Looking Back Question...

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 182021

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Beatrice23" <beatrice23 at ...> wrote:
>
> Beatrice:  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?
> 
> My own response:  There are so many great things in these novels that 
> it is difficult to choose one.  I know that many people have 
> difficulty with some of the content of the last installment.  But, I 
> hope that people get the message of forgiveness in these books.  I 
> was particularly struck by the way in which Harry offered Voldemort 
> forgiveness and through forgiveness possible redemtion for his 
> twisted, mangled soul.  Of anyone in the wizarding world, Harry has 
> more right than most to refuse Voldemort forgiveness, but he offers 
> it just the same, even if LV is too evil to take him up on it.  
> 
> This moment for me is one of the most important in the novel.  It 
> isn't just a model for how the wizarding world should go forth, but 
> also how Harry will be going on with his own life after.  Perhaps, 
> too, it is such a great lesson for our own world.  I think that this 
> kind of redemption marks this whole novel and some people find 
> redemption, some refuse it, and some are denied the opportunity.  I 
> could start a thread on this issue to expand my explaination, but in 
> this thread I just wanted to touch on the many different themes and 
> possibly start some different threads debating / discussing them.

Geoff:
One thought springing immediately to mind is one I have constantly 
quoted in my four and a half years of membership - Dumbledore's 
famous remark:

'"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than 
our abilities."
(COS "Dobby's Reward" p.245 UK edition)

This of course is something which I hold as a cornerstone of my own 
Christian faith but it is something which Harry uses to great effect - 
sometimes not always the desired one(!) - throughout the books and 
which also gives me food for thought with people I would like to have 
seen fully redeemed such as Draco.