The character I pity the most is.... Harry?? / Sociopathy

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 35510

Mahoney said:
> To the dead, the past and suffering carries no weight.  I say this 
> even in light of the ghosts, because to this point I don't feel 
> that the ghosts have been shown to be much more than a 
> shadow/parody of their living selves; they are interesting, 
> amusing, active, but not...hmm, how do I put it?  They can't be
> traumatized<

Interesting.  I haven't viewed the ghosts this way.  In fact, I feel 
very sorry for Myrtle.  A miserable short life, followed by a 
miserable long afterlife!  However, there is also the fact that 
Myrtle just isn't very nice, which limits how sorry I feel for her.  
I do think some Hogwarts teacher should try to lay her spirit to rest 
somehow; she's just a child and shouldn't be left to suffer.  But, I 
suspect she has a role to play in the future books.  She's there for 
some literary purpose.

Mahoney continued:
> At any rate.  I suppose that of the living I feel the most pity for 
> Harry.  The past continues to weigh on him, he has recent traumas 
> to deal with, and can only look forward to more danger, disruption, 
> uncertainty, suffering. He's haunted, hunted, can't 
> catch a break. Poor kid.<

I've often had similar thoughts.  Poor Harry, mistreated by the 
Dursleys, suspected of opening the Chamber of Secrets, forced to 
relive his parents' murder in PoA, schoolmates resenting him in GoF, 
etc etc etc.  Can't JKR cut him a break?  But, I guess Saving the 
World has a high price.  And, the plot requires him to have problems 
to overcome. 

Kimberly said:
> I think I almost felt sorry for young Tom Riddle at moments until I 
> read about poor Frank, still working, plodding along through life, 
> still brave and strong of will even after all he's been through
> because of Riddle. There's a definite nobility to pressing on 
> through life when you *know* you're not in for much in the way of
> happiness or satisfaction.<

Kimberly, I loved that last line, about nobility!

I would *definitely* feel sorry for Tom Riddle, if I didn't know 
about the evil he was doing at Hogwarts, and the even greater evil he 
did later in life.  

By the way, there was a discussion a day or two ago about sociopaths, 
and I felt that as a psychologist, I should weigh in on this topic.  
Tom Riddle is a classic sociopath -- someone who is able to seem 
nice, who can charm others, but underneath has no conscience 
whatsoever.  (Lucius also seems quite sociopathic.)  Most current 
theories say that sociopaths are born, not made.  That is, no matter 
how horrible a person's circumstances, he (or less often, she) will 
not become a sociopath unless his or her personality tended that way 
in the first place.  (Of course horrible experiences can cause all 
sorts of other pathologies, including some that are harmful to 
others, but the constellation of symtoms is different from 
sociopathy.) So, I'd say Riddle's behavior, even before he became 
Voldemort, can't be justified by anything that happened to him. 

Sociopaths tend to be impulsive and fearless, as well as charming.  I 
thnk one of the reasons I respond badly to Sirius is that his 
personality has many characteristics typical of sociopaths.  Now, I 
am *not* saying that Sirius *is* a sociopath -- he obviously feels 
remorse, probably excessive remorse, over the Potter's deaths, and 
sociopaths don't feel remorse.  But the combination of impulsive - 
fearless - charming sets off all sorts of alarms in my head.  It's 
led me to interpret Sirius in a certain way, which is perhaps not the 
way JKR intended. 

-- Judy