[HPforGrownups] In Defence of Harry (Was: Characters You Hate)

[Catherine Coleman]

No: HPFGUIDX 51360

Agreeing largely with Richelle and Scott, on this subject -

I have to admit that whenever I hear that people don't like/are bored by 
Harry I am amazed.  For me, he is one of the most interesting and almost 
enigmatic characters in the whole series, despite the fact that we know 
more about his internalising than any other character.  People often say 
that there isn't much to say about Harry, because we always know what 
he's thinking - because most of the narrative is from his POV, but I 
think that JKR uses this very cleverly - she does *not* always let us 
know how he feels about things - there are several occasions when Harry 
observes, but does not comment internally - thereby leaving an ambiguity 
in the text, and something to the imagination of the reader.  Because of 
this, although we can usually make a pretty good educated guess about 
how Harry feels about any one thing, we cannot assume that we know him 
as well as we think we do - at least I don't assume that.

I have generally viewed Harry as a kind and likeable teenager, who 
despite a horrific childhood, and despite the responsibility which has 
been thrust upon him since starting Hogwarts, is remarkably 
well-adjusted.
As far as the character defects which are being levelled at Harry, I 
would say that yes, at times he can be thoughtless and self-centred just 
like most people, but I would not say that they were over-riding 
characteristics, but that he *on occasion* can act selfishly just like 
everyone else.

Taking firstly the fact that people think that he is self-centred.  Why 
and how?  My impression has been just the reverse. From the earlier 
books, particularly pre-Hogwarts, I have a very strong impression that 
Harry had always *known* that the world did not revolve around him, and 
that the Dursleys were doing their very best to make him feel worthless 
and a nobody.  One effect of this treatment has been his insecurites - 
he expects to me useless at everything and is amazed when he is so good 
at Quidditch.  He doesn't expect to be liked by people, to the extent 
that at the beginning of CoS he thinks that everyone has either 
forgotten about him, or worse, just don't care about him - and he finds 
the most amazing thing about the Burrow is that everyone seems to like 
him. The effects of the abuse at the hands of the Dursleys are also 
clear as soon as Harry enters the WW - , even when he finds out about 
his true background and of his fame in the Wizarding World, he finds it 
incredible that he actually is *someone*.  He is overwhelmed in the 
Leaky Cauldron, and what I found particularly elucidating (and this 
would probably class as one of my all time favourite scenes because of 
its combination of pathos and humour) is the following:

"Blimey," said the other twin.  "Are you---?"

"He is," said the first twin.  "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.

"What?" said Harry.

"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.

"Oh, him," said Harry.  "I mean, yes, I am."

At this point, it's as though Harry cannot reconcile himself as the 
person worthy of this instant celebrity status he has had thrust upon 
him.  He actually can't reconcile the Harry Potter he knows himself to 
be with the Harry Potter who is infamous in the Wizarding World.  Quite 
rightly so as well, IMO.  I have always felt that these feelings of 
self-doubt about his own worth prompted him to want to prove himself 
constantly throughout all of the novels so far.  He certainly does not 
expect that his celebrity status should grant him any special 
dispensations or treatment, and he certainly does not rest on his 
laurels.  Again, just the reverse.

Harry does not expect the world to revolve around him which is what one 
would expect from most self-centred people.  He worries about his 
magical ability (doesn't think he has some pre-ordained right to get 
into Hogwarts), he is embarrassed about his fame - particularly in GoF - 
you could argue that part of the problem with the argument with Ron was 
that he felt that Ron thought he was revelling in the attention he was 
getting, which was very far from the truth - he thought that Ron should 
understand that.  The one example I can think of of Harry's 
self-centredness is the fact that he hadn't bothered to find out much 
about Neville's past - but he is racked with guilt over this, and goes 
so far as to think that Neville's situation regarding his parents is 
worse than his own. He doesn't shrug this off and think "oh, well my 
situation is much worse" like a truly self-centred person.

Thoughtless?  Well, I would cite the same examples Richelle gave - 
including the fact that as regards the Weasley financial situation, he 
is particularly sensitive to Ron's feelings on the subject.  He knows 
full well that Ron would be too proud to accept the gift of dress robes, 
so he finds another way in which to help him.  I personally found that 
admirable.  Of course, Harry can be thoughtless at times, and I would 
cite his treatment of Neville in PoA as one such example - a better one 
is when he and Ron flew the car to school, and I think Ron is largely to 
blame here (in fact was probably about the time Ron really started to 
irritate me) -  but he is ovewhelmingly not thoughtless the majority of 
the time.  I have sometimes thought that he hasn't shown as much emotion 
as one would expect (all those scenes in CoS for example when he holds 
Ron back from attacking those who are being mean about Hermione being 
petrified), but when I have analysed the scene, Harry has always had the 
bigger picture firmly at the forefront of his mind, besides worrying 
about how Ron's malfunctioning wand would do more harm than good. 
Keeping his emotions in check is important when one has other things to 
do - in one such example Harry was planning a trip into the Forbidden 
Forest to confront Aragog, showing that he was primarily concerned with 
freeing Hagrid from Azkaban, and solving the mystery of the Chamber of 
Secrets - to help Hermione.

I would also find it hard to recognise "thoughtlessness" and 
"self-centredness" with the strong sense of loyalty Harry has.  We see 
him lose his temper and become incredibly angry on few occasions, and 
most of them are because someone has attacked people Harry is intensely 
loyal to - look at the Aunt Marge incident (his parents), his feelings 
about Snape in PoA (his father), Tom Riddle (Hagrid, Dumbledore, Ginny 
and those who were petrified, including Hermione), Rita Skeeter (on 
behalf of Hagrid rather than himself), Draco Malfoy (Hagrid again, 
Hermione, the Weasleys).  He clearly cares a lot about the people close 
to him, and in many instances shows less regard for his own predicaments 
than theirs.

Finally, a quick word on "nosiness".  I find this quite strange 
considering that many people on this list have in the past bemoaned 
Harry's lack of curiosity about things, such as what happened to the 
rest of his family, for example.  But really, he is taught not to ask 
questions - not just by the Dursleys, but by Hagrid, Dumbledore, even 
Lupin, who are at key moments evasive with him - in other words, if he 
wants to find anything out, he has to find out for himself, rather than 
being told, which is exactly what he does.   Of course, he doesn't need 
to find out about the Philosopher's Stone, or who has opened the Chamber 
of Secrets, or why Barty Crouch is searching Snape's office, but 
consider;  the philosopher's stone was tied up with a comeback from 
Voldemort, the Chamber of Secrets had affected Harry personally, with 
people thinking that he himself was the Heir of Slytherin and with two 
of his closest friends harmed (Hermione and Hagrid), and in GoF, Harry 
has a sense of responsibility about Pettigrew's escape to Voldemort.  He 
knows that he will inevitably be drawn into any ensuing conflict (knows, 
although doesn't understand, Voldemort's obsession with him and the 
Potters) and therefore needs to do whatever he can to figure out exactly 
what is happening.

I am not saying that Harry doesn't have any bad qualities - just not the 
ones listed by those who don't like him.  He prevaricates far too much, 
makes stupidly rash decisions when under pressure and doesn't always see 
the best thing to do - and he doesn't trust the adults around him enough 
for my liking, but again, that is understandable.  I'd also love to say 
that he is a normal teenage boy, but unfortunately for Harry, he isn't.

Catherine