Harry Has TWO Parents/Characters You Hate

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 51227


Leslie observed:

>I hate Harry Potter.

>I love the books they're positively grand but
>something about the "boy who lived" just gives me a
>headache.


I don't dislike Harry at all; however, there is something about Harry's character that *does* rub me the wrong way:  I don't like his archetype.  At least, I don't like what seems to be his archetype, i.e., the hero we rely on who will conquer evil and earn great rewards.  Arrrgh.  It's to JKR's credit that she's given him enough flaws to make him highly sympathetic, even when he's misbehaving; nevertheless, I just don't identify with heroes who miraculously overcome incredible obstacles time after time after time.  And that's been Harry's history so far.  Boring, boring, boring.  No, Harry as hero doesn't inspire me at all; the lesser accomplishments or emotional growth of a damaged character would impress me more. 

But Leslie's comment, as well as Pip's post about Harry's parents, led me to consider once again the possible theme of Harry as Christ figure.  As a sacrificial Christ figure, Harry would in the end be willing to sacrifice himself for all, and in a series that emphasizes one's choices over one's abilities, that's an ending that would give sure meaning to that theme despite Harry's own almost superhuman abilities, and one which would transcend my general dissatisfaction with Harry as conventional hero.

One thing that may suggest "divine" or superhuman status is the voices Harry hears in his head - because it's something in his head that other wizards just don't seem to have.  For example, take Barty Crouch Jr.'s lesson on the Imperius Curse.  At first, Harry feels "a floating sensation as every thought and worry in his head was wiped gently away."  But as he prepared to spring in obedience to Crouch's order, "another voice had awoken in the back of his brain" pointing out how silly it was to jump.  Yes, Crouch tells us that it takes real strength of character to fight the Imperius Curse, but that voice in the back of Harry's head just doesn't sound to me like Harry's character strength taking over.  It makes it sound as though it wasn't that tough for Harry to resist it.  He wasn't particularly tempted by that "vague, untraceable happiness" that Imperio produces, at least after hearing the other voice.  When the other voice spoke, Harry listened.  There are other ways to describe that scene if JKR intended us to really believe it was Harry's strength of character that allowed him to resist rather than something extraordinary about himself.  After all, Crouch himself implies that those with strength of character can learn to resist Imperius.  Harry seems to have something way beyond that.   

Fast forward to the graveyard.  That same voice speaks to him again when Voldemort employs the Imperius Curse, and Harry resists.  When the Priori Incantatem began taking effect, he was saved by the phoenix song - which, according to FBAWTFT, brings hope to the pure of heart - and which produced the effect of another voice in Harry's head, telling him not to break the connection.

Does it seem to anyone else that Harry wins this battle and the one with the Imperius Curse because of his innate purity of heart, and not because of anything particular that he did?  And if so, how did he achieve this purity?

Pip suggests that it came from Lily:

> Are we going to find out that in the Lily/James partnership, it was 
> *Lily* who was the pure moral core?

[snip]
> 
> Well, we have a clue. Harry has his mother's eyes.
> 
> And the eyes, traditionally, are seen as the windows of the soul.
> 
And she added later:

>'Lily', in the language of flowers, means 'pure'.

Errolowl despaired at such a characterization of Lily:

Why couldn't Lily have
> been 
> mischievous too? Please, don't let her be a purer-than-thou
> angel!!


Totally pure characters *can* get very tedious very quickly, at least in the normal course.  But if Harry functions as a Christ figure in the books, doesn't that leave Lily in the Mary role?  According to Catholic tradition, anyway, Mary was so pure as to have been conceived without original sin. Moreover, just as it is Mary, not Joseph, who according to scripture remained present in Jesus' life throughout his ministry (even urging him to perform his first miracle at the wedding in Cana), Lily's purity is a trait which Harry has in abundance, and it is her protection he carries with him.  

Similarly, James fits Joseph's role of earthly father.  As Pip points out, James the mischiefmaker *did* make many choices at Hogwarts that Harry does not.  James, like the Twins, is portrayed as someone who sought out trouble for entertainment's sake -- sneaking around to steal food from the kitchens and find out all of Hogwarts' secrets.  Yet he also appears in his Patronus form when Harry most needs his strength, and is portrayed as someone who would be merciful.

There are biblical parallels to the early recognition of Harry's specialness.  Harry's being chosen for Quidditch in his first year highlights his uniqueness in the same way that the story of Jesus staying over at the temple at age 12 to discourse with the elders highlights his divinity (while his response, why were you parents worried about me, bespeaks the annoyed nearly adolescent human).  Harry's coming of age seems all about coming to understand and accept the responsibility that goes with those gifts. 

In fact, it's precisely when Harry tries hardest to be normal and to escape the consequences of his specialness that he gets in the most trouble.
It's almost as if Harry's subconscious is a battle between his humanity (represented by his desire to be normal) and his "divinity" as illustrated by his unique talents.  In CoS Dobby prevents him from crossing the barrier and in his desperation to get to school where normal wizards should be, he agrees to take the flying Ford Anglia to school.  Another example is his treatment of Parvati at the Yule Ball, when his teenage hormones take over his behavior.  It's illustrated most poignantly in PoA, in the desire to get to Hogsmeade despite the ever-present Dementors and the threat of Sirius Black, in his sole loss at Quidditch, where he cannot resist the lure of his mother, and in his threat to kill Sirius, who he believes has deprived him of a normal childhood with his parents.   

On the other hand, great things happen when he gives in to his gifts.  In addition to the Imperius examples, twice in moments of crisis his purity of heart and faith in Dumbledore allows him to conjure up phoenix song to strengthen him.  In the Chamber of Secrets (whose imagery reads like a descent into hell, a death and a resurrection), he destroys the diary that Fawkes brings him "without thinking, without considering."   

If Harry does sacrifice himself, will he be resurrected, either actually or figuratively, thus completing the death-and-resurrection parallel?  Could Lily's protection have made him immortal?  Or did Voldemort impart some of his own immortality to Harry in the scar?  He's already survived Adavra Kedavra and been saved from a fatal wound by Fawkes' healing powers, suggesting tht the answer may be yes.

Debbie
whose most hated character is unquestionably Rita Skeeter


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