Harry Potter Character Sketch - Part 2 of 3

[joym999 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 17109

Who is Harry as a person?  What is he like?  And how has he changed 
and grown in the course of the four years we have known him?  How 
does his history affect his growth and development?

I found these questions very difficult to answer, so I asked a few 
friends for opinions.  One said he thought Harry was brave, modest, 
practical, smart (but not book-smart like Hermione), reckless, and 
somewhat irresponsible.  This friend thinks that Harry is "a 
scoundrel in the making, a future Han Solo but without the 
arrogance."  Another friend, who is a big fan of the HP books, does 
not like Harry very much as a person.  She finds him to be sullen and 
insecure, and too emotionally reactive.  This friend (who is working 
on her Ph.D. in comparative literature) thinks that Harry's 
insecurity makes him punish people for what he feels, for example, in 
GoF when Ron and Harry have their big fight, Harry's reaction to 
Ron's jealous is venomous when (she feels) he should cut Ron some 
slack.  She feels that Harry's reaction to Ron's jealousy and 
disloyalty is too harsh, considering what Ron has to put up with.  
Personally, I agree that Harry is often insecure, but I see that as 
more normal for a teenage boy, especially one who has had the 
upbringing that Harry has had, and I rather like him.  I also feel 
sorry for him – not only was he brought up by the horrible Dursleys, 
but he continually has to put up with an onslaught of problems not of 
his own making – evil wizards, sadistic teachers, other people's high 
expectations, snakes, rumors, his own unremembered history, his 
innate talent at Quidditch (not really a problem, but it does make 
others jealous), bullies, pretty girls, too much homework, etc.  
Harry is somewhat naive – but probably no more than anyone else his 
age.  He gets completely fooled by the intentions of one character 
per book – Snape, young Tom Riddle, Sirius Black, & Moody, 
respectively – but for the most part those characters have fooled 
everyone else, too.

There are some things about Harry's personality which are less 
controversial – he is brave, quick-thinking in a crisis, and modest.  
His greatest love and talent is the sport of Quidditch.  His magical 
skills are continually challenged and he continually lives up to that 
challenge.  In each of the four books so far, both his predicament 
and his magical abilities get more complicated and difficult during 
the final encounter.  In SS/PS, he faces only a weak shadow of 
Voldemort, and his inefficient servant Quirrell.  Harry does not do 
much fighting or any magic; Quirrell's hands burn when he touches 
Harry because of the "old magic" that has protected him since he was 
a baby.  He basically just hangs on until Dumbledore rescues him.  In 
CoS, he fights the basilisk, with the help of Fawkes and Godric 
Gryffindor's sword.  He doesn't use magic, except (presumably) 
subconsciously to call Fawkes – he fights the Basilisk with the sword 
and "kills" the 16-year old Tom Riddle with the Basilisk's fang.  In 
PoA, he faces the dementors – powerful servants of the Dark Lord – 
and he uses magic to create the Patronus which beats them.  In GoF, 
his magical skills have become strong enough to win the Triwizard 
Tournament, and to escape from a powerful, reincarnated Voldemort.

One other thing about Harry – he has a hard time trusting people, 
especially adults.  It isn't until PoA that he really starts trusting 
Dumbledore and telling him things.  In GoF, he develops a much more 
trusting relationship with Sirius, as well.  For the most part, he 
only really trusts Ron and Hermione.


Next topic – Harry's important relationships.

The first person who befriends Harry is Hagrid, but Harry's closest 
friend is Ron Weasley.  Their relationship is best summed up, IMO, in 
the excellent article by Joan Acocella in the July 31, 2000 
(appropriate date!) issue of The New Yorker:

"...the scene, in "The Sorcerer's Stone,: where Harry and Ron meet 
for the first time, on the train that is taking them, as entering 
students, to Hogwarts.  Each is handicapped.  Harry, though he is 
famous throughout the wizard world (because, as an infant, he 
repelled Voldemort's attack), and though he has a pile of gold left 
to him by his parents, is without family and utterly ignorant of 
wizardry.  Ron comes from a  long line of wizards, and he has family 
galore, but that is his problem: five older brothers, no position.  
He is always dressed in hand-me-downs; his mother always forgets what 
kind of sandwich he likes; he has no spending money.  Together, in 
the train compartment, the two boys comfort and help each other.  
Harry shares the wizard candies he buys from the vender (he can 
afford them); Ron explains the wizard trading cards that come with 
the candies (he understands them).  Harry gives Ron prestige; Ron 
gives Harry a sense of belonging.  All this is done very Englishly, 
very subtly, in small gestures, but in the end each boy, because of 
the other, arrives at Hogwarts slightly better armed against the 
harshness of the world."

(Acocella, BTW, is a Harry/Ginny Shipper.)

Harry's friendship with Ron provides him with a sense of family, too, 
as the Weasleys, by the time we get to GoF, have practically adopted 
Harry.