There's Something Special About Harry...

[Kimberly]

No: HPFGUIDX 11514

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Ebony Elizabeth Thomas" <ebonyink at h...> 
wrote:
> From SS, Ch. 1 (p. 11 PB)--
> 
> "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around.  
You know 
> what everyone's saying?  About why (Voldemort)'s disappeared?  
About what 
> finally stopped him?"
> --McGonagall
> 
> If there's nothing special about Harry, why is the opening chapter 
of the 
> series called "The Boy Who Lived"?  Just a creative hook?  Simply 
conveying 
> obvious information?  Or... is there truth in advertising?


I was just trying to address your questions in your last two posts 
about this, and what's funny is, I used the same quote.  I mentioned 
in that other reply also that I do think Harry is special, just not a 
superhero.  He's "The Boy Who Lived", but I don't think he's The Boy 
Who Singlehandedly Defeated Evil Because He's Something Different 
>From All The Other Wizards.  The fact that he lived makes him clearly 
different, but it doesn't necessarily follow that he belongs in a 
Marvel Comic ;).  At least I hope not.

 
> At this point, Dumbledore knows that the Potters are dead.  When 
answering 
> Minerva, he doesn't comment on a mother's love or the power of 
ancient magic 
> from the dawn of time.  He says...
> 
> "We can guess.  We may never know."
>
> While his response may shoot holes into the Prophecy and Heir-of-
Gryffindor 
> arguments, it doesn't count as a point for the 
> "Harry-as-ordinary-boy-caught-in-extraordinary-circumstances" camp, 
either.  
> Quite the contrary.

I think you're asking a lot of Dumbledore.  He wasn't there, and he 
can't know the details.  He can't know that Lily died to protect 
Harry.  He only knows the parents are dead, Harry's not, and the Big 
Bad seems to have disappeared, at least for the moment.


> This afternoon, I had a long talk with a parent who was introduced 
to Harry 
> Potter this month via her son's reading SS for my class.  <snip> 
> "There's something about Harry..." was her theme for 15 minutes.  
Prompted 
> by one question from me:  "How did you and your son like the book?"
> 
> My thoughts?  If JKR's point at the end is that ordinary people do 
> extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances, I buy it.
> 
> However, isn't the tale of an extraordinary kid who does ordinary 
things 
> just as worthwhile?  *Especially* in the fantasy genre?
> 
> I'd say that Harry Potter falls into the second category.
> 

I'd say it's worthwhile, but Harry's not doing ordinary things.  His 
circumstances and his actions *are* extraordinary, so that's not 
really an option.
But a story about extraordinary people doing ordinary *or* 
extraordinary things would both be fine.  I just don't think that's 
what I'm reading.

If it were I don't think Dumbledore would emphasize A. That Harry's 
actions and decisions are *the thing* that makes him who he is, and 
B. That if one person fails to defeat evil, it just takes someone 
else "willing to fight what seems like a loosing battle" to continue 
to thwart it.  I think those things are meant to encourage people to 
feel that ordinary people *can* do extraordinary things.  So to turn 
around and show the hero to only be capable of being the hero because 
he has super-powers would be counterproductive.

Side-note:  Can anyone tell me if JKR considers her stories 
fantasies?  It never really occurred to me to think of them as a 
particular genre.  I've not gotten this excited about the fantasy 
genre before, so I was wondering if maybe I should rethink.

Kimberly