The secrecy motif

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 179922

In Post 179635  "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
snipping the first part
> 
> But what if Harry had not learned this lesson the hard way? Don't be
> so secretive. Don't suppress key information. What if he had trusted
> people (not everyone, but the examples I listed will do for 
starters)
> with his secrets? What if Snape had trusted the Order members with 
his?
> 
> Yeah, I know. It would be a different book altogether. But somehow, 
I
> sense that secrecy is a bad thing in JKR's universe (unless you're
> keeping secrets from the enemy). We can see in the epilogue that 
Harry
> is giving his children information that was kept from him, whether
> it's that Slytherins can be admirable or that Thestrals are nothing 
to
> fear. If we examine all the suppressed information and distortions 
of
> the truth that shape Harry's perceptions throughout the books, it
> seems that a half-truth is as good (or rather, as bad) as a lie, as 
is
> well-intentioned misinformation. Unless, of course, you're Snape
> keeping secrets from Voldemort.
> 
> Carol, just tossing out this idea to see if anyone thinks it's worth
„« examining

Potioncat:

It's been a while since I first read that post, and yes, I do think 
it's an interesting line of thought. I hope it's not too late to 
reply.

Secrecy is a major theme throughout the entire series. Everyone seems 
to have secrets to hide. Petunia hides her magic relatives. Hagrid 
hides his wand. Remus hides his furry little problem. Snape hides his 
loyalty. Peter hides himself. Sirius is hidden in 12 GP. Draco hides 
his DE assignment from Snape. Ginny hides the diary. Fred and George 
hide their business plans. Arthur hides his magic car. Molly hides 
her fears. Ron hides his Quidditch dreams. Hermione hides a jinx.  LV 
hides Horcruxes. DD hides Hallows. All of the DADA teachers have 
secrets. The Whomping Willow hides a passageway. The castle itself 
has secrets and places for keeping secrets.

How many threads have we had on this list asking why Harry doesn't 
ask questions or why someone didn't tell Harry some very important 
detail?  The very first book starts out with secrets. The reader 
doesn't even know what's going on for the first few pages. Harry 
learns that Petunia has been keeping secrets from him and almost at 
once, Hagrid asks Harry to keep a secret.

I think JKR needed things to be hidden and secrets to be kept in 
order for there to be a story. She went to the trouble to give her 
characters good reasons to keep mum. 

Start with Dumbledore and his secret keeping.  It was a real play on 
words for DD to be a Secret-Keeper for the Order. JKR gave him a 
family history to explain why he doesn't share information easily. 
Even his mother seems to have secrets. I think his being gay is a 
part of JKR's building a secretive personality.

By making the Dursleys so horrible JKR gave Harry a back-story that 
made him secretive, and reluctant to ask questions. His history is 
very different from DD's, but just as conducive to keeping quiet.  I 
think it's interesting that DD reached a point where he advised Harry 
to tell Hermione and Ron some of the mission's details. That's 
farther than DD himself ever got. 

Snape and Tom Riddle were also given the types of childhood that 
would grow a secretive adult. Neither of them had much reason to 
trust others.  LV, like DD, didn't let his minions---erm associates--
know too much of The Plan. Snape was so good at keeping secrets, no 
one knew where his loyalties lay and everyone suspected he was not on 
their side. 

It's too bad that DD didn't reveal more information to both Snape and 
McGonagall; or that Headmaster Snape didn't bring McGonagall into his 
confidence. Some of us might have enjoyed a happier ending.

Now that I think of it, can anyone think of a character that didn't 
keep secrets?