On Jul 17, 2005, at 3:57 PM, Gautam Mukunda wrote:
[Spoilerplate]
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--- Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
2. OK - this is really the part of the book I find
most interesting. The extent to which these books
are, in a sense, didactic is quite remarkable to
me,
and I really admire both Rowling's skill and her
principles. There are a few scenes in particular
that, to me, send this message. But let's set the
context a little bit. In the earlier books Harry
was,
in general, a poor, downtrodden kid.
I don't think so. He is _the_ Harry Potter almost
from the beginning. He
is a favorite of the headmaster, of many of the
teachers, and is a rare
first year Seeker, who is remarkedly good at it,
too. He is proclaimed a
hero at the end of the first book, and wins glory
for his house with his
actions. Only Snape, who distrusts the family, and
Malfoy and his henchmen
are against him. Further, Malfoy is against him
because he turned down an
invitation to join him very publically. Harry was
sticking by ordinary
people (a poorer wizzard family and a Mudblood from
the the very beginning.
That's true, but I think it understates the power of
the scenes where Harry is at the Dursley's. There
he's clearly the oppressed one, and Rowling
(significantly, until this book) is careful to give us
a good long taste of what it's like for Harry to live
there. Similarly, it may be true that only Snape is
against him - but the other teachers really do little
to help him, while Snape does a great deal to harm
him. So I think it's true that Harry stuck by
ordinary people from the beginning - but it's
different to do so when your primary identification is
as one of the downtrodden, and another when you're the
elite.
It just occurred to me how very Dickensian a lot of this story is.
Harry's more or less the perfect iconic Dickens hero -- a boy who
survives tremendous oppression, an orphan, who manages to maintain a
sweet spirit, and who over time and in the right environments
flourishes as a really fine young man.
When was he an outcast? He had two great friends,
he was a key player on
_the_ sports team, etc. It wasn't until book 4 & 5
that people in general
started questioning him because he said that
You-Know-Who was back and that
he fought him.
I think that it's true that he was only an outcast at
Hogwarts for some periods. But he was an outcast for
_the first 11 years of his life_. And Rowling is
careful to make that status clear in all of the
earlier books. One of the striking things about the
books, really, is how _angry_ they are. You get the
feeling that Rowling works herself up into a howling
rage at the British class system - something she is
able to do despite being a billionaire. That was the
biggest insight to come out of Slate's Book Clubs on
Harry Potter, I think.
And that again is what feels so much like Dickens. (Well, that plus the
books are turning into great whopping thick wedges of pulp, another
Dickens hallmark. ;)
--
Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
http://books.nightwares.com/
Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror"
http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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