See what happens when I read?
So I'm having a little trouble with Alchemy. I'm sorta comprehending the alchemical themes in literature but not really. I'll admit it: I'm just not getting it completely. You know when someone explains it then someone else explains it too and it contradicts what the first person said? That's where I am now. I'm conflicted. I was on my way to understanding then got distracted by a floating grin and can't remember the direction I was going.
Right now I'm currently reading Looking For God In Harry Potter by John Granger, which some of you My Space geeks might already know (yeah, you totally checked my page five times this week). It's helping me get through the absence of Potter in my life until 2007 (I'll be hitting up Fiction Alley shortly, in about 165 pages, so that's like 3 1/2 weeks from now). Granger is a father to seven very Christian children so when the oldest brought Harry into the house, he had to confiscate him. He read the HP series to see if they were chock full of the evil that everyone in the Bible Belt said they were full of even though they never read them. He found, to his surprise, that the books were laden with good morals, virtues, and the constant battle between good & evil/right & wrong. He then could relate the story to passages in the Bible and so on and so forth. I am in chapter five at the moment and I find this book to be very intriguing.
Today I hit the chapter of alchemical literary references and had trouble wrapping my head around this idea. I know some of you may be able to help me understand this (calling all literary and scientific geniuses, you know who you are). I appreciate any help you could offer me in this situation.
There seems to be one point in particular that I'm struggling with. The three stages of alchemy within the cycle of each book. They are in short: Black, white and red. Black symbolizes dissolution which it must go through in order to be reborn. Okay, got that. White is all about the purification. Then red, which is recongealing. Fine, but then Granger goes and attaches characters with each stage, all of which are "father figures" to Harry. White seems to be the only one to match. Albus means white in Latin so this is where Dumbledore comes in which I get. He helps Harry understand the nature of his life in all six books, taking Harry from vengeful to embracing the inevitable. Rubeus is Latin for red so that's Hagrid, and then of course black is, well Sirius Black, duh. What troubles me is that Granger says Rowling named Hagrid and Sirius after the other two stages yet these stages are so far from the character it makes no sense. I think Granger may be reaching here. Kinda like the Know-It-All in your freshman year lit class that can find symbolic meaning in your Bazooka wrapper and relate it to a Faulkner novel.
-Tangent on naming characters: Isn't it amazing how writers take their characters and model them after a certain name in order to fit the character sketch? They just decide, "hey, Bridget means strength. Since my character is strong, that's her name!" I have characters that don't match their names at all so does this make me less insightful than other authors? Okay, so I lucked out with Quinn meaning queen but Diana meaning divine? I should have named Diana, Laila which means dark one (it's the closest thing I could find to evil manipulative bitch). But the whole molding characters to names...it's kind of cheating in a way. We don't get that chance with naming our children. My parents chose a good name for me. Katie means pure. I've removed myself physically from this meaning in my late teen years but never emotionally. I have always remained pure of heart. My parents never knew this could happen, for all they knew I could have grown into a cold-hearted beast stuck with a nice name. Maybe we grow into our names subconsciously like our astrological signs. But then again, some never grow into their name at all. Their parents just thought it sounded good with the last name and now the name means nothing. Sad really. You might want to get Know-It-All in here to give it a stretch and make you feel better. I just don't get why we have to delve so deep into a name when really we should be focusing on the character traits themselves. Oh and don't you just loathe people that write stories about devilish children, then stick them with a name like Damien or Draco Malfoy?
So what I really like about this book is that it challenges my thinking and the way I view these characters and events. It's really something else.
Right now I'm currently reading Looking For God In Harry Potter by John Granger, which some of you My Space geeks might already know (yeah, you totally checked my page five times this week). It's helping me get through the absence of Potter in my life until 2007 (I'll be hitting up Fiction Alley shortly, in about 165 pages, so that's like 3 1/2 weeks from now). Granger is a father to seven very Christian children so when the oldest brought Harry into the house, he had to confiscate him. He read the HP series to see if they were chock full of the evil that everyone in the Bible Belt said they were full of even though they never read them. He found, to his surprise, that the books were laden with good morals, virtues, and the constant battle between good & evil/right & wrong. He then could relate the story to passages in the Bible and so on and so forth. I am in chapter five at the moment and I find this book to be very intriguing.
Today I hit the chapter of alchemical literary references and had trouble wrapping my head around this idea. I know some of you may be able to help me understand this (calling all literary and scientific geniuses, you know who you are). I appreciate any help you could offer me in this situation.
There seems to be one point in particular that I'm struggling with. The three stages of alchemy within the cycle of each book. They are in short: Black, white and red. Black symbolizes dissolution which it must go through in order to be reborn. Okay, got that. White is all about the purification. Then red, which is recongealing. Fine, but then Granger goes and attaches characters with each stage, all of which are "father figures" to Harry. White seems to be the only one to match. Albus means white in Latin so this is where Dumbledore comes in which I get. He helps Harry understand the nature of his life in all six books, taking Harry from vengeful to embracing the inevitable. Rubeus is Latin for red so that's Hagrid, and then of course black is, well Sirius Black, duh. What troubles me is that Granger says Rowling named Hagrid and Sirius after the other two stages yet these stages are so far from the character it makes no sense. I think Granger may be reaching here. Kinda like the Know-It-All in your freshman year lit class that can find symbolic meaning in your Bazooka wrapper and relate it to a Faulkner novel.
-Tangent on naming characters: Isn't it amazing how writers take their characters and model them after a certain name in order to fit the character sketch? They just decide, "hey, Bridget means strength. Since my character is strong, that's her name!" I have characters that don't match their names at all so does this make me less insightful than other authors? Okay, so I lucked out with Quinn meaning queen but Diana meaning divine? I should have named Diana, Laila which means dark one (it's the closest thing I could find to evil manipulative bitch). But the whole molding characters to names...it's kind of cheating in a way. We don't get that chance with naming our children. My parents chose a good name for me. Katie means pure. I've removed myself physically from this meaning in my late teen years but never emotionally. I have always remained pure of heart. My parents never knew this could happen, for all they knew I could have grown into a cold-hearted beast stuck with a nice name. Maybe we grow into our names subconsciously like our astrological signs. But then again, some never grow into their name at all. Their parents just thought it sounded good with the last name and now the name means nothing. Sad really. You might want to get Know-It-All in here to give it a stretch and make you feel better. I just don't get why we have to delve so deep into a name when really we should be focusing on the character traits themselves. Oh and don't you just loathe people that write stories about devilish children, then stick them with a name like Damien or Draco Malfoy?
So what I really like about this book is that it challenges my thinking and the way I view these characters and events. It's really something else.