Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Past and Present

          I've  noticed that there is a lot of talk about Dummbledore's past and what kind of person he truly was.  My question is: does it matter what someones past is or who they are in the present?  Dumbledore is supposed to have some dark past filled with secrets and lies.  Even if that is what he was, think about  who he became.  Dumbledore was a wise and brilliant man.  It doesn't matter if someone was a bad person back in the day.  If they are now someone who can tell you wrong from right and control themselves that is who you are supposed to judge.

          Take Robert Downey Jr. for example.  He used to be a raging addict and now he has been clean for a number of years.  It's easy to do bad things in your life and it's also easy  to do good things in your life.  The part that is difficult is redeeming yourself after you've done bad things.  In order to judge someone, no one should look at who the person was in the past.  The person must be judged now that they are a brand new person.

          Snape was always considered a bad character in the Harry Potter book series, and then you learn about his past.  This does contradict my earlier statements and I realize that.  If you look at someone and think they are a bad person their past should also be checked out.  To be fair, I have to say that past can trump present.  Snape had every right to be resenful of Harry.  His father was a jerk to him and stole his one true love on top of that.  So all in all, it can be ufair to judge someone based on theirpast but if that past has hardships, I believe second chances are due.

5 comments:

  1. Sure Harry's dad really screwed Snape, but Harry (besides cursing him out a few times) never did anything directly to him, so it really is unfair that Snape is resentful of Harry

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree that what you do, and who you are in the present can affect your outlook on one's past. But does it really /trump/ present? If you're going to get close with someone, then who they are as a person currently should be a priority in addition to who they /were/. I don't think one is more important than the other, I think they're equal in priorities.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with most of what you say, but just as Snape's past could change your mind about him, so could Dumbledore's. Also, we don't even know much of what Dumbledore became. It's hard to tell, since we knew so little about him in general.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I believe that both the past, present, and future are all equally important when shaping someone's perspective of a person. The past shapes the individual based on what they did (and didn't) do, the present is what they're doing with their life right this instant, and the future deals with their goals and hopes. Dumbledore may have had a dark past that he regrets but for his later years (where he has the most affect on the Harry Potter series) he fought against Voldemort and aspired to rid the world of the Dark Lord.

    But I must say that I disagree with your rationalization of Snape's treatment of Harry during the latter's school years. Why must Harry be punished actions his forebearer committed? Excuse my crudeness but at the time, Harry probably wasn't even a sperm yet! It may be hard to get rid of grudges that have developed for years, but Snape didn't even try to! The moment he saw Harry in the Great Hall, he judged him without knowing anything about the darling child.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Snape was a character who never really was bad. He was good in the past, and had been working with Harry the whole time, even if Harry didn't know it. Dumbledore's past seems more shocking because of who he was during the series, but it doesn't change your thoughts about him once you realize how much he regretted it. I think it's less the actions as the reactions of the characters themselves when confronted with their pasts that determines who they really are.

    ReplyDelete