How It All Ends and Other Blather

Mon Nov 7 07:06:45 UTC 2005

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "carolynwhite2"
<carolynwhite2 at a...> wrote:
> Jane, as always, knew all about your sort:

> 'I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not
always evince its propriety.'
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/3414

Talisman:
Hang propriety.

Carolyn cont:
> [Speaking of Kneasy's 1984 ending quip] I wonder what ending would
suit the mood of the first decade of the 21st century? <snip
Carolyn's lighthearted list of modern miseries>

Carolyn cont:
> So the ingredients are all there. Now, she says she isn't writing
in the fantasy genre, just for herself.

Talisman:
Eeeeh. She said she's not a fan and didn't initially realize that
she was writing fantasy. I think she's acknowledged the awful truth,
since. Now she just insists that she is subverting the genre. The
question remains: what does she think fantasy literature does--as
opposed to what she expects HP to do?

Her claims not to be a fan of fantasy deserve a second look. I
considered this for awhile the other night, read quite a few
interview comments, and have decided that she's either
schizophrenic, disingenuous, or both.

With regard to *fantasy* per se, the comment is at the least
hyperbole and/or a parsing of the *meaning* of fantasy to suit her
purposes.

More likely, she just wanted to use the word *subversive* to induce
readers to take another look at her books as subversive works,
thereby possibly managing to see the manner in which they truly are,
since most readers are missing it. We can talk more about that
later, if anybody cares. (I'm already bored with it.)

In any event, the changes to be achieved in this quest
(romance)/bildungsroman/mystery are not exterior. The way of the
world is nothing new, and, at the end of Book 7, and it will remain
as it has always been--for the reader--and for Harry.

The transformations must be interior.

N.B.
In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/3417,
tbernhard2000 opined:
>The genre is nothing at all.

Talisman:
This is why genre matters, Dan. Like grammar, philosophy, and the
Prime Meridian, it helps us to understand and communicate meaning.
I'll take your point-- if I understand it correctly--that the
artist is not limited to/by conventions. Nonetheless, an art that
cannot be communicated is worthless. Genre, like all constructs,
measurements, and perspectives is our tool, not our cage. But
without the right tools, we can't get the job done.

This, potioncat and Catlady, is one of the reasons why it is
important to recognize the series as Romance, albeit nontraditional,
as this genre points to the palpable subtext, the interior arena,
and the ultimate transformation.

Back to Carolyn's search for the ideal calamity to end the series:
I don't think current events will play an important role--even if
she chooses to give a small nod in that direction.

Sorry about any apocalyptic aspirations.

I quite expect that Rowling's early message about *the need to go
on fighting, against the odds,* will hold the day.

If you recall, in PS/SS Harry wonders about Voldemort and says:

*I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?*

DD responds:

*No, Harry, he has not. ...Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only
have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else
who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time--and
if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to
power.* (SS 298)

Compare this to Rowling's comments in 2003:

Nevertheless, I've always believed that Harry Potter books are
highly moral. I wanted to portray the ambiguity of a society where
intolerance, cruelty, hypocrisy and corruption are frequent, so I
could better show how heroic it can be, no matter what your age is,
fighting in a battle that will never be won.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2003/1025-princeasturias-
speech.htm

That's the point. Harry's battle can never be won. His victory is
to carry on the good fight. This is her call to readers, as well:
*Fight the losing battle.* You will never defeat intolerance,
cruelty, hypocrisy, and corruption, etc., but don't yield to them
yourself, and take a stand against them wherever you find them. [Cue
the swelling background music.]

The surface-level implication is that Voldemort will never be
entirely destroyed.

Sure, there are plenty of parochial evil-doers in the WW, but they
just can't fill Voldie's shoes--at least metaphorically. Not only
has Harry done a pretty good job of handling them so far, but I
expect he will be even more well equipped to resist them once he
*comes of age* and no longer has to defer to guardians and
professors, or worry about being expelled or charged with under-aged
magic.

The Dursleys, Lockharts, Malfoys, and Umbridges of the world will
get short treatment from an actualized Harry. Even the Fudges,
Scrimgeors, and Skeeters will think twice. It's Voldemort, really,
who is left to represent that smoldering, unfathomable, evil-
incarnate that threatens from all sides, including the interior.
Please don't giggle.

If we're going to work within Rowling's metaphysical landscape,
we'll need to keep *Old Tom* around.

So, yeah, tiresome as it is, I continue to think that Harry is a Hx.
(It's not my fault, blame Rowling.) Not one that Voldemort made;
one that DD made. All in that cataclysmic night at Godric's
Hollow. Voldemort did the murder, but DD cast the spell.

Folks, including Voldemort, will figure this out over the course of
Book 7. Harry will have managed to destroy all the other Hxes,
therefore knowledge of this situation will actually stay Voldemort'
s hand. He won't want to destroy the last safeguard of his
immortality until he can re-establish a new backup system.

Unfortunately for the Dark Lord, before he can make Harry redundant,
he will either be chased into the hinterlands, or blasted back to
vapor--take your pick--it's all one. This will make the old boy
even more dependant on his last bit of soul insurance, a fact which
will continue to act as a buffer for Harry in coming years.

Harry will still be able to use the scar-link to sense where and
when Voldemort threatens a comeback, and he'll always have a head-
start because Voldemort will need to re-entrench himself before he
can move to destroy Harry.

The metaphor is perfect. Gentle reader, you may not be able to
eradicate hypocrites, nasty people, and corrupt institutions, they
are part of the human landscape. But, you can protect the world
against the potential evil that resides within you.

