CHAPDISC: DH, EPILOGUE

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185368

 > CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Epilogue

> Questions:

<snip synopsis>
> 
> 1.  Authors sometimes conclude novels with a chapter telling readers
what happened to the characters after the action of the book concludes
(see, for instance, Middlemarch and David Copperfield). JKR chose not
to do that, instead using post-publication interviews to let us know
the stories of the people in canon.  In writing the epilogue, then,
she must have had something specific she wanted to achieve or
communicate.  What do you think that was?

Carol responds:

Not many modern novels provide epilogues of the sort encountered in
nineteenth-century novels. LOTR is an exception, of course, but, then
its events form a small part of Tolkien's history of Middle Earth.
That aside, I agree that JKR had another purpose, which I take to be
moving forward to the next generation to show Harry being what he's
always wanted to be, Just Harry, a happily married family man with
normal kids who somewhat resemble him and Ginny, along with his
happily married best friends and their children. She gives us a
glimpse of Hogwarts, letting us know that in many respects its still
what it was when we originally became enchanted by it, and yet there's
hope for a reconciliation with Slytherin that did not exist when Harry
entered the school--he's named one of his sons for two headmasters,
one of them a Slytherin; he tells that same son that he will love him
and be proud of him if he's sorted into Slytherin (contrast his own
father's attitude toward Slytherin); he wordlessly accepts Draco's nod
and comments about his little son (contrast Lucius Malfoy and Arthur
Weasley coming to blows in Flourish and Blotts). Life may not be as
perfect in the WW as some of us hoped it might be, but Harry's scar is
just a scar and fame has not gone to his head. All is well in JKR's
view--and Harry's. And that's her point and purpose. Harry has his
just reward, the normal life and family he's always wanted.
> 
> 2. One of the complaints about the epilogue is that it is
heteronormative.  Is that a fair critique?

Carol responds:
to be frank, my first reaction to this question was "What"? It took me
a moment to comprehend the PC term. I'll just say that I've never
encountered any such criticism, and, IMO, it's just plain silly to
expect a book with one character that JKR informed us was gay after
the fact to suddenly become a world in which, say, Neville and Seamus
have adopted an orphaned witch. We knew early on that Ron and Hermione
would get together and many of us suspected that Harry and Ginny
would, too. Draco, too, was clearly heterosexual, even if his taste in
girlfriends could be improved. JKR was writing for her own
satisfaction. I doubt that she gave even a passing thought to what
critics who use words like "heteronormative" would think of her books.

> 3. James and Albus have very low opinions of Slytherin House,
despite their parents' attempt to teach them otherwise.  They are
firmly attached to Gryffindor.  What, then, do you think has changed
in the relations among houses and the reputations of the various
houses in nineteen years?

Carol responds:
James, like his namesake, probably had dreams of glory. He can hardly
help admiring his father's accomplishments and all the people he knows
well (with the possible exception of Teddy Lupin, whose mother was a
Hufflepuff) are Gryffindors. Albus, though he clearly has a different
sort of personality, has heard the same stories. How much either of
them knows of Slytherin House is an unanswerable question. Comments
like Ron's can't help, but Harry seems to have a more open mind than
he once had, going so far as to name Albus Severus after a Slytherin
that he once hated. I think that James's dislike of Slytherin is a
schoolboy's prejudice against a different House, much like an American
child's prejudice against a rival school. Albus has no experience of
his own on which to base his judgments; he's heard only what James has
said, and James, we know, is teasing him about Slytherin in the same
way he's teasing him about Thestrals (about which he most likely knows
next to nothing--certainly, he's never seen one). Judging from Draco's
nod to Harry, relations between the two men are civil but distant. I
doubt that Scorpius will be bragging about his father's power and
influence or his own pure blood. He seems greatly subdued (with
reason, given his own history and his family's and his debt to Harry).
I suspect that Slytherin in general will be less obsessed with pure
blood, very much ashamed of their connection with Voldemort, and
rather inclined to play up the role of Severus Snape in the second
Voldy War. Possibly, the typical Slytherin will resemble Slughorn
rather than the Malfoys. Slytherins like Regulus, Severus, and Barty
Jr. (assuming that he was a Slytherin) may have a chance to develop
their talents without being drawn to Dark magic and/or pureblood
supremacy. It isn't as bad as it was. Even with Ron's teasing, it's
likely that little Scorpius will get along better with Albus Severus
and Rose than Draco did with Harry and Hermione. And their children,
perhaps, may even be friends.
> 
> 4. If there is no difference (at least officially) among houses, why
is there still a Sorting Hat?

