What's annoying about Harry, IS he a procrasinator?

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51472

I wrote:
What I find most annoying about Harry is his
incredible stubbornness, his procrastination, his
belief, along Snapian lines, that despite everyone's
efforts to safeguard him, he's above the rules. 
And I can't *STAND* the way he refuses to listen to 
reason once he's had his mind made up.

Elkins wrote:
Actually, the flaw of Harry's that I find by far
the least sympathetic is his utter lack of curiosity.
Not only do I find that frustrating as a reader, but 
I also find it somewhat hard to relate to. For 
heaven's sake, boy -- there's a *library!*  Look 
something up! Do a bit of research! Don't you realize 
someone's trying to kill you?  Maybe you should learn
a little bit *about* him, no?
<snip>

But a word about that procrastination...

Is Harry really a procrastinator?

He certainly does engage in avoidance behavior in GoF.  No question 
about that.  And procrastination is certainly a very normal 
adolescent sort of tendency.  No question about that, either.  
But is it really a normal tendency of *Harry's,* do you think, or is 
it instead a perhaps not *perfectly* utilitarian, but nonetheless 
very normal response to the rather exceptional circumstances 
surrounding him in his fourth year?  
END QUOTE.

Hah-hah. I loved the library comment there, Elkins. :)

Is Harry a procrastinator, though?

Hmmm.

In retrospect, perhaps "procrastinator" might not have been the best 
word, but when hard-pressed, I can't say that I can find a better one.

Let's see:

In CoS, Harry delays telling Ron & Hermione that he can hear the 
voice in the wall. Likewise, and without wisdom (granted, 12 year old 
boys are not always blessed in the wisdom category) he delays telling 
this information to Dumbledore as well.

In PoA, Harry delays helping Hagrid until Buckbeak has already lost 
the case. Of course, he had plenty of time to do something, as we can 
gather from the fact that Hermione, who is busier than all of them, 
still found time to help Hagrid with the preparations.  And Hagrid, 
nice guys that he is, does say that he doesn't blame Harry, who has 
been practicing Quidditch furiously.

In GoF, Harry also delays asking anyone to the Yule Ball, until it is 
so late that he has to go with Parvati.

And then again, Harry can be irritatingly persistent when he really 
wants something, as in PoA when he presses McGonagall for the 
Firebolt. "I shall TELL you when we've finished checking it. Now, 
please stop badgering me." (McGonagall to Harry, PoA 245) Or in 
PS/SS, when he doesn't delay coming up with reasons to accuse Snape 
of trying to kill him and trying to steal the stone.

In a way, in Harry's defense, this returns us to the fact that he is, 
as Marina points out, a rather endearing young boy... who wants what 
he wants as soon as possible, and yet who can find reasons to get 
distracted from stuff that he doesn't put atop his list of 
priorities. :)

-Tom