> moral perfection.
<snip>


Very well said. I couldn't agree more. Too bad Harry himself never
achieved a deep and real understanding of anyone, and in the end, he
didn't seem deep or real enough for me to take any pleasure in
understanding him.


Nita, who prefers consequences to lectures, but would settle even for
lectures if they preserved some moral consistency