Harry Potter and the Prophet of Doom

Continued from page 2

How might this help us to think about Harry's situation? Well, first, as suggested earlier, there might be good reason to reject Trelawney's prophecy as inauthentic. Harry and Dumbledore should carefully consider the source. Rejecting the prophecy would allow them the freedom to imagine the future otherwise. (Admittedly, this means that we, as readers, will have to reject the quasi-divinization of Dumbledore to which we're prone. But recall that Dumbledore confesses his certainty about this prophecy at the same time he recounts the many mistakes he's made about Harry's care. The wizard could be wrong. It remains to be seen in

whether Rowling agrees!)

But second, even if the prophecy is authentic, Harry need not feel as doomed as he does. If the prophecy foresees this battle of good vs. evil, this could be understood as an affirmation of Harry's character: that his confrontation with Voldemort is just what we would expect from someone with Harry's virtues. In that sense, Harry's agency is not threatened by predictions about his future actions. He is not a robot playing out someone else's will, but a virtuous agent whose commitments will inevitably lead to conflicts with the evil that threatens his world.

Of course, what really frightens Harry is the predicted result: that he will either kill or be killed. How are we to understand Harry's anguish about this? Does he despair about not being in control of his own future? Or does he despair at the thought of his own death? Is it the sense of inevitability that plunges Harry into despair? Or is this simply the fear of death--not just suffering death, but also causing death? As his closing attempts in

to make contact with his dead godfather indicate, he's now wrestling with questions of whether the dead live on--and what's "beyond the veil." Will

answer them?

In his sixth year, Harry will surely be haunted by death and its ghosts; but he will also remain haunted by the implications of Trelawney's prediction. I'm not convinced that he needs to be, but I'm sure it will be a splinter in his young mind. Perhaps if Harry hears the prediction as an affirmation of his virtue, he need not be plagued by any sense of doom or compromised freedom, but will choose to receive this future as a calling rather than a fate.