Phoenix Symbolism in OoTP |
 Feb 12 2008, 08:38 PM
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One Half of the DDD  Posts: 8,476 Joined: 5:31pm August 30, 2006 Location: Siriusly Dreaming Somewhere   |
The phoenix, and its ability to be reborn over and over again, is the symbol of the Order, it represents their refusal to give in and die. Even when their members are killed, the McKinnons, Benjy Fenwick, Edgar Bones, the Prewetts, the Potters, the Order rises again with new members to continue the fight.
We now know that Dumbledore had searched for immortality in previous years - he had worked with Nicholas Flamel to create the Philosopher's Stone, he had searched for the Hallows to help him defeat death and yet he had told Harry that "to the well ordered mind death is but the next great adventure". How fitting is it that Dumbledore continues to have a phoenix as his patronus, should it have evolved as Tonks' patronus did? The phoenix also played a part in Voldemort's and Harry's lives, they both had a phoenix feather as the core of their wands. In Voldemort's case it represents his attempts to become immortal and may have helped him, more than a wand with a different core would have done, to create the horcruxes that would tether him to an earthly life. Harry's connection with the phoenix helped him to defeat Voldemort when they duelled in the graveyard, their two wands refusing to fight against each other, and so affording Harry survival when Voldemort's greater strength should have guaranteed Harry's downfall. What do you think of the phoenix's connection with Harry, Voldemort, Dumbledore and the Order? Please discuss here any aspects of the symbolism of the phoenix in this book. --------------------  November's book is The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" |
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