Harry Potter in general - Above and Below

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 190590



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nerona" <nerona12 at ...> wrote:
>
> > Steve:
> > Notice one thing about all the people who died, they all stood
> above Harry. They were all people Harry looked up to. The people
> who remained are all people who looked up to Harry. They stood as
> his equals or, from a certain perspective, his subordinates.
> >
> > When the final battle came, JKR wanted Harry isolated, she wanted
> this to be a battle between Harry and Voldemort with no hero of
> Harry's able to step in and save the day.
> >
> > The weight had to fall on Harry's shoulders and his alone. And
> that meant that everyone who stood above Harry, figuratively
> > speaking, had to be gone.
> 
> 
> Nerona:
> That's a good point, now I can see it more clearly, but hasn't she
> put at least 1 scene of understanding between Harry and Snape, it
> illogic for Harry to hate Snape all these years, and Snape hating
> him back and then because of a memory Harry names his own son after
> him.
> 
> ...
>

Steve:

But isn't that how life is? Harry deeply regreted all the lost opportunities he had with Dumbledore once Dumbledore was gone.

You never miss (or appreciate) the water until the well runs dry. 

The same it true of Snape, in hindsight, Harry realized he never got the moment of recognition and resolution with Snape. They never sat down and said, this is this, and this is why it is. But neither did he get that moment of quiet mutual reflection with Dumbledore, or Lupin or Fred or Tonks or any of the other people who dies.

Yes, in movies and books, conflict is frequently tied up in neat heartwarming resolution. But life, real life, is rarely that way. Real life is filled with regret and lost moments, and oddly, while alive, both parties actively resist that moment of resolution and quiet mutual reflection - parents and children, husbands and wives, brother and sisters, best friends, etc.... 

We never regret the thing said and done, as much as we regret the things left unsaid and undone. 

I think JRK intentionally left us with that sense of unresolved and missed opportunity. 

No, Snape and Harry didn't get to have their moment, but it is enough that finally, at last, Harry understands Snape and understands what he did for the cause. And I think naming his son after Snape, was a tribute to that understanding. By naming his some, the memory of Snape and his sacrifice live on. 

And relative to the other people who died, Harry didn't get to have his moment with Sirius or Lupin or Dumbledore or anyone else. 

That's the way life is - opportunities lost. 

Steve/bboyminn