Christian Forgiveness and Snape (was Would Harry forgiving )

[wynnleaf]

No: HPFGUIDX 164329


> > Pippin:
> > It's the leader's job to analyze everyone's mistakes, not just 
his 
> own. 
> > I didn't hear Dumbledore excusing himself, except for loving 
Harry 
> so
> > much that he put Harry's present happiness above his future. He 
was
> > mostly trying to get Harry not to put all the blame on himself. 
If
> > that meant shifting some of the responsibility to Sirius, so be 
> it. As
> > painful as that was for Harry, IMO Sirius himself would rather 
> > have Harry learn from his mistakes than repeat them through 
> > ignorance. Harry needs to understand that old hatreds can turn
> > even a kindly heart toward cruelty and injustice. Harry doesn't
> > get that yet, so he doesn't understand what Dumbledore was saying
> > about Sirius, but when the time comes,  he will.
> > 
> > Harry knows perfectly well how much he suffered at the Dursleys.
> > He does not need to hear Dumbledore feeling sorry for him -- he
> > hates it when people do that. 
> 
> Magpie:
> That's not the way the scene read to me. It may be Dumbledore's 
job 
> as leader to analyze things, but Harry hadn't called him in for an 
> analysis meeting, Dumbledore's explaining himself because he wants 
> to change the way Harry feels at that moment. Regardless of what 
> Harry needed to hear or understand, Dumbledore stresses that his 
own 
> fault was loving Harry too much while everyone else's faults are a 
> bit less about caring for Harry. I have no problem with his 
analysis 
> of either Sirius or Snape, but I'm analyzing Dumbledore too and 
what 
> he's saying about himself. Harry's not needing to hear that he 
> suffered at the Dursleys or not wanting people to feel sorry for 
him 
> is besides the point. I don't think it's a coincidence that 
> Dumbledore comes across as highly sympathetic in his own story.


wynnleaf
I realize that the author's own voice can't necessarily be brought 
into every scene in order to explain it away.  But in this case, I 
think it's appropriate.  JKR (or Dumbledore) had gotten a certain 
degree of criticism for Dumbledore's decisions and I think this 
scene was, in part, her attempt to make up for that.  I don't think -
- in this particular case -- it's so much *Dumbledore* making 
*himself* highly sympathetic in his own story, as it is the author, 
perhaps a bit self-consciously, trying to make Dumbledore's actions 
more sympathetic.  I think JKR was trying to explain how Dumbledore 
could have made the decisions he did and still be her "epitome of 
goodness."  It's not *Dumbledore* who is trying to maintain his 
image as "epitome of goodness," it's JKR who is trying to do it.  

In the end, it comes across somewhat forced and makes Dumbledore 
look like he's making excuses for himself.  But rather than truly 
writing in the character's "voice," I think that JKR was writing 
more of her author's voice.

wynnleaf