Deliberately Doing the Wrong Thing (Was: Rule Breaking and & HP

[s_luhtanen at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29375

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., bethyellen at h... wrote:
> Pat of growing up is bending the rules and sometimes breaking them; 
> and in turn receiving your punishment. I don't think the Harry 
Potter 
> books actively encourage children to break rules, it's just a 
> portrayal of how nearly all children act.

Agreed.
 
> Some children have to learn the hard way, other's avoid doing so, 
but 
> in the end Jk Rowling is portraying the life, say of a 14 year old 
> boy, he is not going to live life as a saint.

I do not equate breaking a rule and doing the morally wrong thing.
Like -1st year, Harry helps Neville to get his property back which I 
do consider the right thing to do.

I don't think such rules can be made!

> It also brings the question does Harry ever do anything morally 
wrong?
> Sure he sneaks out of the castle at night, and he did steal from 
> Snape's supplies, but at the end of the day, Harry does what he 
> think's is right. And so far, it has always turned out for the best.
> He's got a lot of good qualities which recommend him, which I feel 
> outweigh him breaking some rules.

Yes. Even more so, because he breaks rules to do what's right. That's 
what gives Harry the character to resist Imperious. Rules are handed 
down by someone else - I wouldn't trust others enough to make my 
moral decisions for me...

Only thingd Harry ever did really wrong - in 3rd book:
a) When he lied to Neville about where he was going
b) Lying to Stan about his identity.

Not really going to Hogsmeade. The school required a signature of his 
parent or guardian - Harry did not /have/ a parent, nor a guardian. 
He lived on his own, because Dursleys did not guard him but mentally 
abused him. Harry needed a guardian against them!!
Yes, Harry needed a guardian -- and banned Hogsmeade was only a 
painful reminder. It wasn't Hogsmeade Harry wanted - it was a 
guardian/parent, some adult to care for him. He just had to go to 
Hogsmeade on his own to realise that.
Of course, when he found Sirius, things changed...