CHAPDISC: DH35, KING'S CROSS

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 185135

<snip, snip, snippety-snip the summary> 

Alla:
> 4. The theme of the hero given a choice whether to rest or to go
> back and possibly be hurt more or prevail over the enemy is fairly
> common in the fantasy genre. When Harry makes his decision to go 
> back did you feel at any time that he is going back to die for real 
> now?  Explain why or why not. 

SSSusan:
No, I didn't, because: 1) JKR's favorite book as a kid was Elizabeth 
Goudge's The Little White Horse.  `nuff said re: sappy, happy 
endings; and 2)  I was just obnoxiously confident enough in my long-
held belief that Harry's willingness to sacrifice himself out of 
love, and his belief that he would need to do so, would somehow, 
magically, prove to be sufficient.


Alla:
> 5. "Of house elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty and
> innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That
> they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of 
> any magic, is a truth he had never grasped". I think that this quote
> pretty much sums up one of the major themes in the series. Do you
> agree or disagree? Explain why or why not.

SSSusan:
Absolutely.  Totally.  It's horrifically sad, but I believe it is 
so.  It takes us back to, WHY Voldemort? (Or Tom Riddle?)  WHY did he 
make all the wrong choices?  Was is inevitable for him to do so?  Or 
was it his fault?  IOW, was he wired that way, or was it all his 
fault due to his own conscious choices?  Whether he couldn't see all 
of this because he *wouldn't* believe it or because he was 
*incapable* of knowing it... who knows??  


Alla:
> 6. List discussed the injured baby under the table extensively
> in the past, but if you want to please discuss some more here.

Montavilla:
> Only to say that I found that part extremely distressing. But I'm
> finding out--slowly, it seems--that other people don't have my
> disbelief in eternal punishment. (I *don't* believe that Sysiphus is
> still pushing that rock up the hill.)

SSSusan:
Uncomfortable... distressing... squirmy... horrified... these are all 
words which could describe how I felt reading this section.  Ugh!  
I'm pretty much avoiding the entire question because I still have not 
adequately assessed my own response, nor the reasons for it.  (I've 
got some personal wrestling to do, I guess.)  I must say, though, 
that I think Montavilla nailed a part of it for me – the fact that 
I'm not at all sure how I feel about the concept of eternal 
punishment, other than that I'm fairly disinclined to believe in it.  
Perhaps that is at the root of a lot of my discomfort.


Alla:
> 7. Can somebody explain to me one more time what was
> Dumbledore's rationale in sending Harry on Hallows Quest?

Montavilla:
> Nope. Maybe Dumbledore thought it would be bad luck if
> Harry were too focused and managed to get rid of the Horcruxes
> before the Spring Term drew to an end. It's the years of
> Headmastering that taught him that you don't want the
> students tearing through the school curriculum too fast.

SSSusan:
LOL.  That's one possibility.

I tend to think it was because DD wanted to do something that I 
always fault Snape for *not* doing as Harry's teacher; that is, DD 
wanted to make sure Harry UNDERSTOOD.  

Those Deathly Hallows were going to be out there to discover at some 
point in his life... Harry already possessed one and was given the 
2nd by DD... maybe DD thought that Harry needed to know about them, 
needed to be tempted by them as he had been, needed to prove to 
himself that he could avoid the lure and temptation of them in order 
to make the right choice about them?  

Yeah, so maybe it seems like a bit much to put on top of the search 
for the Hx, and maybe it wasn't necessary to have it occur 
simultaneously, but I have a feeling that for Harry to have had to 
endure the simultaneous search helped him to grow up, helped him to 
solidify his own beliefs, values and commitments.  In short, I think 
it was a perhaps-necessary part of what enabled him to face Voldy 
down in the forest again, with the sure knowledge that he was doing 
the right thing.

Siriusly Snapey Susan, emerging from lurkerdom