Appeal of the story to the reader WAS: Re: Of Sorting and Snape

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 175617

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at ...> wrote:
>
> houyhnhnm:
> > > > There *is* something mean spirited in the books. The stories 
> > > > appeal to the mean in readers and for some they are not nearly
> > > > mean enough, as we have ample evidence.
> 
> > > Jen:  What do you mean here, houhnhnm?  I'm intepreting it as a 
> > > pretty negative message about readers who like the story but 
> > > don't want to go any further if I'm misinterpreting or reading 
> > > more into it than you intended.
> 
> SSSusan:
> Wow. I hope there was a different meaning behind this statement, 
too, 
> than how I read it. :(  
> 
> I am a lot of things, but mean is a thing I don't recall ever 
having 
> been accused of being (other than from the mouths of my own small 
> children, natch, and other parents out there know what I mean about 
> that, heh).  Nor is meanness something I would ever identify as a 
> characteristic of myself.  And yet I still adore this series as a 
> whole and appreciate what DH gave me, even if it wasn't exactly 
> enough in a couple of areas.  
> 
> Appeals to the meanness in people?  Wow.  I mean... I don't know 
how 
> else to react to that.  They just DON'T appeal to me in that way.  
So 
> I do hope I've misunderstood your remark, Houyhnhnm, I surely do.

Julie:
I assumed Houyhnhnm was referring to the meanness inherent
in our human natures, which to me is similar to vindictiveness
or vengefulness. I think we all have a bit of that in us, and
we've all had moments where we've been angry and said or
done something just to be mean. And don't we all feel 
vengeful at times against those who have wronged us, even
if we usually don't act on it. I know I have, and I do not
consider myself a mean or vindictive person at all. But 
I have had my moments, and I think Houyhnhnm meant the
books appeal to that part of us. 

My expectation throughout the first six books is that the
inherent "message" in JKR's books was one of forgiveness
and love, of tolerance and the need to see and value our
commonalities rather than our differences...to love our
enemies, as it were. It's something I believe in and I
think the world needs to believe in if we are all ever
going to live together without constant violence and war.

And, like Houyhnhnm, I don't think this is the message
JKR delivered in the end. Which is completely her right, 
BTW. There were signs in earlier books, that righteous
vengeance was a theme too (and I think someone pointed 
out how DH ended more with an Old Testament vibe of smiting
evil with righteous vengeance than the forgiving and loving
your enemies message of Jesus in the New Testament). I
expected the forgiveness/tolerance/love theme to prevail
but I do feel that a more divisive righteous vengeance/
you're with us or you're against us theme took precedence.
It wasn't what I expected, but it is what it is, so I
accept it. And I still like the books for what they are,
even if I wished they'd been a little more.

Julie