The (Mis)Education of Harry James Potter - Part I

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

I promise I’ll be continuing my “Indestructible” series soon. I’m working on another long piece, but I got slightly distracted in the middle of it. ;) Plus there’s my dissertation calling.

In that series I’m focusing on moral questions in relation to Severus, and I found myself drawn out on a tangent to that issue while rereading some fanfic and meta. To be precise, I found myself considering more deeply the issue of Severus as moral teacher, particularly in regard to his most significant charge, one Harry James Potter, the Boy Who Lived (to Vex Him).

I was going to write a little comment answering the occasionally-leveled charge, which I disagree with, that Severus fundamentally neglected Harry’s moral education in favor of his physical protection. But it got a little…long. (Indeed, LJ is telling me it's too long for one post. It'll have to be in two parts.)

[Quotes are from e-text versions of the books, so I can't provide page numbers, but they are American editions. If someone wants me to dig up a chapter for a particular quote, I can do that.]

( Read more... )

The (Mis)Education of Harry James Potter - Part II

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Here's the other half of my monster post on Harry's moral education and Severus as moral teacher.

Part I is here.

(I've never hit the word limit for a single LJ post before!)

( Read more... )