The Final Pedagogue

Well, I am about in chapter 11 of listening to Half Blood Prince right now, but just before this book I listened to Prisoner of Azkaban. There are several things I have to go back and look at in the paper version to write about that I noticed when listening to that part, but for this post there is one biggy. I am more convinced than ever, after listening to the end of POA, that Harry will be the 7th and final DADA teacher. I should explain what I mean by being "convinced" and why I do not think that, whatever happens in book 7, I will be proved wrong. Whatever Rowling already has written in the final chapter sitting in her safe at home and whatever elements will be revealed in book 7 are still a mystery. As I have said before, from my experience of the works thus far I trust her that whatever direction she takes things will be good and that if she does not have Harry be the 7th DADA teacher, there will be revelations and introductions of elements that make it make complete sense along a new (or formerly hidden) line of logic that is completely consistent with the story as we have had it so far ... and a completely exciting read. BUT as for the story logic as it has unfurled thus far: the undeniable conclusion seems to me to be that Harry will be the 7th and final DADA teacher. Ex Cathedra Here is the bit I discovered in this my second complete experience of POA. When Harry speaks with Lupin in his office at the end, as Lupin is leaving, having resigned, Dumbledore comes in. Dumbledore and Harry speak more after Lupin leaves (which is the stuff I have yet to go back and refresh on from the paper version and write on), but before they do, Harry sits down in Lupin's "now vacant" chair, ie the chair behind the desk which was his as DADA teacher. For me as a Catholic there is the obvious connection between a chair and teaching authority in the fact that the Pope has authority to teach "Ex Cathedra," or "from the chair of Peter." But even for broader contemporary Christendom that is not as particularly aware of that particular "throne of teaching" image/office I think that the connection between a chair/seat and teaching permeates our collective subconscious (to borrow language from some post-modern literary critic/philosopher - Foucault, I think, but I can't remember for sure). Within Christianity in particular we have Christ's instruction in the Gospel that the Jews not do as the Pharisees do but that they do, for the time being at least, follow the teaching authority of the Pharisees, for they "sit in the chair of Moses." (Matthew 23:2). But even on a broader scale in our culture you have references to things such as the "seat of wisdom," or for instance people discuss the differences between Hebraic thought and modern thought by noting that for moderns the heart is the source of emotion, whereas for Hebraic thought the "gut" (literally bowels) is the "seat of the emotions." The Evidence When this is combined with the other evidence, I think it it is overwhelmingly in favor of 'Arry as the heir to that particular throne (I'm not entirely convinced of the concreteness of Granger's analysis as Harry's name as a cockney-accented "pun" meaning "heir of the potter," ie "Son of God," although what I mean by saying that is that I buy it but think it may be more latent/implicit and less solidified than Granger draws it out ... but for my purposes here the pun on "heir" fits too well not to borrow it shamelessly. :) ) We know, especially after what is revealed in book 6 about Voldy seeking the DADA post and it being cursed ever after he is denied it, that the DADA position is a major arc element in the plot of the series. Granger has noted (in his books) the great discovery made by fans that Snape's potions riddle in book 1, the outset of the series, is a riddle about the 7 DADA teachers. Out of the 6 teachers we have seen thus far, only 1 has been a truly good teacher: Lupin. Quirrel and Barty Jr were both in the employ of Voldy; Lockhart and Umbridge were both not only nitwits, but menacing nitwits; and while I believe Snape to be a "white hat" and also one of the most competent wizards around, his antipathy towards Harry often stands in the way of his teaching effectively and has even placed him in question of materially contributing to great evils (I am thinking of book 4 when Harry and Krum find Barty Crouch Sr in the woods mad in the head and Harry runs up to the castle to get Dumbledore - I don't think at that point anything could have saved BC Sr from his own son, but the delay caused by Snape's antagonism towards Harry in not letting him into Dumbledore's office does not put the potions master's case in good stead.) Only Lupin has been truly competent at actual defence, competent at teaching it well AND completely charitable - all together at once. When you combine these considerations with Harry's experience in teaching Dumbledore's Army and the brilliant chiastic theory Pauli put forth about the DADA position with Quirrel having Voldy on the back of his head in book 1 and Harry probably being revealed to have Voldy on the front of his head in book 7 (keeping in mind what I was saying about Harry's resonant recognition of Riddle's name even before he had actually heard who Riddle was, in Chamber of Secrets)... the evidence (at least, as I said, in what has been revealed in the series thus far) seems to me to be over-whelming: Harry is the heir-apparent to Lupin's throne as the truly good DADA teacher and the true culmination not only of his own personal story arc but of the DADA story arc at the same time. The Meaning Especially given Rowling's profession before beginning writing the HP series, it is obvious that pedagogy is, for her, an almost sacred role in the human family. It is not simply the giving of dead facts but the living formation of human lives at a most impressionable age. We see this still obscurely evident in the title "professor." In the ancient world "professionals" were those whose role in society was so fundamental on a deeper level that they took or professed an oath of office, they called on the name of the god/s imploring divine help to fulfill their heavy responsibility. I have already discussed someplace how there is a juxtaposition between the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. In book one, at the outset of the series, Hargid relates that many wanted Dumbledore to be minister of magic, but he chose the path of pedagogy instead. The crowning arc of both the development of the DADA postition sub-plot and the plot of Harry's development as a person/wizard is that he become not an auror, but a teacher. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it until I get proven wrong. :)