Only you can sense the evil rising within, and only you can keep it
a bay; let it get a toe-hold, and it will destroy you; fight it--
again and again--and it may never gain power. But, as long as you
live, your struggles will remain a battle that cannot be won; a
battle that needs to be fought every day.

Unless, of course, you relocate to the Welsh Marches and set in a
good supply of gin. Then you are free to lie upon your couch,
resplendent in your vices.

Why would DD do such a thing? (People always ask *why,* though
really it's just a way of trying to make you prove more, when they
can't even refute what you've got.) Well, it relates to the
recent discussion of Harry's potential for becoming the next Dark
Lord, because that is *one* of the components that DD has been
managing.

This is part (though only part) of why Harry was placed with a
family that would repress magic. It's why DD, himself, is the
author of most of the laws regarding underage magic. It's why the
Ministry, apparently with DD's encouragement, disallows other
magical people to live in the Little Whinging area, making it easier
to monitor magical usage (OoP 143). It's *part* of why DD has his
own secret surveillance system in place.

This understanding illuminates the Draco/Nott conversation, at
Chez Malfoy, wherein they exchange * all sorts of stories that the
Death Eaters tell about how this baby boy survived the Dark Lord's
attack.*
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=5

Understanding that the DE's looked to Harry as a new leader
explains Draco's early attempt at friendship. It explains why the
Malfoys' attitude changed to anger at Harry's obvious allegiance
with DD. It explains Lucius' subsequent attempts to destroy, first
DD & the Weasleys in Book 2; then Harry, in Book 3.

There is absolutely no evidence of such attempts prior to Harry
evincing his alignment.

If Harry had been raised as a celebrity and had never been
threatened by Voldemort (for DD is the one who brought the rascal
back, time and again), he may well have developed into an arrogant
Dark Lord.

In addition to the many *special lessons* he has arranged for Harry
every year, DD engineered Harry's childhood struggles; his early
allegiance with Hagrid; DD's own *special friendship* with Harry
(Cf. the *hands off* treatment of Tom Riddle); and, the early 
conflict with Voldemort (in which we see that Voldie would have 
liked to recruit the Chosen One, too). All of these elements worked 
to orient Harry to the side of *light.*

When Harry discovers that he is Voldemort's tether to the world, he
will be horrified. (Cf. his reaction to being the snake, OoP 492)

That's the *big thing* for which Rowling has been preparing Harry,
over the course of the series.

Rowling:

Also, it will take 7 books to get Harry to the point where he has to
face, um I can't say. But in Book 7, you know, there's a big
climax coming here and it will take that many books to get him
there.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/1099-
connectiontransc.html

That, some more bad stuff about James, and maybe even getting wise
to DD.

And, don't let anyone come blibbering to me about how much DD hated
Hxes.

1. He did the spell, not the murder. Though we know he bears
culpability for Godric's Hollow, as well.

2. The whole distinction between Dark Arts and good magic is a bunch
of hooey. Nothing is inherently bad or good, it's all about how
it's used. That's why Urquhart Rackharrow is honored with a
portrait at St. Mungo's, recognizing him as the inventor of *the
entrail expelling curse;* it's why bad guys use tickling and
dancing spells; and, why Hermione, having taken an attitude toward
the HBP, is foolish enough to ascribe fault to spells that merely
allow people to have private conversations. Nonsense.

3. Each book reverses the one before it. Six says DD hated Hxes,
Seven will show him using one. There is also a reversal pattern
cross series: in this case Seven to One; in One we found that LV was
in Quirrell, in Seven we'll find he's in Harry. Quirrell died,
Harry will live, etc.

4. That's the prophecy, and it applies to everyone.

It's the little devil in you, darlin'.

By recognizing and being vigilant against the Dark Lord [i.e. fear ,
hatred, and all their progeny] in himself, Harry will keep to the
side of light.

So, there it is: everybody lives. Rather a disappointment, I know.
Now we must pin our hopes on collateral damage. The stinking
carcasses of the Dursleys, sizzling on the smoldering remains of
Privet Drive, etc.

And then, of course, there is Snape. The only one who really
matters. : )

Talisman, for the Fellowship of the D.U.S.T. (Dumbledore Undercover
Surveillance Team) pseudo-posthumous division.

PS
The original of this post also included a lengthy response to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/3420, on which I 
am sleeping, under the terms of my Beta forbearance policy. Should
I decide to post it, I want it clarified that it was written before
I went back online and saw Shaun's *article.* Any similarities in
analogy must be attributed to a convenient fingering of the same
clichés. (Why my accent ague *e* has transformed into kanji, is 
anyone's guess.)

PPS
In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/3395, minxy
Carolyn wrote:

>The truly alarming thought is that what she is really attempting is
>a cross between Jane Austen, Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. Hm.

Talisman:
Someone needs an ass-whooping. I'm feeling the Beta program
slipping away.....

PPS
In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/3418, Kneasy
shared some bird-dropping be-speckled matter with us.

Talisman:
We'll not inquire as to *why* you were sniffing around old bird
cages. Let's just encourage you to keep up the good work, and then
get your volume of magical maladies published. Maybe Carolyn can
hook you up with someone.

Let's face it, it's your bailiwick. You can most likely design an
entire magical health system. Must reading for any waiting room.

No stepping on the Rowling toes, but definitely timely in terms of
public tastes.

Royalties would make a nice annuity for Igor. He's been heating
your boiled oil for years, `bout time you showed some gratitude.