Harry Ain't Perfect, but he IS a Good Person/The Series has Morality

[Katie]

No: HPFGUIDX 173215

>>>>GINORMOUS SNIPPAGE>>>> 
> I don't understand how people can not see the moral points in this 
> story! 
> 
> 1 - Friendship and Love conquer all. 
>         Ok, Harry was saved by Love, he is kept alive by Love, and 
he 
> willingly sacrifices himself for the love of his friends...How is 
that 
> not moral and ethical? Just because he doesn't actually die 
doesn't 
> mean that the point wasn't made. When you love people as intensely 
as 
> Lily loved Harry, or as Harry loves Ron, Hermione and all the 
others, 
> it makes you a better person and it makes the world a better 
place. 
> That point was well made, at least in my eyes.
> 
> 2 - Choices Make Us Who We Are
>         I know many people thought JKR ruined this point by making 
> Voldy a sociopath. I don't think so. First of all, I *don't* see 
the 
> little Tom Riddle that we meet in HBP as a sociopath. He is an 
orphaned 
> child who can do wierd things, and he wasn't shown how to use his 
> powers soon enough. He wasn't ever loved. Unlike Harry, who was 
> conceived in love, born in love, and had someone die for him, Tom 
> Riddle had NEVER had a loving touch. I felt VERY sory for that 
kid, and 
> Dumbledore certainly gave him latitude to make different choices, 
but 
> he did not. 
>         Dumbledore's choices are often bad ones, and he was 
certainly a 
> selfish person when he was young...but he CHOSE to change, and he 
did 
> so. I don't see Dumbledore as a master manipulator, at least in a 
> malevolent sense. He knew Harry had to fight Voldemort and he 
tried to 
> give him the tools to defeat him without giving too much away. Had 
> Dumbledore simply handed Harry everything, Harry would not have 
had the 
> confidence and the strength to do what he did. Harry needed to get 
> there on his own.
> 
> 3 - The World Isn't Perfect, but We can try to Make it Better.
>        No one every said that defeating Voldy would make the world 
a 
> sunshiney place. No one ever said that in the RW, either. But it's 
the 
> trying that counts. It's people's hearts being in the right 
places. 
> It's people working together for a greater good. And evil will 
never 
> entirely go away, but we have to keep trying. Perserverence was a 
> really big theme in these books, and Harry and the Order never 
gave up, 
> never stopped fighting. They believed they could make the world 
better, 
> and they never lost that purpose...but no one ever said it would 
be 
> perfect. That wasn't the point, anyway. The point was the trying.
> 
> 4 - Discrimination is Wrong
>         Like many of you, I was also disappointed in the 
continuation 
> of the Sorting in the epilogue. I had hoped that after seeing 
everyone 
> in the Great Hall all together, children would no longer be 
pigionholed 
> and catagorized. However, that singular thing does not erase the 
> screamingly loud message throughout the rest of the series.
>        From the formation of SPEW to the Charge of the House Elves 
in 
> DH, from Hagrid's revelation about his giant blood to Grawp's 
bravery 
> in DH, and from Draco Malfoy's "mudblood" comment in CoS to the 
hunting 
> of half-bloods and Muggle-borns in DH, JKR has nearly beaten us to 
> death with the idea that prejudice and hatred are very, very bad 
> things. And I think that the continuation of Sorting in the 
epilogue 
> has a lot more to do with that fact that the epilogue was written 
a 
> long time ago and no editor had the you-know-what's to stand up to 
JKR 
> and tell her it was lousy, than it did with JKR trying to send us 
the 
> message that nothing had changed. 
>>>snippage>>>
> 
> ****KATIE, REPLYING TO HERSELF BECAUSE SHE FORGOT TO ADD ONE OTHER 
POINT:

Moral/Ethical Point #5:
AUTHORITY IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED, AT LEAST WHEN IT IS MORALLY CORRUPT
>From Quirrell to Pius Thicknesse(I LOVE this guy's name), JKR makes 
a real point of showing us that being in a position of authority 
does not automatically mean that someone is trustworthy or deserves 
respect. While this may be arguably a "moral" point, it's definitely 
an important philosophical point. HRH learn very early on that 
people in power are often really bad folks, or at the very least, 
really deluded folks. Percy is the example of the person that trusts 
what the establishment tells him, to the detriment of his own 
family, and the safety of the world. Fudge's refusal to believe that 
Voldy was back really resonated with me, since OotP came out right 
after the Iraq War began, and the idea that sometimes people just 
refused to believe the truth that was right in front of them...that 
was very powerful for me. 

Anyway, I just wanted to put that in there. Forgot on the first go 
round. Incidentally, I wonder if JKR named Harry, ROn, and Hermione 
on purpose so that their initials were "Her/His Royal Highness"? 
Just occurred to me. Cheers, Katie