Harry's Fear is Fear?

[caliburncy at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26921

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., meboriqua at a... wrote:
> That raises a question for me.  Why would Harry's biggest fear be 
> fear itself?  I had trouble with that the first time I read PoA and 
> I still struggle with that now.  I always thought that Harry feared 
> the Dementors because of two things: 1) how they make him feel and 
> 2) the memories they bring him of his parents' murders.  That would 
> certainly terrify me.  How then, does fear itself become what Harry 
> is afraid of?  Is it because he is afraid of being weak and showing 
> fear can be seen as weak?  I definitely need help with this one.

Well, I guess this either implies that there is an inherent symbolic 
relationship between the Dementors and fear, or that Lupin perceives 
that Harry associates his fear of fear with the Dementors (see 
"Boggart" post).  Let's assume for the moment that it is the second, 
because I honestly can't imagine why the Dementors would inherently 
symbolize fear in particular when you could make a better case for 
them inherently symbolizing other emotions like depression (unless 
depression is rooted in fear, which is another topic altogether).  So 
if it's associated only in Harry's mind (and that's assuming Lupin 
perceives correctly) then that eliminates the need for other reasons 
for him to be afraid of the Dementors, even if other reasons do in 
fact exist (which I think they do, as you state).

In that case, I would assume that the reason someone like Harry's 
greatest fear would be fear itself is because fear is paralyzing and 
thus closely related to powerlessness/helplessness.  (Or maybe I'm 
just biased and saying that because impotence (no, not the sexual 
kind--another more descriptive word for powerless/helplessness) is my 
greatest fear.)  I really see Harry as someone that would not be able 
to tolerate being in a situation that he could not accept, but being 
unable to change it.  Harry is perhaps afraid that he will at some 
point allow his fear to overcome him and thus be unable to act.

Maybe.  That's the two second version anyway.  I had an infinitely 
cooler and better explained version waxing endlessly on the nature of 
fear and blah, blah, blah that I subsequently lost due to technical 
difficulties.

Anyway, I do think this is a telling observation on Lupin's part, at 
least in conclusion, but perhaps not in evidence.

-Luke