Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Chapter 16 Quotes

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Chapter 16 Quotes

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Quote 1

And tears came before he could stop them, boiling hot then instantly freezing on his face, and what was the point in wiping them off or pretending? He let them fall, his lips pressed hard together, looking down at the thick snow hiding from his eyes the place where the last of Lily and James lay, bones now surely, or dust, not knowing or caring that their living son stood so near, his heart still beating, alive because of their sacrifice and close to wishing, at this moment, that he was sleeping under the snow with them. (16.92)

Harry's reaction at his parents' gravesite is to reflect upon their sacrifice – what was the point, when it just left him alone anyway? Again, we're asked to consider the cruelty of sacrifice; somebody's always hurt, even if they're the one being saved.

"'The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death'…" A horrible thought came to him, and with it a kind of panic. "Isn't that a Death Eater idea? Why is that there?"

"It doesn't mean defeating death in the way the Death Eaters mean it, Harry," said Hermione, her voice gentle. "It means… you know… living beyond death. Living after death."

But they were not living, thought Harry: they were gone. The empty words could not disguise the fact that his parents' moldering remains lay beneath snow and stone, indifferent, unknowing. (16.92)

Harry's fear of death is apparent here – it's the great unknown, after all, and there's no evidence given that there is life after death. To him, his parents' grave just bespeaks the silence, loneliness, and indifference of the great divide.

Quote 3

Harry drew closer, gazing up into his parents' faces. He had never imagined that there would be a statue. […] How strange it was to see himself represented in stone, a happy baby without a scar on his forehead… (16.57)

The sense of what might have been weighs heavily upon Harry in Godric's Hollow; he can't help but wonder what life would have been like if he wasn't the Chosen One. The image of himself as an infant seems particularly confusing – after all, what would Harry be like without his scar, without his mission?