Aberforth

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 174928

Before I get to Aberforth I wanted to address this:

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Irene Mikhlin 
<irene_mikhlin at ...> wrote:
> Which brings me back to my Hagrid rant. He really should have died 
twice in that book. First, during the Seven Potters chase, where in 
the heat of the battle he almost managed to kill Harry, by indulging 
his inferiority complex. I thought - OK, JKR, it would serve him 
right, but you don't want to kill him so early in the book, fine. 
Then came the acromantula moment - surely that would be a fitting 
tragic death, the very definition of hubris? But nooooo, he had to 
survive. :-( JKR just didn't have the guts in the end.

va32h:

I adamantly disagree that Hagrid's survival was a matter of JKR not 
having the "guts" to kill him. 

Whether you personally like Hagrid or not, he does act as a symbol of 
transition in Harry's life - Hagrid carrying Harry's "dead" body out 
of the forest is a very obvious bookend to Hagrid's taking Baby Harry 
out of the ruined house in Godric's Hollow. And in between those two 
events, we have Hagrid coming to rescue Harry from the Hut on the 
Rock and return him to his true home in the wizarding world. 

Having the spiders carry Hagrid into the forest is merely the plot 
device that puts Hagrid in the forest so he can be there when Harry 
is killed. 

I understand why readers would dislike  Hagrid, but I put him in the 
category of James and Sirius as "characters JKR intends us to like, 
even though she hasn't given us any particularly good reasons to do 
so." 

Now on to Aberforth.

I had expected him to be very different - which is to say very much 
like Albus. Like others, I was pleasantly surprised. I definitely 
like the idea of some longstanding grudge between the brothers. I 
doubt it is *that* deep a rift, if Aberforth chooses to live in (of 
all places) the village outside the school where his brother lives. 
And Albus has frequented the Hog's Head enough that we can safely 
assume his brother doesn't break his nose every time Albus walks in 
the door. 

Aberforth acts much as Belltrix did in the Spinner's End chapter of 
HBP. Asking questions the readers are asking. Why did Dumbledore 
assign this immensely difficult, deadly task to a bunch of teenagers!

I do see a similarity between Aberforth and Snape...both men have 
loved someone very much (Ariana, Lily) and lost that person. It would 
appear that both men have concluded "right well, that's the last time 
I'm ever going to care about another human being, it hurts too much 
to lose them." But while Snape seems to be determinedly following 
that path, Aberforth has allowed himself to care about other people 
after all, even while outwardly continuing to deny it.

va32h