Tolerance and the theme of HP was Re: JKR messed up........ no.

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 178430

Carol:
> Moreover, and this is my main point in this post, "tolerance" is not
> the only important theme or motif, particularly in relation to
> Dumbledore (whose chief temptation is power and who is also tempted
> for all the wrong reasons to bring back, first, his parents, and
> later, Ariana, from the dead). 
> 
<snip>
 Certainly, he felt guilt and remorse for Arizna's death, but how
> would that lead to tolerance for Muggles? Maybe having a Muggle-born
> mother had something to do with it, but Kendra was not an ideal
> mother, and she's the one who hid Ariana in the first place after the
> incident with the Muggle boys. Am I missing something?
> 

Pippin:

IMO,  in recognizing that it was his arrogance that led to his 
infatuation with Grindelwald's ideas, Dumbledore came to 
realize that it was arrogance to think he could improve
wizard-Muggle relations while knowing little of Muggles
themselves. Like Harry, when he came to know those he had
feared and distrusted better, he could not help but find things 
to admire. 

DH is the book in which, IMO, the disparate themes of canon are
united in the central theme of Harry's growing-up. Harry's great
faults are anger and arrogance, and they are shown in this book
to be at the root of bigotry and intolerance, as well as the
chief obstacles to  Harry's own maturity.  To become "Master of 
Death" (which should be understood also as "Master of Life" ) 
as dying and living are one, Harry has to overcome those faults. 

The story-within-a-story of The Three Brothers may show us
how the themes fit together. 

Rowling's "Tale of Three Brothers" could be considered a 
disguised retelling of a nursery favorite: "The Three Little Pigs."
In the traditional version of this story, two of the little pigs,
like two of the brothers, fail to protect themselves from
death, but  the third pig succeeds. 

As his fear of the future  leads the first brother to
ask for a wand that is unbeatable, so Voldemort becomes
obsessed with the prophecy and the wand that will make sure he 
cannot be defeated.

But the prophecy and the Elder Wand prove to be as 
inadequate as a house of straw. 

The second brother, aching for a past that can never be 
regained, resembles both Snape and Dumbledore in his 
inability to find love in the present. Dumbledore explains
that he was wrong to want to drag back those who were
at peace. And this desire to rearrange things is echoed
also by Voldemort.  "It troubled him...and those things that 
troubled Lord Voldemort needed to be rearranged..."

The second brother, like Snape and Dumbledore, is 
arrogant. Arrogance too proves to be no better defense against
death's ability to re-arrange our lives than a house of
sticks, nor can the Resurrection Stone defend one from
the pain of loss.

It is this desire to rearrange things, along with the anger
fuelled by old hurts, which we discover when we learn
what drives bigotry in the wizarding world. Tied to it
is a fundamental insecurity about the ability to be loved,
which makes not only the villains but even the great
Albus Dumbledore susceptible to the temptations of
power. 

For those who lack the security of knowing they are loved, it is
natural to seek consolation in power, and inevitable
to want things rearranged so that power is attainable. 
Snape and Dumbledore are able to recognize and
subliminate their urge for power in the desire for love,
but their desire to rearrange the world so that the thing 
they want to love is available to them is their eventual undoing. 


The third brother is of course represented by Harry,
and his wise choice by the invisibility cloak, which
defends against death as the house of bricks
defended the third little pig. 

When Harry  attempts to use the Invisibility Cloak
in anger or arrogance, he always gives himself away--
outside the Shrieking Shack when he starts throwing
mud at Draco and the cloak slips, or in the train
compartment when he attempts to spy on Draco, or on the
Astronomy Tower where he leaves it after arranging
the rescue of Norbert.  It offers protection only to those 
who  watch and wait, who can restrain their desire to
fight or to disturb others in rearrange things to suit 
themselves. 

When Harry decides not to go after the Elder Wand, and
later sets both it and the Stone aside forever, it symbolizes
his victory over his anger and arrogance, as well as his
ability to live fully in the present. He knows then that
he will gain security not as the child hopes, by subliminating
himself entirely to his parents' will and keeping his
birth family intact forever, but by forming a new family
of his own. 

Harry relinquishes his fears for the future, giving Albus
Severus knowledge, but  leaving him the freedom to make 
his own choices, without attempting to manipulate his
choices as Harry was manipulated by Dumbledore and 
Snape. And Harry is no longer troubled by the scars of the past. 


Pippin