Immortality vs. Immediate Death

[anne_t_squires]

No: HPFGUIDX 173543

Anne Squires:

Charity Burbage, Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, Dirk Cresswell, Ted Tonks,
Dobby a Free Elf, Fred Weasley, Severus Snape,  Remus Lupin, Nympadora
Tonks Lupin, Colin Creevey,  and countless others died in the book. 
Some Harry witnessed and others he found out about after the fact. 
Why did so many have to die?  I think because it is war and in war
there is a lot of death, meaningless death.  It seems so very
pointless and yet, I think that is the whole point that JKR is making.
 OTOH, many people survived.  And the side of light won.  So, the
sacrifice of those who did die wasn't for naught.  Their life has
meaning because they laid down their lives in a struggle in which
their side triumphed.

Beyond the fact that war is brutal, I think that all of the death in
the book is part of Harry's journey, and therefore necessary
literarily speaking.  All the death in the novel is an essential part
of the hero's journey.  I think Harry is on a journey to come to terms
with death and accept it for himself.  All of these deaths prepare the
way for Harry to accept that he must walk willingly into the forest. 
Harry has to force himself into death's waiting arms.  The earlier
deaths prepare his way.  

In the novel Death is all around Harry. It seems to stalk him as
Harry, in turn, is pushing Lord Voldemort ever closer to his own end.
 Little does Harry realize, despite the prophecy, that as he chips
away at Lord Voldemort immortality, he is chipping away at his own
life.  Death is all around him like a shroud and Harry is on a quest
to accept it. Harry has encountered numerous kinds of death.  He has
been exposed to death which is quick (Hedwig, Cedric), sacrificial
death (his parents, and Dobby), heroic death in which the deceased met
his/her death in combat (Sirius, Mad-Eye, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Colin).
 He has heard about people being put to death by the new regime (Dirk
Cresswell, Ted Tonks).  These are all examples of various ways to die.
 However, none of these characters set out to die as Harry must.  None
of them walked up to Voldemort unarmed.  Yet, they did forge the trail
that Harry must tread; they led the way.  They were Harry's courage
and his motivation.  He does not want another person to have to die as
these others have.  When Lord Voldemort taunts Harry with the fact
that people have been dying for him Harry knows that for once Lord
Voldemort is not lying.  And Harry wants this dying to stop. 

I have read some arguments on the list that Harry did not face a moral
struggle in the novel; that his choice to make that fateful walk into
the forest was too simple given Harry's nature:  To defeat Lord
Voldemort or not to defeat Lord Voldemort.  I have seen it postulated
that Harry's response was too predictable, too obvious.  Thus, there
was no true moral struggle.  I completely understand how someone could
read it that way; however, I disagree. I do see a moral struggle that
goes beyond that.  

To die and defeat Lord Voldemort vs. to live and therefore allow Lord
Voldemort to continue to exist.  No, to me it goes far beyond that
choice.   I see an internal conflict Dumbledore had faced; but had
failed to overcome.  Twice.  In his youth Dumbledore and Grindlewald
had been tempted by the Deathly Hallows.  That obsession led to Ariana
Dumbledore's death, probably at Albus's hand.  That obsession was
reawakened again decades later when Dumbledore found Gaunt's ring. 
Even knowing the potential evil of the Hallows, Dumbledore could not
resist the ring.  The allure of the Hallows was too great. 
Unfortunately, the ring was not only a Hallow, but also a cursed
Horcrux.  When Dumbledore put it on he cursed himself which meant he
would have to die before he could finish his mission for the Order
which was to find and destroy more Horcruxes and prepare Harry for his
ultimate fate.  In that one act Dumbledore condemned himself to death.
And, let's not forget he betrayed both Harry and the Order. Ah, yes,
the Deathly Hallows definitely are not simply a fairy tale.  They are
true.  And they are powerful both in their allure and in what they can
grant their owner.  Harry is given the opportunity to become their
master.  At one point he is the master of all three.  When Harry walks
into the forest he has the cloak, the ring/stone, and he is the master
of the wand even though it is in Lord Voldemort's possession. 
However, Harry had decided on destroying the Horcruxes as opposed to
mastering the Hallows long before this point in the story.  Harry's
moral struggle was not just to live vs. to die.  It was to become the
Master of Death (Master of the Hallows) vs. to die.  

When Harry made the choice at Shell cottage he thought the choice was:
to become the Master of Death vs. to find and destroy the Horcruxes. 
But, Harry didn't have all of the information.  We see Harry
struggling with this decision at the cottage.  And, I for one think it
was a true struggle.  I think he could have gone either way,
especially when one considers Dumbledore who gave into the temptation
twice before.  

When Harry walks into the forest he is facing his own death; but it
goes much further than that.  He is giving up his mastery of death. 
He is rejecting the Deathly Hallows at the point they all come
together.  Mastery of the Hallows is a greater temptation than just
giving up one's life and therefore, in giving up the Hallows Harry's
sacrifice becomes greater still.  Notice, for the first time in
centuries the Hallows are united.  Yet what does Harry do?  He drops
the ring and doesn't even consider picking it up again or even looking
for it until much later.  Later,  he rejects that route once again.  I
think Harry had to decide between Immortality vs. Immediate Death. The
fact that Harry did sacrifice himself as he did, to me, is much more
powerful when one examines it in this light.  

Harry is not a Christ like figure at this point because when Christ
laid down his life he was gaining immortality for himself and all his
followers.  Harry, otoh, is actively rejecting immortality along with
the power of the Deathly Hallows.



Anne Squires