PTSD

The Requisite Harry Potter Post

So, what about it, eh?

The identity of the half-blood prince: I guessed it. Actually, I had a hard time between a couple of choices but I guessed it.

Who dies?: I guessed that too. It was easy enough to do so towards the end. And, really, I think it was time s/he died anyway.

Who does the killing?: A total utter absolute shock. Total. I still don’t believe it. I reckon it’s a ploy. A ruse. A part of me wants to write emails to J.K. Rowling to tell her off.

But, I’m not about to talk of these things when my fellow blogger (and, presumably some of its readers) have not yet read HP6 (though Elizabeth seems to know what went on without reading it). Instead, I am going to write about this one incident when Dumbledore tells Harry that the prophecy, which says that neither Harry nor Voldemort can live while the other survives, did not become such until Voldemort found out about it and set about making it true.

So, what does that mean? We have already seen in the past few books that Neville could have been “The Chosen One” instead of Harry. The only reason Harry became TCO is because Voldemort made him so by targeting him and his family for death. We have also seen that Harry could have been The Evil Chosen One. He could have been in Slytherin, he can speak Parseltongue, and he isn’t a “good” student in the way that he does stuff which are considered to be bad (remember the unknown curse he used on Draco in this book?). But, he made choices which made him what he now is. To me, this is what makes the books fun since there are no heroes and villains, as such, who are entirely “good” or entirely “evil”. Compared to LOTR, for instance, when Frodo is quite clearly TCO, Harry isn’t. He is the reluctant chosen one. Or, the one who is made into the chosen one through circumstances and his own choices.

What does this say about fate and destiny? I was told last week, when discussing my PhD project with someone, that terrorists are genetically predestined to become such (yes, the guy I was talking to was a nutter). But, even in HP’s world of children and magic, there is no such thing. Harry’s father does not appear to have been a pleasant man. Snape, who is disliked heartily by Harry, was bullied by other students (including Harry's dad) for being different when at school (and for dirty and mean but, hey, can you really blame him for being mean?). Voldemort was ignored by his father and the choices he made after he entered Hogwarts were different to Harry’s.

This is why, to me, the HP series are so readable and are unlike other similar novels where the choice of who is to be a hero is clearer. I admit it’s been years since I read LOTR but, from what I remember, Frodo had little choice about taking the ring to Mt Doom, Saruman’s motivations were not made clear (he was Evil too with little or no non-Evil factors) and the universe of LOTR was more clearly divided into Good and Evil. That is why I always found Boromir compelling: he was one of the few people in the LOTR universe who wanted to use the ring for himself (though to do a "good" thing). And, there’s Gollum, of course. He, too, lapses between Good and Evil. The others, including (and, especially) Aragorn, Gimli and the rest were Good through and through.

But, this is not a post on LOTR. It’s on HP. Of course, I could go on and on about why HP became so popular and not any other children’s novel even though there are many novels, even fantasy novels, probably better written, more complex in their dealings of death and mortality and choices than HP. Philip Pullman’s series (which I saw on stage at one point) come to mind. HP, though, takes a “normal” universe, one that children everywhere can identify with (well, those children lucky enough to go to school and are able to read) and tweaks it to make it go beyond Good and Evil.

I bought the first three HP books for my sisters, both of whom are much younger than me. They were my gifts for them during one of my visits home from Australia. As Harry and his friends (and foes) have grown up, so have they. I find it fun that there’s a series that we can all read and enjoy and talk about, no matter where we are (one’s in Nepal and the other one’s in New Zealand). With its questions of fate and choices and its descriptions of a world of magic and school, HP is just plain fun. I can't wait for the next one, really.

posted by Priya @ 11:30 AM