"Delicate" Harry

[malady579]

No: HPFGUIDX 43040


Richelle Votaw wrote:

>>> I'm a bit stuck on something, and before I get into it I'll admit
I get stuck on the stupidest things.  :)  Anyway, what exactly is
meant by "delicate" in reference to Harry?  Let me elaborate first,
starting with PoA:

 After the dementor incident on the train, Harry is shuffled off to
McGonagall's office where Madam Pomfrey comes bustling in, clucking
her disapproval over the matter and so on.

 Madam Pomfrey: "Yes, he's all clammy.  Terrible things, they are, and
the effect they have on people who are already delicate--"

 Harry: "I'm not delicate!"

 So my point being, what is meant by delicate? ***medium cut***
I suppose it could be taken to mean "emotionally delicate" which I
would agree to.  How do the rest of you view this wording?  <<<



Ok, Me:

I took delicate to mean that Harry is emotionally raw.  He has had a
very traumatic life and those emotions are right under the surface of
his skin only because he has to function and move on with is life.  He
has never dealt with his past or even been able to face it really
since no one will tell him the full truth yet.  Harry is delicate
because all this is bottled inside him and kept there by everyone
treating him so special.  Whether by gauking at his scar or speaking
in whispers, frankly the whole magic world (the general populace of
it) does not know how to take him.  He is a hero/freak to them really.
 That can build up an odd concoction of emotions that are kept forced
down.  I mean the only time we see Harry cry is after the graveyard
and he really does not even want to do that.  Talking his experiences
out does help, but gracious the boy has A LOT happen to him.  He is
delicate because he is so young and so experienced with the dark side
of the magic world and yet also so in the dark with what is going on.
 I mean he was born into this fighting magic world, boarded away with
his relatives (who were not much help with is disposition of mind at
all), then surprise, he is throw back into the magic world with a
welcome party from Quirrelmort his first year.  This boy is delicate
yet so resilient.  And that is what makes him so odd and amazing and
endearing.  He survives in body...and heart.  But underneath that
skin, is a now fifteen year old boy that keeps getting attacked, keeps
surviving barely, and still knows practically nothing.  He mind must
swim at night and would cause anyone to be "delicate".

Gracious, that was a long paragraph, anyway, no boy, no matter the
age, likes being called delicate.  It goes against thier upbringing as
the defenders of life, and defenders can not be delicate.  Well not
until now it seems.

Melody