Looking Back Question...

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182020

Beatrice wrote:  

> Looking back at the Harry Potter series, what important message(s)
or themes do you think are the most important in the novels?  And
along those lines which messages and themes do you hope that readers
take away from the series?
> 
><snip> But, I hope that people get the message of forgiveness in
these books.  <snip>

Carol responds:

I agree that forgiveness and redemption are among the more important
themes or motifs in the series, as is death, mentioned by Alla. But to
me the most interesting motif (recurring image or idea) is perception
or rather misperception--arriving at incorrect conclusions based on
the evidence of our senses combined with inadequate understanding
and/or preconceptions, prejudices, and misinformation. Sometimes, it's
a matter of coincidence, as in Snape's looking at Harry seeming to
cause the pain in his scar. Sometimes, it's drawing the wrong
conclusions based on what is seen or heard (Harry's eavesdropping on
Snape in SS/Ps and HBP, Sirius Black's "murder" of Pettigrew and the
twelve Muggles," Harry's supposedly urging the conjured snake to bite
Justin Finch-Fletchley, Snape's "murder" of Dumbledore, etc.).
Sometimes it's misjudging a character (Fake!Moody, Neville, Luna,
Snape). I love the way Harry slowly sees things and people more
clearly as the books go along, culminating with his new understanding
of Snape in DH and symbolized, IMO, by his missing glasses in "King's
Cross."

Aside to Betsy_HP in a different thread: Regarding JKR's penchant for
punishing characters she doesn't like (which does, I admit, rather
interfere with Harry's forgoing of revenge in favor of forgiveness), I
don't think that Pansy is being punished by not being given a husband
and child. We don't know whether she marries or not or whom she
marries; we just know that she didn't marry Draco. JKR has carefully
structured the epilogue so that it focuses only on the Potters and the
Weasleys, with a glimpse of Draco and his wife and son and references
to other characters, living and dead, of interest to those families
and to the reader. But note the fog that obscures almost everyone,
including Teddy and Victoire, from Harry's (and the narrator's) view.
Through it, JKR gives us the illusion that the few people mentioned
are almost alone on the platform. But for all we know, Gregory Goyle
and Ernie Macmillan and Theo Nott and Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown
(not actually attacked by Fenrir Greyback) and scores of other
characters are also putting their children on the train at that
moment. We just don't see them because JKR has used the fog to conceal
all but a few characters from the reader's view.

BTW, my apologies to everybody for inadequate snipping in the
hippogriff/dragon post! :-0

Carol, hoping that Rose Weasley does marry Scorpius Malfoy, helping to
heal the Gryffindor/Slytherin feud