Cut the teens some slack!

[klmf1]

No: HPFGUIDX 76093

I keep reading all these posts that are highly critical of behavior 
and personalities in our cast of teenage characters.......To quote 
Dumbledore (Am.OoP, pg.826) "...Youth can not know how age thinks and 
feels.  But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be 
young..."

It's amazing how maturity and life experience can change your outlook 
and perceptions.

One of the things that kids find so appealing about these books is 
that they can relate to the characters specifically because they 
think and act as a kid would. GoF and OoP  in particular really take 
me back to my early teen years--I don't find anything unusual or 
implausible in the range of behavior and emotion(or personality 
development, for that matter!) demonstrated in our young characters 
at all.  To the contrary, I found myself sympathetic to all of them 
at one time or another (well, maybe not Malfoy...).....I was pretty 
irritated, in fact, that through the whole book Dumbledore would not 
look at or speak to Harry at all! I'd have been livid and probably 
even sulkier than Harry was! Perhaps the difference is that *I* might 
have gone looking for Dumbledore (assuming I wasn't intimidated by 
him!) whereas Harry would not, and either response is normal! 
Especially since I'm a girl and Harry is a boy!

My most vivid memories and feelings of my youth (a long time ago.....)
are from my early teens, IMO my most influential years, and if I need 
a reminder I need only consult the 6 or so years of diaries I kept 
during that time. Although I count myself as having been fairly 
stable and well-adjusted, I was pretty angsty. I can remember a 
number of kids' personalities that fit any of the students at 
Hogwarts, and can recall the same feelings and emotions myself. As a 
teacher, I see the same things going on with my students.
Generally, teenage boys do tend to be secretive and withdrawn 
emotionally (or will lash out from time to time), are frequently 
clueless or otherwise shy about girls and communication is rarely 
their forte (some never master open communication).  Teenage girls, 
on the other hand, often over-analyze every aspect of their social 
and love lives (some never outgrow that), even when they *don't* have 
major emotional upheavals to work through. Physical attraction is 
normal and expected in a teen of either sex.  For some teens of 
either sex, going steady is their preference, for others it's playing 
the field.  And I can certainly relate to Ginny coming out of her 
shell when she got over Harry.....I am expressly *not* shy (in case 
it wasn't obvious ;)) and always had male friends but there have been 
boys I'd been attracted to that would leave me at a loss for words if 
they spoke to me or even made eye contact! 

Frankly, that JKR can remember, never mind relate, the emotional and 
developmental rollercoaster of those years is impressive.

Just a note here, too, about a possible R/H  ship----It's entirely 
possible that their bickering is their subconscious way of warding 
off a more intimate relationship that neither is ready for....I don't 
know if JKR actually intends that, but it does sometimes happen ;)

Karen F