Lack of human affection in books

[rainy_lilac at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 12622

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., rlpenar at y... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Julie Smith <whimzical at y...> wrote:
> >  I've found it interesting how little affection/
> > emotion/intimacy is in the books. I wonder why this
> > is? <snip>
> 
> As a very touchy-feely type person, I have also noticed this. I 
mean, 
> I hug friends when they come over to my house and when they leave. 
> But perhaps this is part of the reason why when I did my character 
> quiz (way back when) I came up as Hagrid. Hagrid seems to always be 
> hugging Harry, embracing Harry, falling on Harry, etc. Hagrid is 
also 
> just about the only person (other than perhaps Ginny?) who openly 
> cries. Is this a giant trait???
> 
> Becky

I noticed this, but attributed it to cultural and class differences. 
The British DO tend to be quite reserved, but that reserve in my 
experience varies. It does not necessarily mean a lack of warmth.

Americans are very, very demonstrative in general and a lot of 
cultures have a big problem with this. I lived in Turkey for a few 
years and discovered that greeting people with the wide American 
smile, direct eye contact, and a familiar address more often than not 
would be interpreted as superficiality rather than warmth. 
"Americans-- gad, they smile at everything." Although Turks are very 
warm, they did not like that. Manners and formality meant a lot to 
them. Getting to the point where you could feel free to hug or kiss 
someone who is not a blood relative was a rather big deal.

It might be that in the wizarding world things are more formal. Harry 
ceetainly needs warmth and support, but I  would not assume that that 
would need to come in the form of huggie-kissie-huggie. He appears to 
have developed close ties with many people-- Dumbledore means the 
world to him, as do his friends and Hagrid and the Weasleys. Sirius is 
the closest thing to a father that he has, but please remember that 
godfather or no, they haven't actually had a lot of contact with one 
another, and Sirius has plenty of his own issues going on. If Sirius 
gets down to business it may be because his most urgent wish is to 
protect and advise Harry. Also, I seem to rememeber at the end of Book 
IV, Sirius stays close to Harry and is visibly shaken by what has 
happened. He leaves only when he must.

Sounds like love to me!

Suzanne