Boring Harry Potter

[zoehooch]

No: HPFGUIDX 34236

I've been struck lately by the number of posts pointing out all of 
the negative opinions of characters in our, or at least my, favorite 
books.

Hagrid? A disgrace, incompetant, alcoholic, dangerous to children
Snape? A mean, awful teacher. Shouldn't be allowed to teach children.
Remus? Put others in danger when he became a werewolf. 
Madame Pomfrey? A terrible nurse, mean to the children. Shouldn't be 
allowed to practice.
Dumbledore? Often criticized for not be omniscient all the time.
Hogwarts? Not enough teachers. Poor curriculum. 
Wizard World? What, no college? No graduate schools? 

It seems that many of the characters are being held to awfully high 
standards, in fact, standards of a society that they have no part of. 

I guess I'm of the opinion that if the characters in the books acted 
the way we all think they should, then the Harry Potter books would 
be the most boring set of books ever written. 

I can only speak for my own reading, but perfectly behaved, 
responsibly-acting, always-at-top-form characters are boring as can 
be and make for unreadable prose. Life isn't always politically 
correct. Good people make bad choices, sometimes. Even great people 
make bad choices, but they atone in their way and still keep their 
eye on the prize. Do we really want the characters in these books to 
handle all conflict with very polite conversation, always 
stressing "when you say that I feel ..." rather showing real, honest 
emotions? 

To me, the glorious thing about these books and these characters is 
that they are flawed, indeed they are quite human in this way, but 
even with these flaws, they are quite wonderful and prove their worth 
in so many ways. JKR tells us who the good guys are, and I'm prepared 
to take her word on that. 

And, as one who loves Hagrid, I'll take his love and loyalty to 
Dumbledore any day, even if he does drink a bit when he's sad and 
even if he does step over the line when it comes to Dumbledore and 
indeed Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Zoe Hooch