I’ll say it again: Rowling likes M. Scott Peck. No, she hasn’t confirmed it, and perhaps it’s mere coincidence, but read this quote from the illustration Peck uses in Chapter 1 of The People of the Lie. Here, Peck is advising a client on the course he must take in order to get better:
Easy. That’s a key word for you, George…. You’re always looking for an easy way out, George. Not the right way. The easy way. When you’re faced with a choice between the right way and the easy way, you’ll take the easy way every time. (p. 33)
Now, Dumbledore:
Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory. (GF-37)
Now, Rowling:
What’s very important for me is when Dumbledore says that you have to choose between what is right and what is easy. This is the setup for the next three books. All of them are going to have to choose, because what is easy is often not right.
There’s a scene in Goblet where Cedric, who competes against Harry in the Triwizard Tournament, is killed by Voldemort, and at the end, Dumbledore must choose between informing the students of this evil, or keeping the knowledge from them. He chooses to tell them.
Dumbledore’s decision is 100 percent me. (http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0900-ew-jensen.htm)
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
There’s a tongue-in-cheek quote I like from Aaron Sorkin: “Good writers borrow from other good writers. Great writers steal from them outright.”
Ever since I read Peck’s book about demon posession I’ve been turned off his work. It seemed too self-congratulatory and I found it hard to agree with some of his insights. The Road Less Travelled was originally marketed as a “New Age” title. This turned me off when I was younger. Maybe I should have another look at it.
The quotes you have given us from time to time certainly support aspects of Rowling’s books.
Matthew
Matthew, I’m not familiar with his book about demon possession. I had no idea he had even ventured into that realm.
The People of the Lie is unashamedly from a Christian viewpoint, and he’s not yet talked about demon possession. While I disagree with some of his theology, his insights overall have been excellent so far.
Oh my goodness, she likes M. Scott Peck? I never knew!
I love how this sort of information leaks out gradually…
Oops, read too quickly, it’s not 100% assured. However, I would say the similarities between those two quotations are obvious and probably significant.
In the edition of the People of the Lie that I read, Peck said that there was no draft in American during the Vietnam war, but that all the soldiers were volunteers, and that they did so because they liked to kill. Since that is in itself a lie, it has made it hard for me to take him seriously.
I also read in that book an account of an exorcism at which he was ostensibly present. Maybe these things are not in your edition, but they were in mine.
If Peck wrote about choosing between what is right and what is easy, he did not originate the concept. Many people have said that, starting with Jesus himself. It’s a basic Christian tenet, isn’t it?
I haven’t read the whole book, so I’ve not come across either of the two issues you mention. I’ll respond to them when/if I come across them.
I agree the concept didn’t originate with him, but it’s the actual wording that I’m talking about. And this isn’t the only instance in which I’ve read similarities between Peck and Rowling. I’ll be documenting some of them in the next podcast.
Travis–
The parts I referred to are very close to the end, so perhaps that’s why you haven’t seen them yet.
I’m sure Rowling didn’t take the actual wording from Peck, because, well, that would be plagiarism. But how else would you word it, if you were talking about the concept?
Oddly enough, M. Scott Peck’s Glimpes of the Devil helped move me from being a casual HP to serious HP fan. Mainly in that it got me thinking about redemption as a process, and I played that out using Draco.