OOP Spoilers--my defense of Harry (long!)

[Richelle Votaw]

S
p
o
i
l
e
r

s
p
a
c
e

lots

of

spoilers

below

First, I find it quite shocking that anyone would not think Harry has every right to be as angry as he was.  He has more highs and lows in this book alone than anyone should have to endure.  The highs are pretty high, but the lows are, oh, I don't know, at the bottom of a bottomless lake.  Personally, I'd have yelled and screamed a lot more, at a lot of different people.  Let's face it, start with the beginning, he's been stuck with the Dursleys for a month, not one word worth hearing from any of his friends.  Most of the WW is in denial.  Harry feels lost, isolated, and in a way, abandoned.  I think what upset him most in Ron and Hermione's letters wasn't that they didn't tell him anything, but that they were together, they were busy, and here he is, the one who has risked his neck so many times fighting Voldemort already, stuck in a flowerbed trying to hear news.  It's not like became angry overnight, he sat at the Dursleys dwelling on all of this for a month.  He can't go to sleep without having nightmares about Cedric dying over and over again.

Then, he finally uses magic, to save himself and Dudley, and what does he get?  Practically yelled at by his friends.  Bad little boy, don't move, use no magic.  Right.  And if the dementors come back, then what?  Let them have him?  I don't think so.  I know everyone was paniced and in a rush, but Harry was paniced too.  

Then he finally gets out of there, and people have to have a fight over whether or not he should know anything.  Yes, he's fifteen.  But he's a very old fifteen.  

Then let's move along, back to Hogwarts.  First, he's got DADA with a person who he knows wanted him expelled.  Who's calling him a liar.  I'd probably blow up at her a few times too.  Actually, he handled his temper quite well.  And good old McGonagall.  Gave him cookies. :)

Then there's Dumbledore.  In the end it's understood why, but I was as frustrated as Harry for a while there.  Wouldn't speak to him, wouldn't look at him, it was easy for Harry to misinterpret that.  He felt like Dumbledore no longer believed in him.  I'd be angry too if the one person I thought I would always trust and be safe with suddenly wouldn't speak to me.  

Then there are these dreams.  One of the reviews said this book didn't have the grisly, disturbing scenes that GoF did.  Well, maybe I'm off my rocker, but if the "dream" about Arthur wasn't distrubing, nothing was.  Of course, I guess it's a combination of it being Arthur, the blood, the panic Harry was in, Harry thrashing around, the boys in his dorm trying to figure out what to do, waking him up, scar hurting, throwing up, trying to get his point across . . . I'd say it was disturbing.

Well, I won't detail every reason Harry had to be angry, but quite frankly, he had every right to be.  Sure, it's not always fun for the friends who happen to be there and get it taken out on them, but that's how life works.  Generally those who get yelled at are simply the only ones available to take out ones frustration on.

So lets move on to the end.  Sirius dies.  I think he's dead.  Dead.  JKR said it already, the person was definitely dead.  So if he's not she's lied at some point.  Either by saying he's definitely dead, or previously by saying no one could be brought back from the dead in the WW.  And Harry goes after his killer.  He tries to use the worst curse he can think of, the Cruciatus curse.  However, I say tries because he doesn't accomplish what the Cruciatus is intended for.  He doesn't cause her much pain.  Knocks her off her feet, but she gets right back up.  Now, notice what she tells him.  "You need to really want to cause pain--to enjoy it--righteous anger won't hurt me for long."  So here's Harry, angrier than he's ever been, wanting revenge, yet he really doesn't WANT to cause pain, he can't enjoy inflicting pain.  

Then there's the final scene in Dumbledore's office. The closest person Harry had to family is dead.  He's emotionally traumatized, he's angry, he's confused.  He was lured into a trap because of his own goodness.  Yes, that's what I call it, goodness.  Willing to risk himself to save others. Remember, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna didn't have to go with him.  They chose to go.  Anyway, fourteen years worth of confusion, pain, sadness, and anger all come out at once.  And Dumbledore handled it very well.  He let Harry yell, he let him scream, he let him get it out.  He let Harry throw things around his office, break things, have his fourteen years worth of temper tantrum.  All without blinking an eye, without raising his voice (imagine Snape in that situation--scary thought!).  The only thing he didn't let Harry do is run away from it all.  Once he'd finished yelling and screaming and throwing things, Dumbledore made him sit down and listen.  Whether he wanted to or not, he needed to.  And then there's the prophecy.  Yes, it would've been a bit hard to tell an eleven year old child that he had to kill Voldemort or be killed by him.  And quite frankly, though it would possibly have saved Sirius if he'd known, it would not have done him much good.  Why?  Well, so long as Voldemort wasn't really alive, he couldn't die.  So why worry the kid for nothing, right?  At least I guess that's what Dumbledore convinced himself.  I really can't say which was the right thing to do.  Tough choice.

Well, I suppose I'd better wrap this up somehow.  Basically, I think Harry had every right to be just as angry as he was.  Or more.  As for taking it out on his friends, well, true friends will take it just because they know someone has to.  I think Harry's true friends have proved their loyalty.  It had to get out, and now it is.  It took a while, but it's out.  He could do with a bit more of a cry, though there was a bit of one by the lake.  Still, he is a fifteen year old boy, and that's not a "guy" thing to do.  Maybe I understand Harry's feelings because my emotions tend to be more like that.  I yell when I'm angry.  Some people cry, I yell.  I might get to tears eventually, but yelling comes first.  Seems like Harry's the same way.

Okay, I'm done.  Congratulate yourself if you made it this far! :)

Richelle


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]