I guess it's just a basic idea that if you're feeling okay you don't usually need to make somebody else feel badly. It might sound overly sweet but it's often just true!
One of my favorite children's books ever ("Mio, my son" by Astrid Lindgren), reflects this idea perfectly. I feel like I just have to tell you about it, because the book is also, in many ways similar to HP. (Unfortunately, this requires spoiling the climax for this book, so anyone who had planned to read it, might not want to read further.)
Anyway, the hero in this book, Mio, is also an orphan boy who lives in a foster home, and one day he finds out that he is really the son of the king in the "land of Faraway". So he goes there to meet his father and everything is just great. Except that everyone seems to be grieving someone. Turns out that an evil man (wizard?) in a neighbouring country has captured a whole lot of children and transformed them to "sorrow birds" or servants. Kato, is this man's name, but everytime anyone speaks it, the birds will stop singing, the water stop flowing etc, etc, (really reminds me of "You-Know-Who"). Kato has a heart of stone.
So big surprise, Mio finds out that it's his destiny to fight Kato, which will release all these children. And a recurring theme in this book, is how Mio feels his hatred increasing for this Kato, everytime he learns something more about his cruelties. And the further his journey goes, the more he realises, that everyone else hates Kato too, even the people who works for him, and even the water that surrounds his castle.
In the end fight, when Mio is about to land the mortal blow on Kato, Kato tells him to stick it right into his heart of stone, because it's been aching inside him for such a long time. And at these words, Mio understands that no one hates Kato more than Kato hates himself. Killing him becomes an act of mercy.
Anyway, I love this book so much, because, though it's so simple, it can be read on so many levels and it seems to highlight something I firmly believe in: If you hate yourself, you can't love anyone else, and in one way or another, it's bound to poison the world around you.
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Date: 2004-03-11 11:11 am (UTC)One of my favorite children's books ever ("Mio, my son" by Astrid Lindgren), reflects this idea perfectly. I feel like I just have to tell you about it, because the book is also, in many ways similar to HP. (Unfortunately, this requires spoiling the climax for this book, so anyone who had planned to read it, might not want to read further.)
Anyway, the hero in this book, Mio, is also an orphan boy who lives in a foster home, and one day he finds out that he is really the son of the king in the "land of Faraway". So he goes there to meet his father and everything is just great. Except that everyone seems to be grieving someone. Turns out that an evil man (wizard?) in a neighbouring country has captured a whole lot of children and transformed them to "sorrow birds" or servants. Kato, is this man's name, but everytime anyone speaks it, the birds will stop singing, the water stop flowing etc, etc, (really reminds me of "You-Know-Who"). Kato has a heart of stone.
So big surprise, Mio finds out that it's his destiny to fight Kato, which will release all these children. And a recurring theme in this book, is how Mio feels his hatred increasing for this Kato, everytime he learns something more about his cruelties. And the further his journey goes, the more he realises, that everyone else hates Kato too, even the people who works for him, and even the water that surrounds his castle.
In the end fight, when Mio is about to land the mortal blow on Kato, Kato tells him to stick it right into his heart of stone, because it's been aching inside him for such a long time. And at these words, Mio understands that no one hates Kato more than Kato hates himself. Killing him becomes an act of mercy.
Anyway, I love this book so much, because, though it's so simple, it can be read on so many levels and it seems to highlight something I firmly believe in: If you hate yourself, you can't love anyone else, and in one way or another, it's bound to poison the world around you.