What's annoying about Harry (WAS: Characters you hate)

[vojoca <vojoca@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51521

Marina wrote:

If, on top of all his heroic 
> qualities, he was also reasonable, diligent, obedient and uniformly 
> sweet-tempered, I'd hate him with a fiery passion for being such a 
> holier-than-thou little prig.  There are times when he does things 
> that are so wrong-headed that I just want to smack him, but those 
> are also the times when I most care about him, the times when I 
> actually believe in him as an adolescent boy rather than an 
> archetypal fantasy hero.  And they're also the times when I most 
> appreciate his virtues, because as an archetypal fantasy hero Harry 
> might be seriously flawed, but as an adolescent boy I think he's 
> pretty terrific.
> 
> Marina
> rusalka at i...



I just noticed how the qualities that would make Marina hate Harry 
are....close to how Harry sees Cedric Diggory.  Unfortunately, I only 
have GoF as a reference for now but anyway, here goes:

GoF Chapter 22 pg 347 UK paperback edition:
"...Cho's voice echoing in his ears with every step he took. 'Cedric -
 Cedric Diggory.'  He had been starting to quite like Cedric - 
prepared to overlook the fact that he had once beaten him at 
Quidditch, and was handsome, and popular, and nearly everyone's 
favourite champion. Now he suddenly realised that Cedric was in fact 
a useless pretty-boy who didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup."



I almost roll my eyes when I read parts about Cedric and his 
nobleness/perfectness and how he MUST do everything that is noble and 
not boast about it, how he's SUCH a gentleman, how polite he is, how 
tall and handsome he is....

It's just me, I guess, I can't stand "perfect people" in real life.

That's what I find annoying in Harry.  The fact that *I* don't really 
like Cedric and that Harry often compares himself to him, almost 
idolizes him/wants to be like him doesn't make me a very happy 
camper.  Although, one couldn't blame Harry;  Cedric *is*, after all, 
tall, handsome, great at Quidditch, the perfect champion, popular, 
good enough for Miss-Perfect-Girl Cho Chang, and blah blah blah.

I almost want to grab Harry and knock some sense into him and say:  

"HARRY!! wake up!!  I like you the way you are!! I DON'T want you to 
be perfect!! I like you *because* you can be selfish and 
disrespectful and uncaring and impatient and all those other things 
that people say about you.  I *like* the fact that you don't listen 
and make mistakes and have the opportunity to *learn* from your 
mistakes instead of just taking an adult's word for it.  You may have 
a lot of flaws, but remember, you are still growing up and have a lot 
to learn.  On the whole, you are a *good person* and have a *good 
heart*, and that's a LOT better than being *perfect.*"  


But that's just my humble opinion.


vojoca