Why to Like and Not Like OoP

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 70516

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "m.steinberger" <steinber at z...> 
wrote:
> It is a shame that HP4GU has become a place where intelligent 
criticism of HP feels unwelcome. No one is nasty, but the only 
responses one gets to reasonable critique are opposition from fans or 
blank approval from fellow anti-fans (for lack of a better word to 
describe former HP fans who are now disappointed). Delving into HP's 
problems doesn't happen.
  
I'm sorry to hear that anyone feels this way, but I know you're not 
the only one, judging from comments I've read on other HP-related 
lists...

> 
> Why NOT to like OoP: 
> 
> I have no problem with the fact that many, even most, people like 
OoP. As has been said many times, liking OoP is a matter of taste. 
However, some of the adulation given the book is simply false. Below, 
I will list valid reasons to like OoP, but first here are the reasons 
that simply don't apply.
> 
>  
> 
> 1. The characters' personalities and relationships are refreshingly 
realistic. Until now, perhaps this was true, however, in OoP, the 
personalities and relationships are not realistic at all. What *is* 
true is that the characters' behavior is realistic of some real 
people some of the time. There are people in the world who sometimes 
act like Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Sirius do in OoP. 
However, real people in the situations that these characters find 
themselves in would NOT realistically act the way they do, nor would 
anyone act the way they do for as long and consistently as the 
characters do, either.


>             To be realistic, Harry ought to be suffering from Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder, after the graveyard scene combined with 
the severe lack of emotional support afterwards. His behavior should 
not be that of a "normal," "hormonal" teenager, but that of a 
frighteningly disturbed, almost psychotic kid. Kids can repress the 
kind of thing Harry went through, but then they look artificially put-
together, not like "normal," anger-venting teens. And if Harry 
somehow had magically superhuman emotional resources, he again would 
not be losing control of his temper. So Harry's behavior in OoP, 
while realistic of certain people in the world, is totally 
unrealistic for Harry.
> 
>             Ron's whole issue, in OoP, is becoming recognized as a 
person with merits of his own. Before he gets recognition, he's got 
plenty of normal self-doubt, but afterwards, he accepts his new 
status as a natural thing, with none of the intensified self-doubt, 
testing the bounds of the new reputation, and strained relationships 
that normally accompany teenage (and adult) changes in status. No 
realism here.
> 
>             Hermione is Miss Perfect, as Rita Skeeter teases. 
Realism?
> 
>             Dumbledore is human, with human failings, we discover. 
One of those failings is being completely insensitive to the feelings 
of a person he never stops thinking about – Harry. And he continues 
to be insensitive for months on end, supposedly for Harry's 
protection, supposedly because he loves Harry. Yet with all that 
repressed love, he never slips into any inadvertent signs of 
affection. And he never tries to find any back-door route to 
alleviate Harry's suffering. The unrealistic part, here, is 
the "never." People can be conflicted and at odds with themselves, 
and can make stupid decisions (like stone-walling Harry), but not for 
long without the conflicts creating interesting cracks and odd 
behaviors. But Dumbledore is a seamless poker face. Not too realistic 
at all.
> 
>             Poor Sirius. He shows one face from page whatever until 
the day he dies. Angry, frustrated, resentful, jealous of those who 
can act, and fond of Harry in as self-focused way as the rest of his 
behavior. Granted, poor Sirius is put-upon, so it is not his fault, 
perhaps, that he is psychologically unhealthy, but his unhealth is a 
fact, nonetheless. However, unhealthy characters of Sirius's stripe 
don't cooperate with authority the way Sirius cooperates with 
Dumbledore's insistence on Sirius's hated imprisonment. Yes, Sirius 
sneaks out once. But just once! A real personality like Sirius's 
wouldn't stay at Grimmauld place for one minute.
> 
>             So all you OoP fans can love the characters because you 
love the characters. But don't love them because they are realistic. 
They are not realistic at all.
> 
>             And before you argue about whether they are realistic 
or not, let's hear from some people who work in counseling with kids 
and adults who have been through real-life equivalents of what these 
characters have been through.

I'd love to read analyses from mental health professionals about the 
characters' behavior. One of my major gripes about Sirius was that 
his personality changed so much so quickly from the way he was 
presented in GoF that I became convinced early on in the book he'd be 
the one to die. Sure, he was in an unpleasant situation, but the 
change still struck me as too stark.

I'm also interested to see how Harry's grief is dealt with in the 
next book. We see a few mentions of his reactions, once he's done 
with his screaming fit in Dumbledore's office. However, I know from 
personal experience what its like to lose a parent during as a 
teenager.  I know how I reacted. Granted, not everyone will react the 
same way. But, I'll be looking to see if Harry's behavior and 
attitudes and personality reflect anything of what I went through.

  
Marianne