I agree with most everything you say in your essay itself, and I am really sad about the fact that HP became such a huge disappointment to so many. Thanks for taking the time to put all your thoughts down clearly (ranting is fun and lets off steam, but serious argument has its place as well, and you make some good ones.)
I do, however, disagree with what you say in this comment, however, regarding Severus being a sociopath. Sorry, this may be long.
My understanding of the clinical term 'sociopath' (I'm not a psychologist, but I have read up on it in an attempt to be sure I am not using it incorrectly) is that is applies to a particular personality type, resulting from a failure to bond emotionally with another human being as an infant. The sociopath, it seems to me, can be (and often are) quite charming on the surface and can learn to mimic all of the social conventions - including definitions of what is right or wrong - but because of the failure to bond, other people are not "real" to them on an emotional level. They are quite skilled at emotionally manipulating others.
Therefore they have no compunction about manipulating, hurting, etc. others (and so can become psychopaths), not because they do not *understand* right and wrong, but because no matter how much they try to understand (if they do), it simply is not *important* or *real* to them on an emotional level. And, according to all the research I have encountered, this condition may in fact be incurable, though there is some hope that intensive therapy and medication can help. It is not something that someone can simply reverse on their own.
To put it another way: the sociopath's problem is not in having a defective or unworking moral compass, it's not having one at all and not even feeling the *need* for one. Case in point: Tommy. I think (despite Rowling's contradictory presentations of him and her despicable message about Merope) that he is a true clinical psychopath (the sociopath become violent). Sirius has some sociopathic personality traits, in particular the charmingness combined with an inability to empathize with others, but I don't think even he is actually a sociopath. (And Sev, *charming*? Sorry, big strike there. I love him but he is *not* charming in that way; and he is not a manipulator.)
Sociopaths Part I
I agree with most everything you say in your essay itself, and I am really sad about the fact that HP became such a huge disappointment to so many. Thanks for taking the time to put all your thoughts down clearly (ranting is fun and lets off steam, but serious argument has its place as well, and you make some good ones.)
I do, however, disagree with what you say in this comment, however, regarding Severus being a sociopath. Sorry, this may be long.
My understanding of the clinical term 'sociopath' (I'm not a psychologist, but I have read up on it in an attempt to be sure I am not using it incorrectly) is that is applies to a particular personality type, resulting from a failure to bond emotionally with another human being as an infant. The sociopath, it seems to me, can be (and often are) quite charming on the surface and can learn to mimic all of the social conventions - including definitions of what is right or wrong - but because of the failure to bond, other people are not "real" to them on an emotional level. They are quite skilled at emotionally manipulating others.
Therefore they have no compunction about manipulating, hurting, etc. others (and so can become psychopaths), not because they do not *understand* right and wrong, but because no matter how much they try to understand (if they do), it simply is not *important* or *real* to them on an emotional level. And, according to all the research I have encountered, this condition may in fact be incurable, though there is some hope that intensive therapy and medication can help. It is not something that someone can simply reverse on their own.
To put it another way: the sociopath's problem is not in having a defective or unworking moral compass, it's not having one at all and not even feeling the *need* for one. Case in point: Tommy. I think (despite Rowling's contradictory presentations of him and her despicable message about Merope) that he is a true clinical psychopath (the sociopath become violent). Sirius has some sociopathic personality traits, in particular the charmingness combined with an inability to empathize with others, but I don't think even he is actually a sociopath. (And Sev, *charming*? Sorry, big strike there. I love him but he is *not* charming in that way; and he is not a manipulator.)