OotP: One More Time

[remayo]

No: HPFGUIDX 70752

Hello everyone, just joined.  Tried to read as much of the commentary on "Order of the 
Phoenix" as I could.  Anyway, at the risk of being redundant, I had a few  thoughts...

I like "Order of the Phoenix" a lot.  Having said that, I have some serious reservations 
about the way the series seems to be going.  My biggest qualm is the fact that, among 
the Hogwarts students at least, Hermione is really the star, not the title character.  

Now that Harry has presented with the "it's him or me" prophecy, I hope he begins to 
take a more proactive interest in his future.  Being brave and powerful magically aren't 
going to be enough to kill Voldemort (I don't think).  He needs to become an 
independent thinker and leader, things he certainly is not in OotP.  He spends much of 
the book in sulks and useless rages that net him nothing but a ban from Quidditch and a 
series of detentions, where he is tortured.  

As noted, the real star among the Hogwarts students is clearly Hermione.  She dominates 
much of central portion of the story.  Rowling has made it clear that Hermione is her 
surrogate and she expends a great deal of effort to make sure her audience knows just 
how supernaturally clever the girl is.  Most of the effective resistance to Umbridge turns 
out to be Hermione's idea.  Both the Skeeter interview for "The Quibbler" and the illicit 
Defense Against The Dark Arts classes were her ideas.  To be sure sure, Harry gave the 
former and taught the latter, but he wasn't clever enough to have thought of them.  
Indeed, neither he nor Ron are apparently clever enough to organize their own 
homework, let alone do it, without Hermione's help.  She alone among the students 
figures out why Umbridge is really at Hogwarts early on and, showing her mettle as an 
action hero, works out the strategy that frees she and Harry from Umbridge's clutches in 
a pivotal scene near the end.  

In order to create a strong female character, Rowling seems compelled to turn the boys 
into would-be malefactors (Draco), miscreants (Fred and George), or borderline 
dunderheads (Harry and Ron).  It all gets a bit tedious after a while.  (I look for Hermione 
to get more OWLs than anyone since Dumbledore took them, and for Harry to scrape by 
enough to keep his dreams of being an Auror alive.)  To be sure, JKR lets Harry lead the 
near disastrous raid on the Ministry of Magic in the mandatory end-of-story battle but, 
aside from that, and his successful confrontation with the Dementors in Chapter one, 
Harry pretty much plays the part off a puppet with his strings being pulled alternately by 
Dumbledore, Hermione and Voldemort.  In short, temper tantrums aside, he's a 
strangely passive hero for most of the story

A 15 year old boy may be bundle of raging hormones and bad judgment, true.  JKR has 
captured that pretty well.  Indeed, she belabors the point.  But boys aren't screw-ups  all 
the time and, at some point, it would be nice to see Harry mature into a wizard capable 
of devising and executing a plan to deal with Voldemort.  Unfortunately, given the way 
the script has played out so far, I wouldn't be too surprised if the final successful 
strategy/plan turned out to be Hermione's, not the title character's.  

A few more thoughts and questions...

During his detentions Harry is tortured by writing nearly endlessly using his own blood.  
He seems curiously passive about all this.  One would think that, having seen it used to 
help resurrect Voldemort a few months before (in GoF), he might be more suspicious of 
Umbridge's motives, especially since he really doesn't know (at the time) if she's allied 
with the Death Eaters.  I guess JKR just wanted to show he was tough, and reinforce the 
evil intent of the odious Umbridge, since nothing really came of it in the end.  
Nevertheless, it struck me as odd and, of course, it raised  yet more questions about 
Harry's judgment, or lack thereof.  

Regarding training, I note that Harry's father, James, was an animagus by the time he 
was Harry's age.  I wonder why Harry has shown no interest in learning this skill.  Surely 
it would be useful to have an animal form that could be used for surveillance and escape.  
His father apparently learned it on his own too.  Could/will Harry?  

Another useful escape tool Harry has shown no real interest in is the ability to Apparate.  
Ostensibly age is a barrier, but then again age was also supposed to be a barrier to 
learning the Patronus charm.  Of course, Harry's inability to apparate allowed us to learn 
about Floo Networks, Portkeys, Knight Buses, flying Ford Anglias, and broom stick 
formation flying, so I guess maybe we readers come out a bit ahead.  Still, it would be 
nice if, all on his own, Harry took it upon himself to do something constructive without 
being prodded by Hermione or Dumbledore.  Now that he's seen Voldemort and 
Dumbledore duel, surely he must develop some sense of urgency about his lack of skills, 
right?  

I realize this post seems pretty negative.  Truth is, I really admire and enjoy Rowling's 
work.  But I have to admit that the characterization of Harry in the latest installment in 
the series gave me pause.  I hope she resurrects her title character in the next two 
books, if for no other reason than to make the point that boys grow up too.