Harry is dull

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 45846

Devleoping from a thread in OT Chatter about other HP sites--- 

Kristjan Arnason <karnasaur at y...> wrote:
<Snip>
> 
> Anyway, I was reading the Nocturne Alley site when I
> realized something.  <Snip> And Harry is deadly dull.
> 
> And so is Harry in the books.  What interests does he
> have?  What personality quirks does he displace? 
> Apart from surviving an LV AK what makes him
> interesting?  Okay, he's a seeker and all that, and he
> defeated LV at the end of the first book because of
> something in his skin, and defeated him again in the
> second book because a pheonix showed up out of
> nowhere, and saved the day in the third book after
> Dumbledore strongly hinted that he should use
> Hermione's Time Turner, and then survived LV again in
> the fourth book due to some fluke involving the origin
> of their wands, but so what?
> 
> Everything happens to Harry, but what does he really
> do?  What initiative has he ever taken?
> 
> I'm going to go way out on a limb here and suggest
> that Moaning Myrtle and Mrs. Norris have displayed
> more PERSONALITY than Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived
> To Bore Draco To Death, has.  Maybe it's just because
> he's essentially the narrator, I don't know.
> 
> Take care,
> 
> Kris

Heroes always are a bit dull, though, aren't they? :-)

I think *part* of it is, not quite the 'Harry as narrator' problem, 
but the fact that Harry sees *himself* as dull. Ordinary. The only 
thing he's good at is Quidditch. 

Get real, Harry! You can drive off 100 Dementors with your Patronus; 
a spell which is supposed to be too difficult for someone your age 
to manage at all, and you're only good at Quidditch!?

JKR has said in several interviews that Harry came into her head as 
a boy who doesn't know he's a wizard. I think we keep reading this 
and saying 'ah, yes that's the first half of Book One'. But I think 
it may be Harry's theme throughout. He's a boy who doesn't 
understand who or what he is.

Plus, he's been emotionally abused from age 18 months to age 11. 
Even after 11 he knows his haven is only for 10 months of the year, 
and not secure even then. I've seen people on the main list say that 
Harry doesn't act like an abused child, and I think that's because 
they associate 'abused child' with 'acting out' distress.

There are several personality types for abused kids, and Harry is 
actually pretty close to the 'adjuster' - the kid who rolls with the 
flow, who survives by detaching emotionally, by becoming 
nondescript, by not thinking about what's happening to them - just 
dealing with it as best they can.

Harry's learnt to not ask questions (it gets you screamed at), to 
not try and be the best at anything (it gets you a whack on the 
shins from Aunt Marge), to slide into the 'perfectly ok marks but 
not the best in the class' section (means the teachers don't pay 
extra attention to you - which might get unpleasant reactions from 
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon). He's also learnt that he's not a 
leader (Dudley is the leader - Harry is the kid who gets bullied).

And since that's how he sees himself, and he's the pov character, 
that's what we see. Boring. Ordinary. Follows his friends 
suggestions, rarely makes his own.

And survives. Boy, does he survive. That is Harry's real talent - 
whatever you throw at him, however you abuse him, Harry will survive 
it. I actually think Harry didn't *need* Priori Incantantum in the 
Graveyard - he would have found something else.

And Harry's character is developing throughout the books - best seen 
in the scenes with the Dursley's. In Book One he sees no way out, in 
Book Two he tries to fight back, gets squashed and has to be rescued 
by Fred and George, by Book Three he's telling the Dursley's he's 
running away (and does it) by Book Four he's learnt how to make the 
Dursley's do what he wants, and not just adjust to what they want to 
do to him. He's not following the diet, and he gets to go to the 
Quidditch World Cup.

So, in answer to the 'what makes Harry interesting' - I think he's 
actually *learning* how to be interesting through the books. How to 
be the star. How to be the leader. How to ask questions [Do you 
notice that Dumbledore never tells Harry anything *until he asks a 
question* ?]. 

Pip
[who thought of replying to this on OT chatter, and then noticed the 
entire post was about HP, which would make it off-topic for the off-
topic board...]