Part 8-Juxtaposition and Character Foils
“Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success.” -J. K. Rowling
Introduction
Juxtapositions and character foils my be some of the more difficult literary devices to identify and use in writing. Juxtaposition is defined as “the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.” In stories, juxtaposition is often used to compare ideas, themes, and characters with things such as “good vs. evil” or “wisdom vs. foolishness.” A character foil is a type of juxtaposition that uses two characters to highlight each others traits and differences. Common examples include the hero and villain of a story, or to compare two characters in similar situations such as two leaders. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince provides many good examples of both juxtapositions and character foils throughout the book, and further highlights examples from throughout the series. These examples compare everything from objects to themes to characters.
The Ring and the Mouth Organ
In this book, Harry begins meeting with Dumbledore so Dumbledore can teach him about Voldemort’s past, and how he came to be such a powerful dark wizard. These meetings serve the dual purpose of preparing Harry to face Voldemort and helping Harry and Dumbledore discover how to defeat Voldemort. It is discovered that Voldemort has been using horcruxes, horribly evil objects that conceal pieces of his soul, to make himself invincible, and without destroying the horcruxes Voldemort can not be killed. Just before the start of the sixth book, Dumbledore finds one of these horcruxes through his knowledge of Voldemort’s past, and is able to destroy it. This particular horcrux was a ring that Voldemort’s maternal grandfather, and pure-blood descendent of Slytherin, owned and took great pride in. Voldemort visits his grandfather’s home to find only his uncle remains, and after his uncle reveals the location of Voldemort’s paternal family, Voldemort takes the ring as a sort of “trophy” and murders his father’s family. Dumbledore explains to Harry that Voldemort liked to collect tokens from his horrible deeds, and at the end of the meeting Harry notices the broken ring sitting on a table. At the next meeting, Dumbledore shows Harry a memory of Tom Riddle (Voldemort) as a child with a collection of things he stole from his peers at his orphanage, including a mouth organ, but at the end of this meeting Harry notices the ring has disappeared from the table but no object has replaced it.
“The ring’s gone,” said Harry, looking around. “But I thought I you might have the mouth organ or something.”
Dumbledore beamed at him, peering over the top of his half-moon spectacles. “Very astute, Harry, but the mouth organ was only ever a mouth organ.”
This scene uses juxtaposition to compare the ring and the mouth organ, and explains that while these objects may seem equally important, the ring plays a much bigger role in the story than the mouth organ. The reader learns later that this is because the ring is a horcrux and key to defeating Voldemort while the mouth organ was simply an object. It also uses juxtaposition to give insight to Voldemort’s personality, as it explains that while Voldemort still has a habit of keeping “trophies,” he is arrogant enough to look for grandeur in the object he keeps and stores his soul in.
Destiny and Choice
At this point in the story, Harry is aware of the prophecy that named him as the one “with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord,” and is struggling with his destiny to either kill or be killed by Voldemort. However, it is during one of Harry’s meetings with Dumbledore that Dumbledore is finally able to communicate to Harry the choice he has:
“But, sir,” said Harry, making valiant efforts not to sound argumentative, “it all comes to the same thing, doesn’t it? I’ve got to try and kill him, or —”
“Got to?” said Dumbledore. “Of course you’ve got to! But not because of the prophecy! Because you, yourself, will never rest until you’ve tried! We both know it! Imagine, please, just for a moment,
that you had never heard that prophecy! How would you feel about Voldemort now? Think!”
Harry watched Dumbledore striding up and down in front of him, and thought. He thought of his mother, his father, and Sirius. He thought of Cedric Diggory. He thought of all the terrible deeds he knew Lord Voldemort had done. A flame seemed to leap inside his chest, searing his throat.
“I’d want him finished,” said Harry quietly. “And I’d want to do it.”
“Of course you would!” cried Dumbledore. “You see, the prophecy does not mean you have to do anything! But the prophecy caused Lord Voldemort to mark you as his equal. … In other words, you are free to choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the prophecy! But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy. He will continue to hunt you . . . which makes it certain, really, that —”
“That one of us is going to end up killing the other,” said Harry. “Yes.”
This scene juxtaposes the destiny Harry has been handed and his own free-will to either accept it or turn from it. In many stories, a prophecy comes true whether the characters try to avoid it or not (think about Greek myths, many of them involve a prophecy that a person tried to avoid but it came true anyway). However, here, J.K. Rowling presents a prophecy as really only a prediction, a motivation almost for the characters to act on. By comparing the prohecy to Harry’s choice, she is able to convey a theme that our choices have a far greater impact and power than any future possibilities. In other words, our present choices define our future far more than our future defines our present choices. Here, juxtaposition is used to convey a theme that is powerfully present throughout the whole story, but has never been directly stated.
Draco and Harry
There are many examples of character foils throughout the series, but some become more prominent in this particular book. These include foils such as with Dumbledore and Voldemort, Molly Weasley and Narcissa Malfoy, and perhaps even Ron and Hermione. However, the most obvious case of this is with Harry and his arch-enemy Draco. Draco has been Harry’s enemy since the very first book, and the two have had a relentless rivalry since they began school. Up until now, the reader does not see Draco as anyone but the spoiled bully. However at this point in the story the reader is introduced to a new side of Draco, and his comparison to Harry throughout the book points out some of both his and Harry’s deeper traits.
Some interesting similarities between the two boys are brought up, including their fierce loyalties to their groups and their intense desires to do what is right. However, while Harry’s loyalty is to Dumbledore and his desire involves defeating Voldemort, Draco’s loyalty is to the Death Eaters and his desires involve making sure Voldemort succeeds. In this book Draco is trying to complete a secret job for Voldemort, and Harry, realizing he is up to something, forms an obsession with figuring out what Malfoy is doing. Likewise, it is clear Malfoy is obsessed with completing his job. Both boys start neglecting things that were once important to them due to their obsessions.
However, this comparison also reveals Harry’s desire on a deeper level to selflessly protect his loved ones and have justice, while the reader learns that Draco’s obsession is born out of fear of death for him and his family if he fails. This further shows that Harry firmly believes in his values, while Draco was practically brainwashed into his beliefs and is discovering their flaws. This becomes important in the last book, as it leads to Draco’s sort-of redemption.
Conclusion
This has been a really long post, so I’ll keep the closing remarks short. Juxtaposition was something that was very hard for me at least to identify and understand until recently. I hope this post helped you understand this literary devices better and, in the future, can help you notice these important comparisons in any book you may read. Have a great day!
Image Source:https://www.amstarcinemas.com/movies/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/HO00002059
Sources:
13 Most-Inspiring J.K. Rowling Quotes that Make You Stronger
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/dumbledore?page=4