Continuing to continue...
One of the themes that is becoming more and more pronounced in the Harry Potter series is that of death. Voldemort is adamant that the worst thing that could happen to a person is that they should die, and he tries convincing Harry of this. After all, if this life is it, why waste your time trying to do good and trying to be noble, especially if it might come into the way of the length of your life?
To his great credit, Harry is not convinced of this. After all, his parents died trying to protect their child. According to Dumbledore, it was this love which produced a deeper type of magic that protected Harry from Voldemort that night, and it was this directly that saved him at the end of book one. We see throughout the books how Voldemort is characterised... He lives, but he lives an accursed life, living off of others, living off the innocent, such as with the unicorn. He lives, and that is his goal. He will die, though. Even Nicholas Flamel decided that living forever wasn't for him (even if he and his wife were living quietly somewhere, not power-hungry and evil like Voldemort.) Watching the movie "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", I was struck at how Harry nearly died trying to save Ginny. Here he was, merely a child himself, and yet he already knew that there were things worse than death, and things that are worth dying for.
With book five, not only is it Harry who clearly understands this, but most of those who chose to enlist in "DA". They knew Cedric, they know what can happen to them, but they decide to act to contradict the forces of evil anyway. This was brought up in another post that I happened to find concerning Neville. Neville knows that he doesn't have the talent or the finesse that Harry and Ron and Hermione seem to have. He only needs to look to his parents to see the kinds of things Voldemort can do without killing somebody. But he's adamant that he wants to be a part of the DA, and he would rather be killed than let Harry give something important to Voldemort.
J.K. Rowling has stayed away from religion in her books. I find it interesting that at my grammar school, Harry Potter can be banned due to witches and wizards, but the Chronicles of Narnia are revered because of their religious themes, despite having fantastic creatures and witches and magic all about. They say silly things like how kids might want to study witchcraft or whatnot after reading the Harry Potter books. I wonder if these people have read the books or if they have understood anything of the main point of them. Yes, there are witches and wizards and magic. However, the point of the books isn't to tell kids "Hey, if you learn how to do spells, you can hex people." These are stories about young people who have choices to make; and unlike the characters in most "adult" books, these kids have chosen to do what is right, whether or not you base that on religion.
*sigh* The anniversary of the death of Alexander Schmorell (and Professor Kurt Huber) is nigh. More people who decided to do what was right, even though they knew the concequences of their actions. I was impressed by the image of Rowlings veil. Sure, veils and curtains and whatnot are common metaphors for "crossing over". But it was Luna's calmness and certainty of these people just being on the other side that brought me close to tears. She too, had chosen to be part of DA. She had witnessed someone die when she was quite young. As loopy as should could be sometimes, she couldn't have been unaware of the danger. I guess, without making it religious, seeing Luna have such faith was impressive. In writing his parents just before being executed, Alex Schmorell tried to reassure them of almost the same thing. Of course, with Alex, there were religious reasonings for this, but you get the idea. Yes, there are things worse than death. As much as I enjoy my friends and the sunshine and everything, I hope I can choose just as well as Harry and Neville and Alex, and never be so arrogant about life that I forget that there are those fates that are worse than death.
To his great credit, Harry is not convinced of this. After all, his parents died trying to protect their child. According to Dumbledore, it was this love which produced a deeper type of magic that protected Harry from Voldemort that night, and it was this directly that saved him at the end of book one. We see throughout the books how Voldemort is characterised... He lives, but he lives an accursed life, living off of others, living off the innocent, such as with the unicorn. He lives, and that is his goal. He will die, though. Even Nicholas Flamel decided that living forever wasn't for him (even if he and his wife were living quietly somewhere, not power-hungry and evil like Voldemort.) Watching the movie "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", I was struck at how Harry nearly died trying to save Ginny. Here he was, merely a child himself, and yet he already knew that there were things worse than death, and things that are worth dying for.
With book five, not only is it Harry who clearly understands this, but most of those who chose to enlist in "DA". They knew Cedric, they know what can happen to them, but they decide to act to contradict the forces of evil anyway. This was brought up in another post that I happened to find concerning Neville. Neville knows that he doesn't have the talent or the finesse that Harry and Ron and Hermione seem to have. He only needs to look to his parents to see the kinds of things Voldemort can do without killing somebody. But he's adamant that he wants to be a part of the DA, and he would rather be killed than let Harry give something important to Voldemort.
J.K. Rowling has stayed away from religion in her books. I find it interesting that at my grammar school, Harry Potter can be banned due to witches and wizards, but the Chronicles of Narnia are revered because of their religious themes, despite having fantastic creatures and witches and magic all about. They say silly things like how kids might want to study witchcraft or whatnot after reading the Harry Potter books. I wonder if these people have read the books or if they have understood anything of the main point of them. Yes, there are witches and wizards and magic. However, the point of the books isn't to tell kids "Hey, if you learn how to do spells, you can hex people." These are stories about young people who have choices to make; and unlike the characters in most "adult" books, these kids have chosen to do what is right, whether or not you base that on religion.
*sigh* The anniversary of the death of Alexander Schmorell (and Professor Kurt Huber) is nigh. More people who decided to do what was right, even though they knew the concequences of their actions. I was impressed by the image of Rowlings veil. Sure, veils and curtains and whatnot are common metaphors for "crossing over". But it was Luna's calmness and certainty of these people just being on the other side that brought me close to tears. She too, had chosen to be part of DA. She had witnessed someone die when she was quite young. As loopy as should could be sometimes, she couldn't have been unaware of the danger. I guess, without making it religious, seeing Luna have such faith was impressive. In writing his parents just before being executed, Alex Schmorell tried to reassure them of almost the same thing. Of course, with Alex, there were religious reasonings for this, but you get the idea. Yes, there are things worse than death. As much as I enjoy my friends and the sunshine and everything, I hope I can choose just as well as Harry and Neville and Alex, and never be so arrogant about life that I forget that there are those fates that are worse than death.