Harry Not Crying

[alhewison]

No: HPFGUIDX 32900

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Eric Oppen" <oppen at c...> wrote:
> 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?

I certainly agree that Harry's age and sex rule out crying in front 
of his male peers. (He could probably get away with it in front of 
Hermione). I also believe that he's had years of forced practice of 
hiding emotion - as it would definitely have been used against him 
with the Dursleys.

I'm not sure on the comments regarding his Englishness. The Crimean 
war was over by 1856, and I think we have changed a bit since then!! 
I guess that the English have a reputation for hiding emotion, and a 
dry wit, so perhaps Harry is a literary example of this. 

Ali