rec: Missing from 'Harry Potter' a real moral struggle

[pair_0_docks]

No: HPFGUIDX 173339

Feng Zengkun <nightmasque@> wrote:

> > 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.

Eggplant wrote:

> Ridiculously easy?! It's easy to march into the Forbidden Forest to
> be murdered by a maniac? What Harry did was moral and as you read
> his thoughts as he walked to his doom it sure seemed to be a
> struggle to me. It takes no courage to know what the right thing to
> do is, but it can be a struggle to actually do it. I read that
> article yesterday and I still can't make heads or tails of it.


Pair_0_docks wrote:

I agree with both ideas here. Clearly, it is not easy to make
difficult choices especially ones that require great sacrifice.

However, I believe that the point of the article and comments that
followed it are that for Snape making his choices out of his
background/environment (poor home life, Slytherin house friends,
nasty meanish sense of humor (which I still happen to like
regardless), etc) could be "harder" to have been made than Harry's
choices (yes bad situation with the Dursleys, but enormously strong
friendships, and other Adult wizard support offered that is unknown
as for Snape).

We don't just choose in a vacuum. Yes I suppose many will argue that
Snape is responsible for all his choices, but did he choose the
family life that he was born into. And as for his sense of humor I
rather enjoyed it (allow admittedly at times he did go too far.)

Also, there is this idea (not sure how valid but) that the person who
acts rightly will continue to do so. Do we ever really doubt that
Harry will do the right thing? But we always wondered about Snape.
That was because he appeared and did in fact CHANGE. I still don't
understand why changing for love of lily makes his choices thereafter
somehow less than what they are. That is the context that is provided
for them by Rowling. I suppose because Rowling gives us knowledge
beyond the scope of his character that had Harry not been the son of
Lily he wouldn't have changed BUT how and why is that important? So
what if he wouldn't have choosen that way if things were different,
they weren't.


pair_0_docks