Remembering the X

Ok, so as I said in the post on chiastic structure (perma-link on left side bar), I think it is key to look at the correspondence between the paired books (1-7, 2-6, 3-5), and this is one that struck my about books 2 and 6. It has to do with memory and memories. In book 2 we have Lockheart, who's only real talent is with memory charms (which, as we all know, backfires on him through the "good luck" of Ron's broken wand ... I think this wand here sort of represents a "felix culpa," a happy fault or good result of an unfortunate thing). And in HBP we have the role played by Sluggo's sluggish memory. To see the significance of this use of and emphasis on memory it helps to look at the medieval concept of memory, the way the concept is developed in the medieval Theology that underlies the medieval imagination that stands behind Rowling's world. In medieval "anthropology" a human person is seen as consisting of a physical substance called body and a spiritual substance called spirit. Now, each body is composed of smaller parts, and yet even smaller parts and so on and so forth and we still have not found the smallest "foundational building blocks" (last I heard it was "sub-quarks" but that was years ago). Each individual spirit, on the other hand, is one indivisible unity. This means that spirit has no "parts," but it does have 3 aspects that are defined by 3 capacities. The "memory" is the capacity for simple being; The intellect is the capacity for understanding (not simply knowledge but understanding the inner essence or logic of a thing) and the will is the capacity for loving. Now, the last two are not too difficult for us moderns to grasp, but the concept of "memory" in medieval thought is, on the surface, pretty different than our own, but actually not as different as you might think (as I'll try to show with a quote from one of my professors that helped me grasp the meaning). Memory is the sense of self, it is the "I." One of my professors used a good statement of the connection between this focus in the ancient concept our own focus (and a statement that importantly sets the matter in the context of communication, and thus communion ... being as the concept that is inseparable from the "I" is the concept of the "thou," which is pretty much what you find expressed in a book like Martin Buber's book "I and Thou".) So, here it is: If I did not have "memory" as the sense of myself, or as in a way possessing my own being, I could not finish a statement because I would not remember who it was that was trying to say this or that particular thing, or to whom, or for what reason etc etc.. Lockheart's problem with memory is a core one, ending in the ultimate existential question of his new book, "Who Am I?" But so is Sluggo's. Who is Slughorn in his own mind? Why is he doing what he is doing, like having the slug club? a Club which wound up facilitating Riddle's Rise by providing him connections that he built into a core group of followers. No wonder his memory is sluggish, it is sluggish out of guilt in regards to what his vanity as a teacher may have facilitated. But, unlike our fruity friend Gilderoy, Sluggo does turn out all right in the end, I think. His memory helps Dumbledore figure out some key pieces in the puzzle ... BUT, more importantly, notice how he is able to give up the memory - through a potion (the luck potion) he himself gave to Harry, even though he didn't intend this use necessarily. He is open enough for the good to be done, and, at least I think, shows one way in which the cunning of potions can be put to good use.