Harry Not Crying

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 32886

It's always been my impression that Harry doesn't cry for several different
reasons.  Having _been_ a teenage boy myself (this admittedly was when
dinosaurs roamed the earth) I can testify that crying is NOT socially
acceptable for boys beyond about age five, unless in extraordinary
circumstances such as a funeral.  I would bet that if Dinky Duddums tried
that "wail and I'll get what I want" act in front of his peers at Smeltings,
or even in front of Piers Polkiss (ISTR he shuts right up when Piers
appears, if you'll pardon a bit of wordplay) his reputation with them would
be mud.

Also, Harry is English---which also would discourage him from crying.  The
English ideal (and any net.Englishmen or net.Englishwomen on here are
welcome to correct me, but this is the impression I got while over there) is
to display very little strong emotion---"that's for those bally wogs," and
so on.  Sorrow and joy are both held in tightly, and anger, if shown at all,
is supposed to come out in savage dry wit---think "Blackadder, really p*ssed
off," or something like that.  The classic example is Lord Cardigan's
scornful comment after the Charge of the Light Brigade about another
officer, that he "screamed like a woman when he was hit," having just ridden
back from the field over that officer's dead body.

Finally, Harry probably just retreated behind a wall of apparent
indifference to survive at the Dursleys' residence.

Comments?