In the past such use of opposites would have been
regarded as a Manichean Heresy for which perpetrators were burnt at the
stake, the world as a duel between "good" and
"evil", rather than regulated by the good. This sense of
anarchy is always present in the supposedly ordered world of Hogwarts,
especially as the books race towards their finale.
However it has made JKR a ridiculously wealthy
woman, and no doubt rightly so as her work both reflects complexity as
well as our innate human psychological need to have matters resolved in black
and white, good and bad. However we might think otherwise, the failure
to recognise this requirement as a syntactical condition of our operations
- from the playground onwards - leaves us vulnerable to the worst
excesses of history. Millions of readers are unlikely to be wrong, but the
popularity of such works and the corresponding increase in child literacy
should perhaps lead to caution as well as celebration. That JKR is aware
of the dangers of dualism, as well as it's inevitability, may be
seen in the references to AH that figure in her work.
It is probable that human beings need dichotomy to find
meaning, and the popularity of the books is no doubt due in no small
measure to the Manichean component, the sense that God and the Devil
engage in a cosmic struggle within the same party for control of the
world. Such a world view endows the participants with an exciting if
onerous burden of self responsibility. There is also a sense in which
opposites create meaning which creates magic, and magic liberates the
world from "spin".
We in the anti bypass movement - at least those who
believe in goblins, elves and the magic of the "wood" (and
perhaps that isn't all of us) - feel that the works of JKR have an
important bearing on the anti Bypass struggle. To some extent this has
been spelt out on this site, and to some extent it is left implied.
(PS - 2007).