Requiescat in Pace: Unforgivables

[urghiggi]

No: HPFGUIDX 174775

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Lee Kaiwen <leekaiwen at ...> wrote:
>
Lee said: 
> Sorry, but no amount of rationalization, or insistence that the 
> Cruciatus ain't what it clearly is and always has been, can save this 
> passage. And no, saying "we've all done bad things" DOESN'T excuse 
> Harry. At best it's a plea for mercy, not justice.
> 
> Lee Kaiwen, Taiwan, who does find this passage offending his Christian 
> sensibilities
>

Julie H adds:
What blows my mind about it in a way that the use of 'imperius' does not (maybe it should) 
is the unexamined use of Cruciatus by the hero of the books -- not his use of it per se in 
the situation (which might well be understandable) but the fact that there was never any 
self-examination about it. Also, that McGonagall appeared to be tacitly approving its use 
in this situation, which was not the heat of battle.

It would be a lot easier to buy JKR's "harry is merely flawed' explanation if Harry himself 
EVER even briefly acknowledged his own anger/arrogance issues. Alas, he's not that self-
reflective. (I'm not looking for saints or sermons. I'm only looking for a sentence or 2 
where the putative hero, whose sacrifices we're clearly supposed to honor, expresses even 
the slightest concern about his use of the tools of evil in the service of good, and the risk 
of turning into the thing one hates....) 

Am I the only one who finds the author's supposedly justified employment of this curse -- 
whose SOLE purpose is to inflict torture -- more than a little ironic in light of her long and 
generous connection with Amnesty International?

still shaking my head and sharing Lee's concerns .... and SO wishing I'd loved DH a lot 
more than I did....
Julie H, Chicago