Dumbledore and Favoritism in CoS

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51364


I WROTE:
But if this doesn't prove that Dumbledore 
picks favorites, then... well, it completely proves 
that Dumbledore picks favorites, there's no question 
about it. ;-)

GREY WOLF REPLIED:
Excuse me, but there is *always* a question about 
it. I honestly cannot believe that you can think 
that Harry hasn't earned those points.

I REPLY:
I know, I know, Grey Wolf. Calmness. Tranquility. 
See the ";-)"?


GREY WOLF WRITES:
And when Harry is in front of Tom and the 
Basilisk and receives help. But, as I point out in 
my little piece of sarcasm, you cannot say that 
"Fawkes did all the work" anymore than you can say 
"the sword did the killing". Both things are 
*instruments* -weapons, if you will- that 
Harry has the chance to use to help him along.

I REPLY:
I agree that the sword is an instrument, in that 
"instrument-iness" is the point of a sword 
(no pun intended.)  

But Fawkes? Nope. Fawkes clearly is acting of his own
accord, or else under orders from Dumbledore. 
Harry in no way "uses" Fawkes. 

And without Fawkes, Harry would have been toast.


GREY WOLF WRITES:
Being there is an achivement in its own.

I REPLY:
Nope, totally disagree there. This seems to be a 
prevalent line of thought from several posters on 
this list. For the record, "existence," IMHO, 
is not action, unless breathing and sleeping are 
actions. Which, to be uber-technical, they are, but 
not in the spirit of the word. And without action, 
there's no merit for points.


GREY WOLF WRITES:
...the fact that Ron was the one that caused Lockhart to loose his 
memory means that there are many that would give him 500 points alone 
for that little comunity 
service. I know I would...

I REPLY:
Nope, sorry, Ron didn't do that. His *wand* did. 
Or more accurately, Lockhart did it to himself, which IMHO
is what makes the scene so wonderful.


I WROTE:
AND not *only* did they get all the points, but they also both got 
Special Awards for Services to the School.

GREY WOLF REPLIED:
It's only fair, since they both colaborated in throwing 
out of the school the Heir. If Tom Riddle got himself 
award for that, why shouldn't Harry and Ron? I am disapointed that 
Hermione didn't get one, though.

I REPLY:
Grey Wolf, the end of my post points out that I agreed with the 
Special Awards. And I'm not surprised that you'd think Hermione, 
petrified on a hospital bed, would be deserving of points. For logic 
and resourcefulness in the face of nothing in particular.

Look, this brings me to a larger point: as a reader, I too can find a 
million and one reasons why HHR are brave, loyal, independent, 
selfless, civic-minded heroes who are deserving of every House Cup, 
every Quidditch Cup, and every award Hogwarts can offer, plus the 
Order of Merlin First Class to boot. That's *easy.* Anyone with
a copy of the books could do this without any independent thought 
whatsoever, because that's precisely what we're *supposed* to be 
thinking.

In other words, defending Harry is not a difficult task, since JKR 
has already made the case more eloquently than any of us could: 
because she deliberately wrote the books from that exact perspective.

So, although I really appreciate the amount of time and effort that 
goes into such a great post as Catherine's "In Defense of Harry," it 
strikes me as the *one* thing that's not needed. That's, after all, 
what the entire series is. One big seven-book long story of Harry.

And that's fine. As I said, I love the books, and I love HHR. And, 
you'll be surprised to find out that Dumbledore is one of my favorite 
characters, because, mostly, of his wisdom, and also his sense of 
humor.

But it's *boring* to always take that perspective. If I wanted that 
perspective, I wouldn't be on this list. I'd be re-reading the series 
all the time, which, ironically, I am anyways. ;-)  It's much more 
interesting to try to look at things another way. And I'll I'm doing 
here is pointing out that there is a very compelling case to be 
made against Dumbledore... and that it seems likely to me that she's 
doing it for a reason which we'll become privy to in subsequent 
installments

-Tom