[HPforGrownups] rec: Missing from 'Harry Potter' a real moral struggle

[Feng Zengkun]

No: HPFGUIDX 173260

Joan wrote:
> I want to recommend this critique piece on Book 7
> "Missing from 
> 'Harry Potter'  a real moral struggle", written by
> Jenny Sawyer, 
> as it shares exactly my problem with book 7 and the
> HP series in
> general and and put it better than I could ever do.
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070725/cm_csm/ysawyer
> 

Pam:
>  Not
> everything is supposed to be a lesson. Not
> everything is supposed to have a moral.  That being
> said, I think Ms. Sawyer is only partially right.
> Looking from the perspective of classic literature,
> she correctly identifies the problem that Harry does
> not have an inner struggle. But nor do I think that
> Harry's destiny was pre-determined (except by JKR
> herself) or we wouldn't have spent two years talking
> about it.  Though the book may have an obscured
> moral, it has real, tangible morals that a child can
> understand.
> 

Feng now:

I don't think that was the point about the essay, i.e.
I don't think the essay was saying that the series has
no morals to impart. Certainly there are plenty of
morals we can glean from the series; friendship is
important, do not judge a book by its cover (whether
this was accomplished is up for debate, though), etc
etc etc. I think the essay was emphasising that, as
you pointed out, Harry has no inner struggle - the
choices he has to make are easy because everything is
so black and white for him. In this respective, there
is no 'moral struggle' for Harry to grapple with: his
options are to defeat Voldemort or not, and that
choice is ridiculously easy to make.

Compare with this with, say, Lord of the Rings.
Frodo's quest to destroy the One ring is fraught with
a moral conundrum: destroy it and Sauron is rid, but
at the same time magic departs from the world. Don't
destroy it and magic is preserved, but you risk its
abuse by the likes of Sauron (I am remembering LotR
correctly... right?).

So in this respect I agree with the article; Snape,
and I would say Dumbledore too, are the more
interesting characters, because they have had to make
hard choices, harder than the ones Harry has had to
face throughout the series. Because for them each
decision meant sacrificing something, the decisions
they made in the end are more resonant. Not so for Harry.