Ooh, thanks for the link! I think the author's onto something, although I quibble with some of her assumptions. Since when is LOTR a children's book? And does Frodo "change and grow through a moral struggle"? While I do think Frodo changes and grows, the outline of his story is much closer to Harry's than to Snape's; so praising LOTR in the same article where you say Snape should have been the real protagonist of HP doesn't quite stack up, IMO.
I also wouldn't say that Harry's journey and conflict were completely external. Harry doesn't so much "walk the path of good ... unwaveringly" as wander from the path without realizing or caring, and without being punished for it by the author. JKR actually wrote in perfect opportunities for Harry to have an internal struggle, most notably in the way he keeps flinging Unforgiveable curses around. Or the fact that he hangs onto resentment against Snape even while knowing that love is (supposedly) what he needs to defeat Voldemort. If JKR had followed through on things like that, Harry's story could easily have included internal conflict as well as external. And those things seem so obvious to me that I don't get why she *didn't* follow through on them.
Having said all that, though, I think the author of that article has a very good point about why Snape's story as written grabs people a lot more than Harry's does.
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Interesting article!
Date: 2007-07-27 04:36 pm (UTC)I also wouldn't say that Harry's journey and conflict were completely external. Harry doesn't so much "walk the path of good ... unwaveringly" as wander from the path without realizing or caring, and without being punished for it by the author. JKR actually wrote in perfect opportunities for Harry to have an internal struggle, most notably in the way he keeps flinging Unforgiveable curses around. Or the fact that he hangs onto resentment against Snape even while knowing that love is (supposedly) what he needs to defeat Voldemort. If JKR had followed through on things like that, Harry's story could easily have included internal conflict as well as external. And those things seem so obvious to me that I don't get why she *didn't* follow through on them.
Having said all that, though, I think the author of that article has a very good point about why Snape's story as written grabs people a lot more than Harry's does.