To the Extreme

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 164962


> 
> Carol responds:
> Of course here's a difference between literary analysis and
> speculation. Literary analysis starts with the text, examines it to
> find out what it may mean or imply, draws a tentative conclusion, and
> then returns to the text to support that conclusion. Although the
> conclusion is not definitive--it remains an interpretation--it can at
> least be supported with evidence from the text and stand up to
> counterarguments, or it can be modified if it turns out to be flawed.
> (Look at the various interpretations of "Spinner's End" or
> Dumbledore's words in the cave or the events on the tower for
> examples.) Speculation starts with "what if" and scrambles frantically
> thtough the text to find any bit of evidence (Tom Riddle and Harry
> look a little bit alike) to support it. Speculation is fun while the
> seventh book is still unpublished but probably pointless after that.

Ken:

I agree, once we've read DH all speculation stops and literary
analysis can begin in earnest. The point of speculation is to tease
plot possibilities out from among the clues that are in the text.
Unlike literary analysis speculation is not rigidly bound to the text
(although I'm not sure literary analysis is either but that's your
field not mine). It is partly based on possibilities and shrewd
guesses. Its a lot like scientific research or detective work. Here
are the facts that we know, what do they mean? What *could* they mean.
In this case it is just a game, the game ends on the final page.

Carol:

> Even speculation should start with a thorough knowledge of canon. Tom
> Riddle's black hair cmes from his father, not from Merope. Harry's
> black hair comes from James, not from Lily. Lily's mother was a
> Muggle, with whom it's highly unlikely that Merope had any contact and
> who is now dead. Besides, if Merope had given Lily's mother her powers
> (an unprecedented act unless we count Vapormort's accidentally giving
> Harry some of his powers at GH), Lily's mother, a noncharacter so far,
> would be a witch, not a Muggle, which would make nonsense of Lily's
> being a Muggleborn whose parents were "proud to have a witch in the
> family."

Ken:

I disagree, you do not have to *start* from canon. Profitable
speculations can run either way: start from knowns and extrapolate
beyond them to a conclusion that can be tested (by reading DH), or
start with a hunch (which DH will either confirm or make a mockery of)
and work backwards to see if any knowns can be made to lead to it. But
to be of any use in this case you do have to tie your speculations to
canon in some way, at some point, or else all you have is a hunch.
Even a raw hunch sometimes pans out, its just the way speculation works.

I'm not sure how hair color genes work, do we know for sure that a
blond has no black haired ancestor? Do we know for sure that Harry's
hair color can *only* come from his father and Tom's *only* from his
father? Only Tom comments on a resemblance between himself and Harry
but is that so odd, even if there is a true resemblance, in a world
where most folks won't even say Tom's assumed name aloud? Maybe not.
Is hair color the only resemblance Tom sees? Again, maybe not. I don't
think it is necessary for Merope to have passed her powers to Lily's
mother, maybe it was just a spark, a magical "seed" of some kind, that
germinated in Lily. There is just the barest glimmer of canon support
for this and I do not expect that it will turn out to be "true". But I
still have to rate it as an interesting speculation. Somehow Lily's
Muggle parents happened to have a witch for a daughter. It may be one
of those things that is never explained, it is just barely possible
that this theory could be verified by DH.

Keep in mind that I'm playing the devil's advocate here. I don't have
any emotional or intellectual attachment to this theory. I'm just a
third party who's looked at it (a bit) and who is saying it isn't
*completely* off the wall. My main point is that the technique that
spawned it is a legitimate one *at this point*.

> Carol:

> But let's at least confine our speculation to what's plausible
> within the secondary world JKR has constructed. As for me, I prefer
> literary analysis, even of an incomplete text, to speculation any day,
> if only because its lifespan is not so limited.

Ken:

I am an avid science fiction reader, a genre where created worlds are
the norm and fans are brutal in insisting that authors stay consistent
with the rules of their creation. I think my opinion of what is
plausible within the Potterverse is as valid as anyone's (including
the author's!), but no more so. The trouble is that even though we
read the same words we often have very divergent opinions on what they
mean. I simply cannot follow your objections to horcrux/Harry *at all*
for example. You see an absolute prohibition in the written words, I
see almost no restrictions at all. So that is one problem in defining
what is plausible. The other major problem with plausibility is that I
think we all agree that the author Herself can be inconsistent. That
makes it all the harder to agree on what is and what is not plausible
in *this* created world. 

I enjoy your literary analysis and your speculations equally. I have a
much broader view of what speculations are plausible than you and some
others have. I think that is in part because I am a technologist
professionally and I can see quite clearly how poorly magical
technology is defined in the Potterverse. This might be because the
author has not carefully thought through the implications of her
magical technology (a very tall order in a series this long and
complex). Or it might just be because she hates to give anything away
before the end and so she leaves many things vague. It does open the
field to many speculations and I have trouble seeing how the
Potterverse as we have it now excludes very many of them, even though
it is highly unlikely that many of our theories will turn out to be
"true".

The end of all things draws nigh. There will be much weeping and
shredding of theories!

Ken