What would Dumbledore do?
Aug. 3rd, 2006 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrI have been thinking over the presentations I saw at Lumos. A couple in particular stood out: the one by Ed Kern on Snape's eyes, and Tom Morris' presentation (he just wrote the book If Harry Potter Ran General Electric, which Rob and I picked up and had signed.
Kern's presentation assembled a careful reading of the text to examine how Snape uses his eyes, coming to the conclusion that Snape has beenreading Harry's mind using Legilimency to pretty much interpret Harry's thoughts ever since first year. I found it fascinating, and most convincing. Alas, it was not included with the Compendium.
Just as interesting was Tom Morris' examination of Dumbledore's character. Before encountering Harry Potter, Morris had written a book called If Aristotle Ran General Motors. After reading Rowling, he started wondering how Aristotle would go about running Hogwarts--and then realized that Dumbledore was doing it already. So Morris outlined for us how perfectly Dumbledore fits Aristotle's ideal, embodying those virtues Aristotle thought necessary ingredients to a good, effective, and happy life.
Courage - a commitment to do what's right despite the threat of danger
Temperance - a rational moderation and proper self-restraint in our pleasures
Liberality - a freedom in giving to others what can be of help to them
Magnificence - a capacity for acting on a grand scale
Pride - a true sense of honor and worthiness
Good Temper - an inner calm manifested by appropriate outward behavior
Friendliness - the demeanor of treating others convivially and sociably
Truthfulness - a strong disposition toward honesty in all things
Wittiness - the ability to see and express humor appropriately
Justice - the fundamental disposition of treating others well and fairly.
Yes, yes, Dumbledore is exactly like that. And what is more, as Morris explained, he is shaping Harry to be this way, too--not as only a teacher, but as a mentor/example. This gets exactly to what I was talking about in my paper on the Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Heavenly Virtues in the Harry Potter books, how Dumbledore considered his true mission to be giving his students a moral education--countering Voldemort by guiding young people to use their power ethically.
It made me think more deeply than I have ever thought about Dumbledore's character, and how I admire him. Yes, I do aspire to have a character like his, although I certainly fall short as often as Harry does. But I think I would like to be more mindful of this, to keep Dumbledore in my sights as a good personal model.
I would like to make it my practice to ask myself regularly: "What would Dumbledore do?"
Edited to add: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chamisa for the icon and picture for this entry!
Kern's presentation assembled a careful reading of the text to examine how Snape uses his eyes, coming to the conclusion that Snape has been
Just as interesting was Tom Morris' examination of Dumbledore's character. Before encountering Harry Potter, Morris had written a book called If Aristotle Ran General Motors. After reading Rowling, he started wondering how Aristotle would go about running Hogwarts--and then realized that Dumbledore was doing it already. So Morris outlined for us how perfectly Dumbledore fits Aristotle's ideal, embodying those virtues Aristotle thought necessary ingredients to a good, effective, and happy life.
Courage - a commitment to do what's right despite the threat of danger
Temperance - a rational moderation and proper self-restraint in our pleasures
Liberality - a freedom in giving to others what can be of help to them
Magnificence - a capacity for acting on a grand scale
Pride - a true sense of honor and worthiness
Good Temper - an inner calm manifested by appropriate outward behavior
Friendliness - the demeanor of treating others convivially and sociably
Truthfulness - a strong disposition toward honesty in all things
Wittiness - the ability to see and express humor appropriately
Justice - the fundamental disposition of treating others well and fairly.
Yes, yes, Dumbledore is exactly like that. And what is more, as Morris explained, he is shaping Harry to be this way, too--not as only a teacher, but as a mentor/example. This gets exactly to what I was talking about in my paper on the Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Heavenly Virtues in the Harry Potter books, how Dumbledore considered his true mission to be giving his students a moral education--countering Voldemort by guiding young people to use their power ethically.
It made me think more deeply than I have ever thought about Dumbledore's character, and how I admire him. Yes, I do aspire to have a character like his, although I certainly fall short as often as Harry does. But I think I would like to be more mindful of this, to keep Dumbledore in my sights as a good personal model.
I would like to make it my practice to ask myself regularly: "What would Dumbledore do?"
Edited to add: Thanks to
chamisa for the icon and picture for this entry!![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-04 02:34 am (UTC)WWXD?
Date: 2006-08-04 11:33 am (UTC)What Would Kant Do?
What Would Marx Do?
What Would Giraffes Do?
B
Re: WWXD?
Date: 2006-08-04 02:49 pm (UTC)Re: WWXD?
Date: 2006-08-04 07:54 pm (UTC)B
My favorite one of those is...
Date: 2006-08-04 05:06 pm (UTC)A friend of mine has this on a bumpersticker.
(but now What Would Dumbledore Do? is vying for favorite. :-)
Re: WWXD?
Date: 2006-08-04 06:59 pm (UTC)(Plain beaded bracelets - that is, flex with beads on it and a clasp at each end - are inexpensive and v. v. easy to make and any bead store will help you figure out how. But if anyone's dying for one and can't figure it out or can't get to a bead store, email me and we can barter.)