[HPforGrownups] Re: Characters Overacting and Overreacting

[kelly broughton]

No: HPFGUIDX 39309

Charis Julia wrote:


  ----- Original Message ----- Yes, Harry is of course the supreme paradigm of self--control, isn't 
  he? Heck the kid won't even cut himself a break at the end of GoF and 
  allow himself the good bawling, wailing, blubbering boo-hoo he 
  deserves after the ordeal he's just been through. He feels 
  a "burning, prickling feeling in the corners of his eyes" of course. 
  He has the urge to let out a "howl of misery", sure. But he never 
  gives in. He fights against these annoying, humiliating emotions and 
  what's more prevails. And despite all his addiction to the Mirror of 
  Erised and his Marge-inflating, he's never once as far as I can 
  remember has shed one tear for the loss of his parents. And then 
  there's the many other telling little phrases littered around in the 
  books as well:

  "* Dear Professor Dumbledore, Sorry to bother you, but my scar hurt 
  this morning. Yours sincerely, Harry Potter.*
  Even inside his head the words sounded stupid."

  "There was no point in putting in the dream, he didn't want it to 
  look as though he was too worried."-GoF

  "He felt it would be too melodramatic to say "to kill me"-GoF

  Harry is the apotheosis of emotional control.


  Well, I really am not surprised. Keep in mind the kind of atmosphere he grew up in, namely the Dursely household. I honestly believe that he was not *allowed* to express any emotion to an extreme degree. This is simply what he has been trained to do, in order not to attract negative attention (which fails anyway). If I grew up in an environment like that, I too would probrably keep any open display of feeling bottled up. Plus the fact that he is in his middle teens- most boys of any culture (correct me if I'm wrong) seem to have trouble expressing deep feeling, unless it is anger or hatred.

  -kel




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