[HPforGrownups] Hagrid *Will* Mess Up (a bit long)

[Bernadette M. Crumb]

No: HPFGUIDX 39709


----- Original Message -----
From: "jenny_ravenclaw" <meboriqua at aol.com>

>
> *In SS, Hagrid is directly responsible for Harry's unpleasant
> confrontation with Voldemort.  If Hagrid hadn't so blindly
trusted a
> stranger in the Leaky Cauldron and fessed up about Fluffy,
Quirrel and
> mini-Voldy would never have been waiting for Hagrid by the
mirror.

True, but... is his inclination to trust everyone something that
he actually has control over or is it something that is innate in
him and cannot be changed?  The things we learn in COS about what
it was like for him as a student at Hogwarts seems to point to it
being, IMO, an inborn trait rather than something he has learned
and should be able to unlearn.

> Hagrid has a big mouth and too much of a blind spot when it
comes to
> "interestin' creatures".  He was so eager to raise a baby
dragon, he
> didn't stop to think about the odd circumstances of being given
one.
> His Norbert escapades also caused Harry and friends to get in
trouble,
> while Hagrid himself got off scot-free.

Well, while he may not have gotten punished for it by an outside
authority... I'm sure that at the very least that his own
conscience will be tormenting him over it...

> *In SS again, Hagrid, while responsible for Harry in Diagon
Alley,
> goes to get a drink when Harry goes to try on robes.  Call me
crazy,
> but a man who is supposed to be watching a ten year old boy
shouldn't
> go off and have a drink - or two.  More on this later.

I have to say that this didn't bug me as much as it could
have...if Hagrid had been shown to be a parent or parental figure
with experience, I'd have been bothered a LOT more.  But he's not
seeing Harry in that light, I think, but more like a friend to
whom he's opening up the world.  He feels safe in Diagon Alley,
so therefore Harry should be too... It's a very childlike
perception of the world.  It's the mixture of innocent, trusting
child in contrast to the huge, physicality that could easily hurt
someone if he were inclined to do so that makes Hagrid an
interesting character to me.  He's got the body of an adult and
the nature of a pre-adolescent.

> *In CoS Hagrid nearly gets Harry and Ron killed when he advised
them
> to speak to Aragog.  What they found was a pack of giant hairy
spiders
> who did not have the loyalty to Hagrid that he had towards
them.
> Harry and Ron were both injured and poor Ron developed a
permanent
> terror of all things eight-legged.

Actually, Ron had the fear of spiders BEFORE this episode... this
just made it worse...

> *In PoA Hagrid was ill-equipped to deal with the Buckbeak
situation.
> Granted, he couldn't have predicted that Draco Malfoy would be
such a
> bad student, but all teachers should be prepared for the worst
> scenario.  As exciting as he thought it would be to introduce
his
> students to a hippogriff, it was way too much for a first
lesson.
> Afterwards, Hagrid was so shaken that he taught the class
nothing for
> the rest of the term.

I feel that this is as much Dumbledore's fault as Hagrid's... He
put Hagrid into the position but I never saw any real teaching
support for Hagrid--he never got to practice teaching as an
assistant to the former COMC teacher from what we saw, and my
impression is that no one reviewed his curricula prior to the
start of classes... Hagrid did bite off more than he could chew,
but the person who should have been monitoring him and perhaps
suggesting that they start off with something less touchy didn't
do his job.  It's not as if Hagrid were a qualified Wizard who
had been taught how to teach... and it goes back to the fact that
in a lot of ways, Hagrid has never actually grown up.  He might
be fifty-something years old, but IMO, his mental and emotional
development stalled at Third year when his wand was broken and he
was expelled from Hogwarts.  I also don't really feel that Albus
fought as hard as he could have when Hagrid was hauled off to
Azkaban in COS.  Dumbledore has clearly failed Hagrid when Hagrid
needed his support... and Dumbledore should know better as he's
known Hagrid for so very long.

> *In PoA Hagrid is seen drunk (drinking, anyway) more than
once - first
> when Buckbeak attacked Draco and later when Buckbeak "escaped".
He
> shouldn't ever be drinking on the schoolgrounds of Hogwarts,
> especially in a position where he seems to be on call 24 hours
a day.
> Hagrid turns to alcohol far too often.  This is definitely a
dangerous
> weakness to have.

Unfortunately, alcohol is legal and, in many places, considered a
social necessity.  Going to have a pint at the pub after work was
part of the daily schedule for many of my friends and
acquaintances when I lived in England.  I didn't do alcohol, so
it never became part of mine, but...  Also, look at how old
Hagrid is... the social stigma of alcoholism didn't really come
out in the Muggle world until the 60s and it's only in very
recent decades that it's become more socially acceptable to
refuse alcohol at after work get togethers and social events.
He's got a habit of decades' duration. It doesn't make the abuse
of alcohol any less a bad thing, but we do need to consider his
environment, not just currently but during the span of his life.
Someplace on the web there must be a comparison of the amount of
alcohol consumed by the average person of various countries... I
seem to recall having read that Germany and England have a higher
per capital rate of alcohol usage than the U.S.  If that's true,
Hagrid is just being English.

> *In GoF Hagrid opens up to Rita Skeeter, even though he knows
very
> well that she has been banned from Hogwarts and writes nothing
but
> smut about anyone and everyone in the WW.  Because of this,
more
> slanderous things about Harry are published for all the WW to
read.

This comes to the trust issue again... Also, does he actually
KNOW that she's been banned from Hogwarts at that point?  There
are a lot of times when I wonder if he's being informed about
things the rest of the staff seem to take as common knowledge.

> All in all, Hagrid has a good heart, but he does not know who
to trust
> or when to keep his mouth shut.  I know that even Dumbledore
has made
> mistakes in the trust department, but Hagrid seems to have no
sense of
> trustworthiness at all.  His blindness for dangerous creatures
also
> keeps him from seeing straight a good deal of the time.  These
things
> to me seem to be a recipe for disaster.  Exactly how this
disaster
> will come about I am not sure, but I feel it looming just the
same.

Unfortunately, Hagrid and disaster do seem to be crib mates... I
wish we had a better idea of what a full giant was like in
regards to the trust issue.  It could be his mixed heritage that
is behind much of his disconnection with the real world.  In a
lot of ways, he reminds me of my autistic son.  Matthew has no
sense of innate caution.  He blithely goes about trusting that
everyone is nice, and that he can't get hurt by the things he
does or the beings he interacts with. The idea that he could
break a leg by jumping off the top of an eight-foot-high book
case just never occurs to him! Maybe that's part of the reason I
feel that Albus Dumbledore is as much at fault in the things that
happen because of Hagrid's trusting the wrong people.  I spend a
LOT of my time as a parent working to teach Matt how to be
careful, and in the cases where he just can't make the mental
connection to caution and judgement, I have to be cautious and
handle judgement issues for him.  Albus, as a parental figure,
seems to have ignored his responsibility for teaching Hagrid
about caution and judgement.  And he's also ignored  his
responsibility to handle those matters when Hagrid is not capable
of handling them himself because of his inborn handicap.

Another thought... Most of the creatures that cause trouble for
the students are creatures that a being of Hagrid's size and mass
can handle easily... I think that part of the recipe for disaster
comes from him forgetting that not everyone is a big as he is.

> What do you all think?  Is Hagrid just a loveable half-giant or
a
> walking time bomb?  I'm going with the time bomb.

I think he's both... a loveable half-giant who unfortunately is a
walking timebomb... But it's not something that he necessarily
has any control over.

Bernadette/
(who sorted into Slytherin during PMS week and Gryffindor the
rest of the month!)