Session Information
HPEF - Prophecy 2007 Conference
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The Power of Harry's Mistakes
Track : August 3, 2007
Program Code: 180
Date: Friday, August 3, 2007
Time: 2:00 PM to 2:50 PM  EST
Location: Lower Concourse Sheraton Hall E
SPEAKER :   Click the plus sign to see more detailed information about each speaker.
Description
After Prisoner of Azkaban, it seemed as if the climax of the Harry Potter series would be Harry's defeat of Voldemort. In this presentation I argue, however, that the part of Book 7 most worth waiting for is the climax of Harry's education, the moment in which it hits him that he has been totally wrong about Snape. "Deathly Hallows" will confirm writer Thomas Foster's idea that the true goal of the hero's journey is always self-knowledge. I argue that Harry's blindness about Snape is central both to the HP series and to Harry's character arc; Harry's very human fallibility, his capacity for emotional growth, and Snape's role in that growth, have always been one of the richest aspects of Rowling's series. I will then open things up to the audience so we can explore how Harry's struggle between blindness and insight plays out in Book 7.