Harry's State of Mind

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 40178

My first post in quite a while... 

"Suzanne Chiles" <suzchiles at p...> wrote:

> It rather seems to me that, unlike the earlier years, this year is 
going to
> present a great leap from boyhood to early manhood. I think he's 
going to
> realize that he, and only he, has any chance of defeating 
Voldemort. Of
> course he's going to need help: from Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, 
Sirius, and
> even my beloved Hagrid. But I do think he's going to come out of 
this
> knowing that he represents the good side's only hope at defeating 
Voldemort
> and the Death Eaters. And his sense of honor and responsibility has 
to fall
> heavily upon him. I think he hinted at that at the very end of GoF, 
when he
> told the twins that everyone was going to need some jokes and 
laughs for the
> next year.

Strnagely enough, I was thinking about this yesterday when somebody 
asked a question in another forum (the alt.fan.harry-potter 
newsgroup, if anyone's interested) :-) about the first sentence of 
the last chapter of GoF, which already gives us an inkling of his 
frame of mind at the beginning of Book Six.

But before I go into that, a small recap. The first three books end 
for Harry on a high(ish) note, both in terms of individual 
accomplishments and what he has done for those cares about, whether 
it's Hogwarts, Gryffindor or the Weasleys. As I've had reason to 
point out in afh-p in another context, Harry is a team player, and 
he's always happiest when making other people happy. For him, it's 
not just important to do something for himself, but for others as 
well. 
In the first book, he thwarts Voldy's attempt at returning to power 
and reveals one of his minions (and wins the House Cup for Gryffindor 
for the first time in years). In the second, he thwarts Voldemort's 
younger self (and brings Ginny back). In the third, he fixes an 
injustice and regains his godfather (and wins the Quidditch Cup for 
Gryffindor). Indirectly, he loses Ron his useless pet but wins him an 
(almost) :-) useful one instead.

The fourth book ends very differently. He pays the price for having 
let Wormtail live, and personally witnesses Voldemort's return to 
power. Whilst he has revealed this return to the wizarding world, 
this is a hollow victory because other than Dumbledore & Co, nobody 
believes him. 
Whilst he wins the Triwizard Tournament for Hogwarts, it's also a 
hollow victory because he discovers that both he and Cedric 
benefitted from Crouch-as-Moody's cheating. This is not an honourable 
win and is thus valueless. He also blames himself for Cedric's death 
which adds to the hollowness of the win. 

The only possible silver lining in all of this is that he's done 
something for the "team", and Gred & Forge aren't penniless, but with 
a purpose: to keep everyone's spirits up in the dark times to come.

Some of his personal relationships have also changed: He now realises 
that he has to trust Snape, whom he despises; he's lost whatever 
respect he had for Fudge; Dumbledore, who has thus far been a genial 
avuncular character, is taking on the role of military campaign 
organiser; he has a new-found respect for Neville who has a dark past 
which is only just coming out; even the Weasleys have a role to play 
in all of this, as Dumbledore is counting on their help - no longer 
are they his best friend's parents (and his own surrogate mum & dad), 
but they are active participants in what is to come. Finally, perhaps 
he's made the same connection fans have and can see some link between 
his erstwhile baby-sitter the batty Mrs Figg and the mysterious 
Arabella Figg Dumbledore has sent for.

Also, Harry is about to turn 15 - he's no longer a devil-may-care 
child, looking forward to having "adventures" - he's got a grown-up 
part to play in a grown-up battle of wits between Good and Evil. 
Dumbledore is still trying to shield him from that, but he knows that 
he can't turn his back on everything that's going on. Until now, he's 
really tried to have a quiet life and refused to accept his role as 
The Boy Who Lived. His adventures to date haven't been a conscious 
decision, but a reaction to events conspiring to drag him into things 
he'd rather not have to face up to. He acknowledges that he has an 
important role to play in what's coming up, and must prepare for it.

We can therefore accept that Harry will start the next book in a VERY 
different frame of mind and full of apprehension for what's to come, 
rather than thinking back on his last year with a smile, and looking 
forward to escaping the Dursleys again.

Back to where I started this post: the last chapter of GoF starts 
with a badly-structured sentence which informs us that a month after 
the end of the school year (ie around his birthday or the traditional 
start of the HP books) he's thinking back on the events of that 
school year, and not remembering much about the last week. "*The 
worst* [recollection] was meeting the Diggorys" - his feelings of 
remorse have not subsided in the least. 

Even Hagrid, one of the most devil-may-care and fatalistic characters 
in the books, recognises that Harry "isn't OK, but will be." 

Returning to the Dursleys and the small-time oppression they 
represent is probably just the tonic Harry needs - by focussing on 
the little things the Dursleys have against him, he can momentarily 
forget about the major battles ahead. At the same time, his more 
adult outlook may just empower him to stand up to Dudley & Co - after 
all, all the magic in his possession didn't help him save Cedric or 
prevent Voldemort returning (though he did manage to escape alive). 
Whilst this could leave him dejected, ultimately I think it'll spur 
him on to face up the petty tyrannies of the Dursleys. 

Harry has a great deal of anger and bitterness brewing up inside him. 
I suspect that it will all come tumbling out to hit the Dursleys at 
full force and this is going to be the crunch moment both for him and 
for them.

Overcoming that (I don't yet know how) will be the preparation he 
needs to overcome the disappointments of the last few months and get 
on with his life. He'll probably escape to the Burrow as usual, and 
while everyone there is pussy-footing around him, he'll get on with 
finding out what's going on in the wizarding world, and start 
planning his *own* strategy (with Ron, of course). This will be the 
catharsis he needs to get back on track.