Harry's POV - scar hurting - werewolves - funniest moments

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 15782

Harry's POV:

I'm still not clear what you mean by "coloured," Naama, but IMO the 
matter of Harry's POV is mostly a subtle and pervasive thing.  Others 
have spoken to the effects on plot and what we learn; I'd like to 
point out the obvious but important fact that it also has the 
cumulative effect of giving us an insider's view of Harry himself.  
Whatever we might be encountering is frequently described as Harry 
sees it:  "Harry had never seen the Great Hall looking so 
magnificent."  (That's not verbatim, but it's as specific as I can get 
without the books and at 3 a.m.)  There is nothing dramatic or 
important to the plot about that particular observation, but it's the 
way Harry is seeing things, and as such it .  I wish I could come up 
with a better example, such as Harry's observations of other 
people
there are dozens in every chapter.

So why not use third person omniscient so we can get an inside look at 
Hermione, Ron, et alia?  As a reader, to make a very gross 
generalization, I find third person limited more powerful than 
omniscient narration.  Perhaps it's because it requires the writer to 
do a little less telling ("Hermione felt embarrassed") and a little 
more showing ("Hermione flushed") (again, an obvious example, but more 
subtle ones abound), and as another very general rule, showing is more 
powerful than telling.  Many writers go along with character A's POV 
for a long time-say, most of a chapter-and the effect when they switch 
is made stronger by the fact that we aren't used to seeing things from 
character B's POV all the time.  Draco Sinister is a good example 
(*kissing up to Cassie, she knows why*--but I mean it).  Strong Poison 
by Dorothy Sayers comes to mind as another; she uses POV shifts very 
effectively both within and between chapters, e.g., when Lord Peter 
solves the mystery the narration shifts suddenly to Bunter's POV, 
taking us into the mind of someone who (like us) doesn't know how it 
was done yet, but (unlike us, or at least unlike me) figures it out 
before our eyes.  It gives us one final hint, takes us one step closer 
to the inner circle, before the entire explanation is revealed.

Billy wrote:

<<If the story was told from Harry's POV then Harry would be in every 
scene.  E.g.
is the first chapter of GOF told from Harry's POV?  Obviously not as
he is unaware of what took place there>>

Rina wrote:

>But, the difference is that GoF's was also Harry's dream. He wasn't
>there, but I thought it was rather clear that the vivid dream that 
woke him
>suddenly was the scene with Frank, showing Harry and Voldemort's 
connection.

And the reason he's unaware of what took place is not that he didn't 
witness it--it seems clear that he did--but that it vanishes as he 
wakes up as dreams are wont to do, leaving him with only vague 
impressions.  Still, the chapter is not from Harry's POV.  It is quite 
clearly third person limited to Frank Bryce's POV. 

Neil wrote:

> I find him a little *too* dense when it
>comes to discovering details.  For example, at the beginning of CoS 
he has
>no idea why Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, 
although
>this can't have been much of a secret, and - hey presto - it turns 
out to be
>key to a later part of the story. 
<stuff on curiosity about his parents snipped>

Harry does ask him about it when they first meet and gets the clear 
message that it's an unwelcome topic.  It can't have been much of a 
secret in Hagrid's day, but he is 60+, and who in his generation is 
likely to pass old gossip along to Harry?

Harry's lack of curiosity about his parents may be one place where 
plot is driving character.  JKR needs to keep certain things from 
Harry for the sake of the unfolding plot, but what ends up coming 
through to us is that he is simply not that curious about these 
things.  I can buy that he wouldn't ask Dumbledore about them-only in 
GoF is he really getting bold about asking Dumbledore most of the 
questions that are on his mind-and I can even buy that he wouldn't ask 
Lupin or Hagrid, though I wonder about that.  I would have thought 
that by the end of GoF you'd think he'd have owled a few lists of 
questions to Sirius; since he doesn't, I think we have to take that as 
a sign that he doesn't feel comfortable enough with Sirius to ask 
questions that are so personal for both of them.  

Another avenue he chooses not to take is to look them up in the 
library.  I am trying to trust JKR's artistic integrity and take all 
these points not as plot devices but as true indications of Harry's 
character.  I.e. this is someone who, although he is curious about his 
parents up to a point, decides against reading about their deaths (and 
whatever he might learn about their lives) in The Top Twenty Events of 
the Twentieth Century or what have you.  This is hard for me to relate 
to--I find reading third-person accounts of my family events, some of 
which have unfortunately been the kinds of things that get written up 
in the papers, a very helpful way to assimilate them--but I guess it's 
believable.

Doreen wrote:

>How does Dumbledore know about Harry's scar pain "when Voldemort is 
feeling
>particularly murderous?"  Can anyone quote me the lines where it says 
that
>Harry told him this?

You're right, he doesn't know for sure; it's just a theory.  In GoF he 
knows it hurts when Harry dreams of V in Trelawney's class, and that 
plus the earlier dream make a pattern of it hurting when V is 
torturing or killing someone, and also when he's just talked about 
killing Harry (now that raises a question-AD seems to know more about 
the first dream than Harry actually told Sirius.  All Harry says in 
his letter is that his scar hurt that morning-not "after a dream about 
V" nor "it woke me up").  

Rita wrote:

>I was saddened that FB's section on werewolves says nothing about
>whether lycanthropy is contagious when the werewolf is in human form. 
If
>a human who happens to be a werewolf bites you, do you become a
>werewolf? How about if he just slobbers on you?

Or kisses you deeply for hours and hours? 

IMO, and I don't think this is just wishful thinking ;-), it's only 
contagious when the werewolf is in wolf form.  It seems to fit best 
with the dramatic split between wolf-personality (or rather, 
werewolf-wolf-personality, since true wolves are not very aggressive 
towards humans) and human-personality.  

Gwen's funniest moment:

>"'...Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise 
>will be the first to die!'
>
>'We'll risk it, Sybill,'"

And we can't forget "Tripe, Sybil?" and "They went out into the 
entrance hall, which was completely devoid of mad axe-men."  JKR was 
divinely inspired when she wrote that chapter.

Amy Z

(A sig for Magda:)
--------------------------------------------------
   "Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye
 Moody," said Mrs. Weasley sternly.
   "Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he,"
 said Fred quietly, as Mrs. Weasley left the room.  
 "Birds of a feather."
                     -HP and the Goblet of Fire
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