Re: What’s the point of the Deathly Hallows? Not the book, but the Hallows?

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Ashley" <kumayama at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> I tend not to look for Harry's success in terms so much of
> Voldy's weakness, nor in what I consider to be contrived 
> explanations of the actions/functions of the Elder Wand, but in 
> the strength of a HP maturely working for the good of others.
> 
> Of course this may all be an overly sentimental perspective on 
>my part.
> 
> Lyn
>

Wotcher Lyn.
How's it going?

Potter working for the good of others....
I don't see that as his primary motivation, he's more emotionally
involved than that - to him, everything is *personal* in the broadest 
possible sense.

He sees things in terms of the individual rather than the more general
picture. Himself, his friends, his enemies, the loyal and the disloyal -
but the loyalties he treasures are also defined personally. Snape is
a member of the Order and DD trusts him totally. Harry doesn't, he's
obsessed with the idea that Snape is *his* enemy. The greater good
can go hang, the personal is what counts. I doubt whether he gives
much thought to the good of the greater mass with whom he is not 
acquainted.

He goes galloping off to gather the Hallows not because
it may save the WW, but because he thinks DD wants him to, and
DD's wishes are good enough for him. What he could or should do 
with the Hallows if he finds them, he hasn't the faintest idea. The fact 
that no-one else seems to either, doesn't matter. It's what he thinks 
his guide and mentor wants from him - and that's enough for almost
unquestioning effort. Yet it's time and effort wasted -  he already has
the cloak and, unknowingly, the ring - though whether it would actually
work after being Horcruxed and bashed by Gryffindor's sword is a bit iffy.

The wand? One of Jo's red herrings dragged across the plot (as are all 
the Hallows). Note that he spends comparatively little time wondering 
about the Stone - though since he knows that DD had it, it should be 
the easiest to locate. (Thinking about  it, the Hallows could have been
invited just to provide a snappy title - otherwise we might have been 
lumbered with "Harry Potter and the Excitement was In Tents." Couldn't
resist that - sorry.)

More understandably, the potential showdown with Voldy is also 
viewed in very personal terms - he killed Harry's parents and has 
been trying to kill Harry, and Harry knows he has to  face him 
sooner or later - but the fact that the future of the entire world rests 
on the outcome, well that's a subordinate benefit so far as Harry's
concerned - or at least, I  can't ever remember him discussing
the wider implications of his eventual success or failure.

He thinks that DD's plan has been about keeping him alive when 
the reality is different - he's Weapon!Harry, forged for a purpose - and 
when he finds out that DD expects him to sacrifice himself for the
good of others he thinks of it as a betrayal. Not a betrayal of the
greater good but of him - Harry. 

OK, much of this is to be expected, he's a teenager. Most see the
world in terms of themselves, I think. They can't help but do so. 
Thanks to Jo's dodgy plotting Harry won - but it was a very
personal bit of business IMO.

Kneasy