[HPforGrownups] Was Death an easy choice for Harry to make WAS: Re:Back to Slytherin House

[Janette]

No: HPFGUIDX 176184

>
> lizzyben:
>
> You've articulated exactly why that part was so horrifying to me.
> Yes, Harry is brave, & yes, he's making a sacrifice. But he's not
> doing it as an independent act, he's doing it because his Leader
> wants him to. And Harry never even tries to consider if there might
> be another way to do this, never even considers that his Leader
> might be lying to him about this. (And why wouldn't he? He knows now
> that DD did lie to him in the past.) He doesn't *think*. He just
> follows DD's orders, obediently, blindly, fanatically. Just as he
> had been trained to do.
>
> Yes, in this universe DD & the Order actually *are* good, and
> the "other" actually *is* evil, but it's also an eeire insight into
> what happens when the "other" becomes totally dehumanized &
> demonized. About what happens when peer pressure & a need to conform
> leads people into making choices & joining groups that they wouldn't
> otherwise support. About just how far good people are willing to go
> when their society, their Leader, their friends, indoctrinate them
> in an ideology at an early age. Harry's death march was courageous,
> but it was also a total submission to his Leader & his ideology, a
> total abandonment of critical thinking, and a total embrace of
> martyrdom. In this story, we can get inside of a torn society, & get
> inside the head of a good person as he is indoctrinated in its
> hatreds & rivalries, watch as he begins to accept the evil of "the
> other" & shut down his humanity, listen as his Leader encourages his
> vengence & hatred, see how his Leader encourages him to risk his
> life to show his personal loyalty & goodness, up till the point that
> the good person willingly dies in the service of his Leader & his
> ideology. Personally, I consider it a tragedy.


montims:
and this is my last post today, I think...  We see two boys in the same
school year going through this - Draco and Harry.  Draco sees through the
horror of LV, and continues only through fear for his family.  He does not
experience "a total abandonment of critical thinking, and a total embrace of
martyrdom".
Why is it a tragedy for us to read of "what happens when peer pressure & a
need to conform
leads people into making choices & joining groups that they wouldn't
otherwise support."?  I would have thought it was a necessity for children
to realise these things, so we aren't doomed to repeat the same mistakes
over and over again.  Unfortunately (*old fogy alert*) people no longer seem
to admire honour, "fair play", and doing the Right Thing.  If JKR helps to
make children more honourable and to think before making allegiances, I
admire her for it.


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