The Power of Love, A look at love as a theme in Harry Potter |
 Jan 24 2009, 10:52 PM
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Mischievous Manager  Posts: 5,457 Joined: 9:14am February 16, 2006 Location: Behind the sofa, watching Doctor Who   |
Even before Harry himself is aware of it, love is instrumental to his very life. Had his mother not loved him enough to stand in front of him when death was certain, he wouldn't be the Boy Who Lived. But it continues to be so important as to perhaps even be the key to the books. After all, if Harry weren't pained by his love for Sirius after his loss, Voldemort might have won the war. And if Dumbledore hadn't loved Harry so much, he might have told him sooner the fate that awaited him. It's the love from Harry's mother that protects him until he is old enough to fight back on his own. There is plenty of love to be found in the books - romantic love, parental love and a more general brotherly love to name a few. Even within the many other themes the books touch on (prejudice, trust, etc.), love plays a role in each. Let's talk about the importance of love in the Potterverse. These are a few suggested questions to get you started - but remember, they're just suggestions! You can come up with your own or make your own observations. 1) Why do you think love created such a physical pain whenever Voldemort came in contact with Harry? 2) A mother's love in particular is a big theme - Lily, Molly and Narcissa are the most prominent examples. How does Molly's love for her children compare to Lily's? How is it different? How is their love for their children different from Narcissa's? Is any mother's love better than any other's? 3) Of the various romances in the books (Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny, Cho and Cedric, etc), whose is the strongest bond? Whose is the weakest? (Canon ships only, please!) 4) Harry experiences the love of a father from several people who are not his parents - Hagrid, Dumbledore, Lupin, Arthur and Sirius. How does each of them love Harry like a father would? Why do they love him this way? 5) We now know that Dumbledore's love for another person blinded him such that he didn't see the dark side of what he was doing in his youth. In what ways is love blind in Harry Potter? 6) If the dead we love never truly leave us, how long does love last? *For more fun discussion threads like this, please join us in the Lily and Stag Inn! Click on the link in your sidebar to sort for our current reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* --------------------  |
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