Carol responds:
Harry didn't say that there was no difference among the Houses. He
said that it would make no difference to him and Ginny if Albus was
Sorted into Slytherin. Unlike Voldemort, who thinks that all students
can be made to fit one (perverted) ideal, Harry knows that students
have different personalities and values, and perhaps he thinks it's a
good thing if reasonably like-minded students are grouped together, as
long as they're grouped by virtues or strengths (courage,
intelligence, loyalty/hard work, ambition--and, yes, ambition is not
necessarily a bad thing) rather than blood or ideology. And, though
Harry doesn't say so, the system of awarding or subtracting House
points rather than merely punishing individual students can be an
effective disciplinary measure. And they need Houses, or how could
they form rival Quidditch teams? They'd have to play Durmstrang or
Beauxbatons. Seriously, I don't think that all the Houses would be the
same or that either Harry or JKR sees the House system in itself as a
bad thing. House unity doesn't mean House abolishment. It means the
Houses, including Slytherin, working together for a better Hogwarts.
> 
> 5. How do the Potter and Weasley children demonstrate JKR's belief
that personality traits are hereditary?

Carol responds:
Hm. I can't speak for the Weasley children because I don't remember
their actions, but James does seem to resemble his namesake. He'll
need to be kept in line as he seems to enjoy teasing, but I see no
indication that he's headed toward becoming an arrogant berk. Lily's
behavior resembles Ginny's in SS/Ps, but she's the youngest and
naturally wants to go to school with her brothers. I don't recall any
behavior in Albus, the most sensitive of Harry's children, that
resembles either of his parents (other than the James-induced
reluctance to be Sorted into Gryffindor). BTW, it's my experience that
some personality traits and tendencies are indeed inherited.
> 
> 6. What is JKR suggesting by naming Draco's son Scorpius?

Carol responds:
I think that Draco is simply following the tradition of his mother's
family in naming children after constellations. I don't think that we
can determine much about Draco himself by examining the mythology
attached to the constellation Draco, so it's probably fruitless to
speculate about Scorpius based on, say, the myth of Scorpio and Orion.
Possibly the child is astrologically a Scorpio (which is not
necessarily a bad thing--just ask any Scorpio!).
> 
> 7. How do you think Harry feels about Teddy Lupin?  Does he see
himself in Remus and Tonks's son?

Carol responds:
All we know is that he's filled his responsibility as a godson and has
maintained a close and cordial relationship with him (and presumably
with his grandmother, Andromeda). And Teddy must have turned out all
right if James is both excited and concerned about "our Teddy"
snogging "our Victoire" (his cousin). He seems equally close to and
possessive of them both. Beyond that, who can say? JKR saw Teddy as
the happy, well-adapted orphan that Harry wasn't, and, certainly,
Harry worried about being as reckless a godfather as Sirius had been
to him, but I hope he doesn't envy Teddy and wish that he could have
been brought up by loving relatives and friends.
> 
> 8. Do you agree with Harry's opinion of Snape?

I'd eliminate the "probably," but, otherwise, yes. I was very touched
by his words to Albus Severus and by his naming that son for two
headmasters, Dumbledore and Snape, neither perfect but both important
elements in his victory against Voldemort.
> 
> 9. In SS, the Sorting Hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin
because, among his other traits, Harry has "a nice thirst to prove
yourself" (SS 121).  We know that when Voldemort attempted to curse
Harry, he inadvertently created a connection between Harry and
himself.  Do you think that any of Harry's personality or behavior was
influenced by this bit of Voldemort?  If so, would Harry have changed
after the piece of Voldemort's soul was gone from his own soul?

Carol responds:
I think that the thirst to prove himself has nothing to do with
Voldemort. It's partly an inherited trait (from James) and partly the
result of having been brought up by the Dursleys and wanting to prove
to himself that their judgment of him was wrong. I don't think that
the soul bit influenced Harry's personality all that strongly (though
the Sorting Hat must have sensed it without recognizing it) while
Voldemort was weak. It seems to have been strongest in OoP and perhaps
to have resurfaced in DH. (Maybe it was the soul bit that caused him
to want to Crucio Bellatrix and Snape, and Draco's wand that enabled
him to do so successsfully?) At any rate, except for odd moments like
those, Harry's personality traits are mostly his own. Some, of course,
come from his position as the Prophecy and his consequent destiny; if
Voldemort is singling you out to kill you and you know you'll
eventually have to fight him, you're going to have different
personality traits from other people (a degree of self-absorption, for
example, that I don't think Harry would have had otherwise, and an
obsession with saving people rather than relating to or befriending
them). Once the soul bit was gone, Harry probably felt less anger. He
certainly had fewer headaches, literally and figuratively. But the
death of Voldemort and the end of his struggles against him and the
DEs would have had the same healing effect. All in all, I think that
the soul bit is more important for the abilities it gave Harry
(Parseltongue and a mind link to Voldemort) than for any effect on his
personality. Had he been James, though, I shudder to think what would
have happened. Arrogance plus soul bit equals disaster.
> 
> 10. What would Harry see if he looked once more into the Mirror of
Erised?

Carol:
That's easy. Himself exactly as he is.

Carol, sad that we've reached our last CHAPDISC!