After reading all of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix it is easily noted that lying is one of the most prominent motifs that generates a major theme within the story. Harry is arguably an innocent character who unfortunately finds himself in sticky situations. It is in these situations that we seem to find Harry lying because he's learned that adults do not trust him or he'll inevitably end up in trouble. As a result of this, his lies and secrets are usually geared towards the authoritative figures around him. However, we do see instances of him keeping the full truth from his friends are persuading his friends to join his lies. The adult figures presented in Harry's life are not always the most reliable or encouraging, themselves. Harry lives in a constant battle, trying to figure out who he can and can't trust. He is often left to make hard decisions on his own which pushes him to think he has to keep information about his actions on the "DL". While Harry is the character that illustrates the highest rate of lies and decption, Hogwarts, itself, is full of secrets and false truths.
The Daily Prophet, for one, constantly publishes lies about Harry and Dumbledore. Alongside that, the Quibbler seems to have no actual support to backup the lies that are printed in it. In the case of this book, Harry refuses to tell Surius the entirety of the dreams he has been having about him. Sweet Ginny falls into Harry's chaos when he drafts her to stand guard of the hallway and tell a cover up story to others while he sneaks into Umbridge's office. Within the margins of this book, students are basically forced to be secretive because Umbridge has enforced such heavy restrictions on their actions and communications with each other. Because of that, everything about the D.A. is secretive. There is a even the chain reaction effect based on lies between Umbridge, Harry, and the Ministry of Magic.
I understand all of these lies essentially create the plot of this storyline, but it frustrated me the entire time I was reading this book. I am a logical thinker so I always think "well if they would just tell the truth this wouldn't have happened" or "if they would just seek out help then things could be simplified". It's hard for me to fully enjoy a story when I know there are a lot of logical solutions that could take place to benefit characters. However, I know it's all part of the suspense that this story thrives on. Do you think any of these lies are justified? What do you think would be the most beneficial way to help prevent lies and/or secrets within Hogwarts?
At the beginning of the series I was equally frustrated with all of the lies that Harry tells to keep himself out of trouble but as the series has continued its obvious that telling the truth definitely doesn't get him anywhere. He's in the center of this universe where all of the adults seem incapable of understanding the truth even when it hits them literally in the forehead. He has found many professors that he has leaned on throughout the series to assist him in their speciality but we have yet to see a character that takes Harry 100% for who he is which is unfortunately extremely sad since everything he has observed has been nothing but the truth. It makes me wonder as an adult how I would respond if a student were saying outrageous things that I would hope not to be true. One would think after he was right a few times that they would believe him however, that hasnt been the truth at all.
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