Right vs. Easy (Ron WAS: Re: DH reread CH 4-5)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 186345


> Magpie:
> I didn't at all say that the "right" choice was judged easy by virtue of the inclination. I said that for a choice to be easy it really had to be tempting because it's so easy.

Pippin:
I think you're  right in pointing out that overall the books don't  picture serving Voldemort as temptingly easy, though he's very good at disguising his true aims from his new recruits until they're hopelessly compromised.

 But there's another choice that you're not considering. There's the temptingly easy choice of believing there's nothing you can do. That's what Ron has to struggle against, both in trying to overcome his confidence problems and in choosing to tackle the horcrux. And it's the problem  which overcomes most of the  wizarding world  in DH.

Harry doesn't face that particular demon very often, but when he does, it forms some of  the most dramatic and disturbing episodes in the books. In fact this situation frames  the final three volumes like a pair of bookends. Harry doesn't believe he can do anything to manage his reaction to Cedric's death, and he doesn't believe he can do anything to help the baby-thing at King's Cross. 

Going back instead of going on at King's Cross is also a choice of right over easy, one which Harry frames explicitly:" Leaving this place would not be nearly as hard as walking into the forest had been, but it was warm and light and peaceful here, and he knew that he was heading back to pain and the fear of more loss."

Clearly it is not easy for Harry to offer Voldemort a sincere chance to reform himself, and it comes out sounding more than half like a taunt when he does, but even Voldemort perceives there  is something more to it than that.

As for Dumbledore, the easy choice was letting himself be swept along by lust and  visions of glory, ignoring  his reservations until it was too late.

Pippin