Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Matthew 6:21. On the Dumbledores’ grave it serves as a reminder that “there are consequences for trying
to store up treasures on earth while not laying up treasures in heaven” (Neal 223). This idea is especially
important when discussing Voldemort’s use of Horcruxes and Dumbledore’s temptation for power. Harry
and Hermione discover another biblical quotation on Lily and James Potter’s grave, a quote from 1
Corinthians 15:26 that reads: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (DH 328). Seeing these
words on his parents’ grave worries Harry, who thinks of “destroying” death as an idea Voldemort and his
Death Eaters celebrate. Luckily Hermione explains “It doesn’t mean defeating death in the way the Death
Eaters mean it…It means…living beyond death. Living after death” (328). Harry is not fully satisfied with
her answer, insisting that his parents are dead beneath their feet, but readers familiar with the biblical
passage understand Hermione’s meaning perfectly.
Though Harry doesn’t see it, this reference is perhaps the most obvious of Rowling’s many hints
about the series’ climactic end. Indeed, Rowling herself describes this quote as “the theme to the entire
series” and once explained that she was glad no one has asked her to explain her religious beliefs in too
much detail because “if [she talked] too freely about that [she thought] the intelligent reader, whether 10 or
60, [would] be able to guess [what was] coming in the book” (Duthie 32; Neal 226). She was right to be
secretive; readers who know this reference would realize that it comes from one of Paul’s letters in which
he explains that Christ defeated death through his resurrection which allows the faithful to hope for life after
death (Neal 226). By placing the quote on his parents’ grave, Rowling foreshadows Harry’s Christly
sacrifice and furthers her theme of mastering death. Defeating death could refer to Voldemort’s perverted
attempts at immortality, but biblically literate readers know it also means accepting it as a natural part of
life and a transition from one life to another. In this way, the quote and Harry’s negative reaction to it not
only furthers Harry’s budding association with Christ, but also illustrates Voldemort’s anti-Christian
attitude toward mortality.
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