Harry and Cedric (was Envy/Respect)

[Hillman, Lee]

No: HPFGUIDX 13171

Jen wrote:

> Actually, I think the portrayal in GoF of Harry's feelings towards Cedric
is actually a little     > more complicated than just this envy/respect
tension (though certainly, both of these 
> elements are present). It seems to me that one of the dominant modes in
which Harry's 
> feelings are presented is the homoerotic.

<snip>

I can certainly see how they could be interpreted in a slash context, but I
respectfully disagree. I think Rowling is trying to give us insight to how
Harry deals with Cho, in light of Cedric. The flip-flopping of his stomach
(and absence of same when turned down) has to do with self-doubt and worry
regarding how he would act with her. It disappears when he realizes that the
question he's screwed up his courage to ask is moot, and he doesn't have to
go through a whole evening of fearing to make a fool of himself in front of
a girl he likes. It's the answer he expected.

Imagine someone you had a crush on in junior high, preferrably someone at
least three years older. When you fantasized about this person, possibly you
were cool, suave, witty, etc. When he/she walked into the room, you
dissolved into incoherent babble. A crush is meant to remain distant; close
up, it gets difficult to bear.

<snip>
> He really seems mostly fine with the idea that he can't go with her, but
perhaps he is 
> feeling relief, a sudden lack/release of tension.

I agree. But for the reasons having to do with Cho, not for any latent
homosexual tendency. He's relieved because now the worry and the doubt are
over.

> But his reaction is intense when he finds out who she is going with:
> "'Oh -- Cedric', she said. 'Cedric Diggory.' 
> "'Oh right', said Harry. 
> "His insides had come back again. It felt as though they had been filled
with lead in their 
> absence. 
> "Completely forgetting about dinner, he walked slowly back up to
Gryffindor Tower, Cho's 
> voice echoing in his ears with every step he took. '*Cedric -- Cedric
Diggory*'. He had
> been starting to quite like Cedric -- prepared to overlook the fact that
he had once beaten 
> him at Quidditch, and was handsome, and popular, and nearly everone's
favorite
> champion. Now he suddenly realized Cedric was in fact a useless pretty boy
who didn't 
> have enough brains to fill an eggcup." (GoF 397f.)
> First, the stomach makes its third appearance as an indicator of H's
emotions; he now 
> feels like he's filled with lead, heavy. This seems to be a more serious
reaction than just 
> being turned down by Cho -- his body has been invaded by a foreign
substance, he's not
> remembering to eat, and he's unable to get Cedric's name out of his head.
One should note > especially that it's not her words of rejection that he
keeps hearing, but the name of his 
> rival.

Absolutely.  It's called jealousy. Not of Cho for going with Cedric, but
Cedric for going with Cho. The fact that Cho's already been asked is one
thing, and easy enough to understand--Harry did leave it awfully late in
asking. But of all people, to go with Cedric, who is already the object of
most of the school's admiration (and remember that the Slytherins started a
campaign to directly compare Cedric with Harry, casting Harry in the
undesirable spot), is a harder blow. Again, purely in terms of literary
criticism, I feel it's realistic that Harry fixates not on Cho herself, but
on the fact of Cedric. As such, it's also reasonable that he sees Cedric as
an object, as indeed, so does the rest of the school.

> The emphasis on Cedric's appearance is rather telling since Harry thinks
of him as not only > "handsome," but as a "pretty boy," both positive
physical attributes which have presumably > caused Cho to desire him. Even
while postionally Cedric is a desiring subject
> in relation to Cho, Harry is casting him as the desired object, replacing
Cedric's subjectivity > with his own. 

I interpreted this as a hyperbolic commentary meant to communicate Harry's
bitterness over the rivalry. He _wanted_ to like Cedric, was most of the way
toward deciding that he's okay, but now there's a girl in the middle. How
many people have had the experience of a bad break-up, only to see one's ex
with someone new soon afterward (before getting over the old relationship)?
How many people were sainted enough NOT to feel some hostility and
exaggerate the inadequacy of the new flame--whether it's a comment on looks,
personality, or fashion sense? It's the same comparison. He's initially
angry and hurt that she chose Cedric over him. It's easier to characterize
Cedric in an unforgiving light.

