More on Albus Dumbledore_
Mar. 10th, 2011 11:59 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
mary-j-59.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslockHi, everyone. This will be quite short, but something sunnyskywalker said in a previous discussion rang bells with me. What if these books aren't quite what we think they are?
I am thinking of an interview with Rowling some years back, when she answered a question about her faith with words to this effect: "I struggle to keep believing". If anyone has the exact quote, I'd be grateful!
Because, you see, that is quite moving to me. It is hard to keep believing in God when you witness truly evil things happening to people you love. At least, you can't go on believing, like a child, in the wise old man with a beard who will make everything all right. That's so obviously not what God is.*
But, in these books, we have a wise old man with a beard. And he is very, very imperfect. Rowling's depiction of Dumbledore does, indeed, seem like an indictment of sorts.
But Dumbledore is obviously not God. He is just the headmaster of a wizarding school. Harry, despite some of the imagery surrounding him, is just as obviously not Jesus. Who is he? As I said on my blog some time back, he is an everyman character - specifically, he's Percival, the fool.
And - I think there is some kind of sense there, lurking deep down. I can't quite put my finger on it, but sometimes I think it's there.
Because, if there is a Christ figure at all in these books (but I don't think there is), that is definitely Severus Snape, in spite of his obvious imperfections. If Harry is Percival, Snape is the Fisher King; the wounded king of a wounded land. And what heals the Fisher King? Compassion and curiosity. Percival is supposed to ask a question. We all know that Harry never does that, don't we?
But, if Snape is the Fisher King and Harry Percival, who on earth is Dumbledore? Because he's not God. Not consciously, anyway. And - it's interesting that one of his names is Percival. What I'm getting at is that I sometimes think that the 'lost boys' of Hogwarts are all facets of him.
Rowling is playing with some very powerful archetypes in these stories, I think, and that's why we are still struggling to find meaning in them.
My two cents!
* As those who know me know, I'm a devout Catholic. To me, God is nothing like Dumbledore.
I am thinking of an interview with Rowling some years back, when she answered a question about her faith with words to this effect: "I struggle to keep believing". If anyone has the exact quote, I'd be grateful!
Because, you see, that is quite moving to me. It is hard to keep believing in God when you witness truly evil things happening to people you love. At least, you can't go on believing, like a child, in the wise old man with a beard who will make everything all right. That's so obviously not what God is.*
But, in these books, we have a wise old man with a beard. And he is very, very imperfect. Rowling's depiction of Dumbledore does, indeed, seem like an indictment of sorts.
But Dumbledore is obviously not God. He is just the headmaster of a wizarding school. Harry, despite some of the imagery surrounding him, is just as obviously not Jesus. Who is he? As I said on my blog some time back, he is an everyman character - specifically, he's Percival, the fool.
And - I think there is some kind of sense there, lurking deep down. I can't quite put my finger on it, but sometimes I think it's there.
Because, if there is a Christ figure at all in these books (but I don't think there is), that is definitely Severus Snape, in spite of his obvious imperfections. If Harry is Percival, Snape is the Fisher King; the wounded king of a wounded land. And what heals the Fisher King? Compassion and curiosity. Percival is supposed to ask a question. We all know that Harry never does that, don't we?
But, if Snape is the Fisher King and Harry Percival, who on earth is Dumbledore? Because he's not God. Not consciously, anyway. And - it's interesting that one of his names is Percival. What I'm getting at is that I sometimes think that the 'lost boys' of Hogwarts are all facets of him.
Rowling is playing with some very powerful archetypes in these stories, I think, and that's why we are still struggling to find meaning in them.
My two cents!
* As those who know me know, I'm a devout Catholic. To me, God is nothing like Dumbledore.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-03-12 06:43 pm (UTC)From my POV, Voldemort fits Gollum better than Snape.
Voldemort was obsessed and yes so was Snape, but Voldemort's obsession fits Gollum's better to me.
Severus does stray from the obsession at the end, even after Dumbledore gives Severus the whole story, that Harry has to die - Severus still follows through.
Whereas Voldemort is so stupidly obsessed, in the way Gollum was. Gollum was totally mad and willing to go to such extremes that it almost seemed idiotic. Snape never seemed completely stupid or so obsessed in the way I see the Gollum character. Voldemort seems to fit that insainly obsessed nature that Gollum presents.
Plus Gollum has that whole physical transformation from man to monster -as its not just mental it's also completely how he looks as well.
Snape seems pretty much the same, the only change he has is the change of getting older, from stress or just a hard life but there isn't much alteration there in apperance.
Voldie and Gollum make a physical transformation that makes them near to unrecognizable.