An Acknowledgement: The Imperius Curse, Free Will and Human Dignity

I owe JKR2 an acknowledgement for her unwavering insistance on Harry's prowess with regards to the Imperius curse. As DD said of Neville in book 1, it takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies ... but even more to stand up to your friends. I have been "re-reading" book 4 (I put that in quotes because I have been listening to it on tape while doing some driving) and had forgotten the very emphatic scene where BC Jr, faking being Moody, sets Harry up as an example of fighting the Imperius, and indeed runs him through a number of times of the exercize in front of the class, and in doing so actually helps Harry to hone this power to the point where, I would say, that it is possible that the only 2 people who could effectively use Imperius on Harry would be Voldy and DD, wizards of that height of power (although DD would never do that). Social Criticism I have an important post/piece in the works on the centrality of book 4 to the 7 stage development of the series and so I think, since this occurs in book 4, that this element is key to Rowling's outlook and an important aspect of her central theme of death. The similarities between Harry and BC Jr regarding their prowess in overcoming Imperius (cf a few paragraphs below) indicates, I think, a central aspect of this book by itself, but that the place of the book within the series as a whole also lends that aspect a centrality in the whole project. Even though it may only be out of "acting the part well" BC Jr still partakes in a validly true role as a teacher. There is, of course, the aspect of mimicking Moody's personal traits, but BC Jr goes beyond this ... even if it is as a ruse, still he does a good job as a teacher. I think that this indicates a possibility of redemption, and I think there are small hints of this in the book - such as when Harry passes task 1 (the dragon - just listened to that today) the way Rowling describes "Moody's" joy as common with the other Hogwarts teahcers just seems to me like it is real, like Barty might not be just faking it, like he (meaning BC Jr himself) might actually be partaking in the naturally good joy of a teacher who has seen a student perform well something in which they have mentored them. And BC Jr really does have something to offer Harry as a mentor, which I think is a point Rowling makes rather well. Think about it: Harry is not the only one who should be praised for conquering the Imperius - we find out by the book's end that BC Jr eventually overcame the use of it on himself by his own father. These are just hints, just small beginnings, and they do not stop BC Jr from carrying through his plan to put Harry in the hands of Voldy. But once the plan is uncovered and BC Jr is under lock and key, there may be possibilities ... but we will never know, for he was kissed by a dementor under the very eye of the great "buerocratic savior" Fudge. The possibility of the slavation of a soul was completely cut off by bumbling self-righteous arrogance. I do not think it "accidental" that Rowling has McGonnegal warn the fake Moody "we do not use transfiguration as a punishment," in the same book as she has an actual dementor's kiss fully performed ... I think it is intentional. There are arguments in favor of the "death penalty" that really do not rely on the idea of using death as a true penalty, but on the pragmatic consdieration of it's possible effectiveness for assuring the inability to commit further similar crimes, and these arguments constitute their own separate debate. But in this instance I think Rowling is saying that a psychic death like that dealt by the dementors should never be used as a punishment (ie, not speaking of "death penalty" as a "precaution" but properly as a "penalty" - a thing which the wizarding community has no real problem with allowing the possibility of by having the dementors as the gaurdians of Azkaban and which Fudge stands idly by and watches happen in person). Agree or disagree with Rowling as you like, but it seems to me that this is what she is saying through the literary connection of various "punishments," the similarities between Harry and BC Jr with Imperius, the fact that, regardless of his conscious motivations, BC Jr does actually do a good job of teaching and the fact that the redemptive possibilities this might imply are comepletely killed by the dementor's kiss, which has buerocratically been allowed into the wizarding penal system. I think she is emphasizing the dignity of the human person this way and in particular by emphasizing the connection of that diginity with human free will, which she symbolizes in Harry's and Barty Jr's ability to resist the Imperius curse. As I have been getting to know BC Jr better in this re-reading, getting to know him through how he imitates Moody, I have been all the more genuinely saddened by the knowledge that he will suffer the fate he will at the end of the book.