Against all odds, Harry isn't a mass murderer

Catlady (Rita Prince Winston) catlady at wicca.net
Sun Apr 27 04:31:42 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 56252


Fandulin wrote:

<< Have anyone else ever marvelled at how well adjusted and socially 
competent Harry turned out, having grown up with the Dursleys? >>

Oh, yes, very much so. Enough so that I've invented a theory to 
explain it. I think Lily was able, with her magic, to put an image of 
herself in her baby's mind, that would be like an 'imaginary mum' (by 
analogy with 'imaginary friend') who would cuddle Harry and tell him 
that he's a good kid who doesn't deserve Dursley abuse and tell him 
about how decent people behave, thus being that one caring adult 
("example of goodness" otherwise lacking in his real life) said to be 
necessary to even a 'resilient' child's survival of serious abuse... 
I kind of think Lily used her last magic to put this image in his 
\head intentionally, instead of using her last magic in one last 
attempt to escape Voldemort. That is the heroic self-sacrifce that 
canon credits her, accepting her own death because it was more 
important to her to give this protection (from abusive Dursleys) of 
her love. I don't know why she would do that if she really believed 
that he would be dead seconds after she was, so I am left sympathetic 
to the theories that Harry survived AK because of some magic that had 
been done on him (presumably by Lily) or that he had been born with. 

When Harry resisted the Imperius Curse, the Curse's Moody-voice in 
his head told him to jump up on the desk, and "another voice had 
awoken in the back of his brain. Stupid to do, really, said the 
voice." I believe that that other voice is what's left of the 
image-Lily after all these years; she doesn't appear often, she 
appears as Harry's voice instead of her own, but she still is caring 
for Harry -- and still has free will.

In addition, so far we've always seen Harry wondering and trying to 
find out about his father, and not about his mother. Some say that's 
a plot device because JKR is saving some big surprise about Lily, and 
some say it's normal because Harry is 11 to 14 so far, puberty and 
adolescence, and much more concerned about a male image to identify 
with. But *I* say that he doesn't search so much for Lily because, 
unknown to himself, he already has her with him.

<< He isn't allowed any kind of entertainment. >>

I rejoice in the excuse to repeat my theory that Harry has learned a 
LOT from television. We saw in PoA that Uncle Vernon watches the 
morning news; I assert that Uncle Vernon also watches the evening 
news and professional sports, Aunt Petunia watches home-making shows, 
gossip shows (especially about the royals?), tear-jerker movies, and 
the popular game shows, and Dudley watches *everything* in search of 
sex and violence. And Harry sits in the back of the living room, 
because that way he is more convenient accessible to run fetch more 
snacks for Dudley or another beer for Vernon than if he were in his 
closet. 

Just as Harry has learned to be suspicious of capital punishment 
(e.g. of Pettigrew) because Uncle Vernon praises it, and he knows 
Uncle Vernon praises it because we all saw him do so when the Sirius 
Black escape was on the morning TV news, so also Harry has learned 
to be suspicious of [other things] because he has seen Uncle Vernon 
approving of them on TV.





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