Against all odds, Harry isn't a mass murderer

[martha]

No: HPFGUIDX 56341

Fandulin wrote:

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

And Catlady said:

> 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... [snip other very good points]

I'm going to step out of lurker's corner for a while.

Catlady, I really like your notion of the "image-Lily", and I 
especially agree with your points on Harry's conditioned learning - 
the example you used was Harry's anti-capital punishment stance, 
stemming from Vernon's ranting about stringin' 'em up. (Side note on 
related topic - I *love* that Vernon reads the Daily Mail, and I was 
actually sort of disappointed that one of the things that *wasn't* 
changed across cultures was the paper he reads. I think it's odd that 
certain words were changed, but that references very specific to 
cultures weren't. Reading the Daily Mail is *so* Vernon, and I can't 
help but think that this is something that readers in other countries 
might actually *not* understand the significance of. End random side 
note.) I also think that Harry's relationships with Ron, Hermione, 
Hagrid, Dumbledore et al have helped to ground him, so to speak. 
Though I still agree there must be something more - maybe the dreams 
of the flying motorbike? - that kept him going.

Of course, it is arguable that Harry isn't 100% well adjusted anyway. 
He is plagued with highly disturbing nightmares which actually seem 
to get worse over time (PTSD, anyone?). When he encounters Sirius in 
the Shrieking Shack at the end of PoA, he is entirely consumed by 
rage, he tries to attack him (fair enough in the circumstances maybe, 
but I know people who would make a cup of St John's Wort and suggest 
a time-out. Then again, I live in Brighton). ;-)

Along with all this, though, I'm going to throw in a couple of 
annoying thoughts on the matter - I believe that Harry is well-
adjusted and noble and sociable and all the rest of it because JK 
Rowling didn't want to write "A Child Called It". She could have 
done - "Once upon a time there was a boy called Harry Potter, and he 
was treated so badly he couldn't sustain a normal relationsip in his 
adolescence, so he received ECT and Ritalin and got taken into care, 
etc etc etc" - but she didn't. She wanted to write about Harry 
Potter, the boy who lived, Gryffindor extraordinaire, school 
champion, king of quidditch and all-round Good Bloke. (And yay that 
she did.)

I know that's a really annoying answer, but it's just a couple of 
knuts from someone who lurks most of the time. (I'm in the middle of 
writing an essay on unhappy childhood autobiographies, so there we 
go.) Hope that helps fuel the discussion, anyway. 

Thanks,

Martha (the Punk House-Elf)