Harry Potter in general - Above and Below

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 190593


> 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.

Pippin:
It's interesting that Harry decides he's never going to forgive Snape at about the same time that Draco decides he's going to be a killer. They both find they have misunderstood themselves and their capabilities. 

In fact Harry was never  one to sustain a grudge, and had always been willing to forgive as soon as the offensive behavior showed any sign of being under control.  

Snape had to remain unreconciled for Harry to understand, finally, what Dumbledore meant by saying that Snape's wounds were too deep for the healing. Harry's hatred was cured by understanding, but no one could  force Snape to an understanding that would have been too painful for him to endure. 

Dave:
You're certainly not alone in believing JKR went overboard in her
killings. Yes, Jo, we get the point -- War is hell. But she could
have made that point without killing so many, IMO, I mean, she
didn't spare a *single* member of the Mauraders' generation!

Pippin:
Then maybe that wasn't the point she was making :)

The books show us  an  irreparable and exhausting waste of life,  even in a just and necessary war against an implacable destroyer.  We have to understand that to understand why Harry and Dumbledore  turned away  from the power to remake the WW by force. 


Bart:
I've mentioned that one thing I wish JKR had done was to put at
least one Slytherin student who proved to be one of the good guys. Even
having one in the DA; with the attitude, "That's just school games, this
is for REAL!"

Pippin:
Both Nerona and Bart tie the  number of deaths in the story  to an unsatisfactory resolution of the Slytherin/Snape  arc. We are primed to accept that great victories are won  by great sacrifice. It is not so comforting to be told that a fragile, baby-step victory can cost just as much. But in real life, that may be the only kind we can get. 

The exclusion of the Slytherins  from the DA and their expulsion before the final battle mirrors the exclusion of the students themselves from meaningful training in DADA. Harry's friends are suspected of allegiance to a corrupt leader and they turn the same suspicion on Slytherin House. Thy were seen as Other and excluded, so they projected Otherness on a group even more marginal than themselves.

 But Slytherins, ever resourceful, found their own way to play a part in the defeat of Voldemort, just as the DA did.  And Harry recognizes that. Is there any doubt that if danger threatened Hogwarts again, he would expect all the Houses to stand against it as Slughorn, Snape and Regulus did? 

We may not be  sure, as the book ends, that all is as well as Harry thinks it is. If his belief is based in denial and complacency, then, imo, his victory will be short-lived. 

 If it is based in constant vigilance and a willingness to address the problems that led to Voldemort's rise in the first place, then it may endure. 
 

Pippin