> This positional ambiguity which the rival-relationship gives rise to is
precisely what makes 
> the scene have homoerotic tensions. Harry continues to emphasize Cedric as
desired 
> object, rather than desiring subject: 
> "'...I bet you just walked past when [Fleur Delacour] was turning on the
old charm for 
> Diggory and got a blast of it -- but she was wasting her time. He's going
with Cho Chang." > (GoF 399)
> Harry is portraying Cedric here as a passive recipient (object) of Fleur's
"charm" (desire), 
> again perceiving him in the role of desired object. Because it is framed
in terms of another's > desire (Fleur's, Cho's), it is not his own, and
therefore acceptable. But the portrayal is not 
> necessarily accurate (other than Harry's, there has been no suggestion
that Fleur was 
> trying to seduce Cedric), and arises from Harry's perception of Cedric as
desirable/ed 
> object, rather than from any 'objective' statement in Ron's account (who
should surely
> have mentioned it were that the case that Fleur desired Cedric, since
Cedric would then be > his rival as well).

Correct again, but bear in mind that Cedric IS an object for the whole
school, not just Harry. It is natural and not necessarily homoerotic to
objectify the rival in this case. Slytherins support Cedric, Cho's dating
Cedric, everybody loves Cedric, so why shouldn't Fleur (the most sexually
attractive girl in the school at the moment) also be going after Cedric?
Harry also ignores (for the moment) the gaggle of girls who follow Krum's
every move and swoon over his autograph, for the purposes of his tirade.
It's bitterness, not sexual desire. 

Also bear in mind that he's making a half-baked attempt to console Ron,
here, and thus the subject of the sentence is rightfully Fleur, not Cedric.
He throws in Cedric's name because he feels like he's being unfairly
compared to him, at every turn. 

> To my mind, this scene more than meets criteria for homoeroticism. 

Again, I think you _could_ interpret it that way, but to do so takes a lot
of work. I think the more obvious explanation is, in this case, the correct
one.

> I've certainly read more obvious scenes in terms of word choice, for
instance, but the 
> insistence with which Harry repeatedly places Cedric (for no necessary
reason) in the 
> position of desired object, rather than rival subject, seems to me
unmistakable. And some > of the word choice even ("pretty boy") does have
homoerotic overtones.

Does Harry need a necessary reason? How about, Cedric's constantly being
held up this year as a paragon of good, an example to emulate? How about,
Cedric's in direct competition with Harry, even "getting the girl." How
about, he's mad at Cedric? How about, he's trying to find something to fault
in Cedric to bolster his own waning self-confidence? And in this case, I
took the term "pretty boy" to be a derogatory statement, not a complimentary
one. 

> I find it especially intersting in light of this dynamic in their
relationship that it was Cedric, 
> and not say Viktor or Fleur, who died...

Here we come to the original question: How did Cedric's death affect you? 

Without putting a homoerotic spin on the relationship, I think the effect of
his death is still poignant when you consider that Harry had just come to
grips with Cedric's worth, that they had reached a compromise, and that they
had just decided that they could share the glory (questions about who gets
Cho aside). His rival in the competition became his ally at the end, and
Cedric is killed for being a bystander, for not getting out of the way.
Personally, I was surprised when he was killed so off-handedly, but I was
not emotionally affected by it until his spectre came out of the wand, and
especially in the aftermath when they return through the portkey. Albus
Dumbledore's speech at the end made me cry, of course, but then I cry for
AT&T and Hallmark commercials, so I'm a marshmallow anyway.

It's also ironic that Cedric's death means Harry will probably never get
Cho. Regardless of how "in love" or "not in love" she was with Cedric (and
personally I think not so much), her feelings toward him will always remain
unresolved. She will not be able to distinguish how she felt before he died
from how she felt when he did not come back, and Harry did. IMO, they will
probably become friends, and maybe down the line lovers, but nothing will
happen on that front for a while.

Hope this doesn't repeat someone else's rehash. 

Gwen