Maturity of kids in Potterverse was Re: So, why did Snape turn on

[alhewison]

No: HPFGUIDX 39925

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "darrin_burnett" <bard7696 at a...> wrote:
> 
> Sexuality -- bisexuality, heterosexuality, or homosexuality -- has 
> been very lightly touched in the world of HP. The kids are third-
> years before we even get a hint of raging hormones and fourth-years 
> before we get the kind of chaste bickering that comes with early 
> sexuality.
> 
> Not to delve too deeply into forbidden topics like the movies, but 
> this straying from reality in JKR's world is the main reason young 
> Daniel Radcliffe probably will not be able to do all seven movies. 
> Young boys change mostly between 11 and 12 in the real world, and 
> having seen the 30-second teaser for the film CoS, it is obviously 
> happening to Radcliffe.
> 
> Harry Potter, on the other hand, is nearly 14 before we get a sense 
> of him hitting puberty.
> 
> To me, that's just one more of the rules JKR has introduced. She's 
> taken us back to a time when the equivalent of American fifth- and 
> sixth-graders were not exploring their sexuality. 
>

I think it is generally accepted that Harry is less mature than 
comparable kids in our world. It is also true that some kids hit 
puberty much later than others. I can think of 2 boys in my road at 
the moment who are both 14 (and according to their mothers) are only 
just starting puberty. So in that respect, I personally don't feel 
that Harry is particularly out of kilter. Late maybe, but not 
unusual. When you think of all the other changes he is still getting 
used to, in the WW, perhaps it is not a wonder that his mind turns to 
girls slightly later than other kids.

Another point I think is that British kids are still less 
sophisticated than their American counterparts. This is a 
generalisation, and one which is changing rapidly. But, in every TV 
programme I see with American High School kids, I always think that 
the kids seem much older than British children of the same age. I 
know the actors are often in their 20's, so they look older, but they 
seem older in their attitudes as well. So I think that JKR is 
painting a slightly anachronistic picture of adolescent development, 
which fits in with Harry as a late starter in the WW, but one which 
would not be that unusual in British Muggle Society.

Ali