JKR, the female and facism (wasRe: WAS Slytherin as villains...

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 179106

Kemper wrote:
> 
> > > I see Lily more as Mother Mary in this scene.  It is what I
imagine she would say to her son as he carried his cross.  (I'm not
trying to equate a Harry is Jesus thing)  Lily and Mary don't send
their son off to die, their sons have chosen this.
>  
> Katie S.:
> > I thought the Harry as a literary parallel to Jesus was painfully
obvious, dying selflessly to save the world, the love of the world
bringing him back to life, his father  (Dumbledore) sacrificing him to
save the world, etc.
> 
> Geoff:
> Speaking personally as a Christian, I have always held that Harry is
not a Christ figure. Although he is not specifically written as a
believer, like a practising Christian can aim at being Christ-like
which isn't the same thing.
> 
> Again, canon is quite explicit in that Harry does not die.
>
Carol responds:
But a Christ figure is not Christ, nor does he have to die. He (or
she) is a flawed human being who nevertheless shares traits in common
with Christ, in this case, the willingness to sacrifice himself to
save others. That he does not actually die (though he could have
chosen to remain where he was and "go on" to the afterlife) is
immaterial. 

I agree with Kemper that Lily (symbol of purity whether we like her as
a character or not) is proud of her son for his courage and
selflessness. If anyone knows the power of Love magic, it's Dead!Lily,
who saved her son from Avada Kedavra (certain death to everyone else,
even DD) through her own self-sacrifice. It's not that she's glad he's
dying, as Betsy suggested (though her "hungry" look reminds me of
little Severus's "greedy" one, and is probably described with a
different adjective simply because of Harry's view of the particular
character at the time); it's that she's moved by his courage. It's
very similar, perhaps identical, to DD's reaction: "You wonderful boy.
You brave, brave man."

Like Christ, he is choosing to sacrifice himself to save others from a
great evil (in Christ's case, death; in Harry's case, Voldemort).
Obviously, Harry's sacrifice is not on the same scale. Obviously, too,
a near-death experience is not death. But Harry doesn't know that he's
going to survive. He *can't* know that or his sacrifice won't be a
sacrifice and the Love magic won't work.

We can find other Christ figures in literature who don't die, with
Frodo (flawed at the end despite his gentleness and mercy to Gollum
and growing wisdom and courage) being perhaps the most obvious
example. A character doesn't have to die and be resurrected (like
Gandalf) to be a Christ figure.

And, BTW, only Christian authors deliberately create Christ figures,
though the motif of the hero visiting the Underworld and returning
alive is found any many mythologies, including Greek myths.

I'm a bit more troubled by Dumbledore as a God figure. He may seem
omniscient to Harry early on, and he seems wise and benevolent to many
readers until DH, and "King's Cross" reveals that he does love Harry
and did expect him to survive, but a just and merciful and omniscient
and omnipotent God he's definitely not. Just, sadly, a puppet-master
tempted by power, who at least learned that Wizards have no right to
rule Muggles. Strange how he seems to give his teachers free rein and
yet all the time, he's pulling their strings in other ways, at least
if they happen to be involved in any way in the fight against
Voldemort, and concealing information from everyone because he fully
trusts no one, not even Harry (or Snape).

Once again, a Christ figure is *Christlike* in some way. That does not
mean he's an allegorical representation of Christ himself. It could be
argued that Harry is simultaneously a Christ figure, the Chosen One,
and an Everyman figure in that he has to struggle with the burden of
his own sins (faults) and to maintain faith (in the wisdom of DD,
though that disturbs me because he's so unGodlike) and hope (for
victory over LV but also for life after death, which he doesn't
believe in, despite Luna and Hermione actually telling him the same
thing, until he turns over the Resurrection Stone ("King's Cross"
confirms that belief, which doesn't have to be openly stated by the
narrator any more than his forgiveness of Snape does, forgiveness of
those who have trespassed against us also being a Christian motif).

Carol, not saying that DH *has* to be read in this way, only that the
evidence is there for eyes that wish to see it