OoP: Harry's Curious Lack of Curiosity

[Brooke]

No: HPFGUIDX 60643

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "joanna barra" 
<JOANNABARRA788 at M...> wrote:
> I have wondered for a very long time, why Harry has never asked any 
specific 
> questions about his parents...His mother in particular, because he 
knows 
> that his father helped create the Marauders map, he was friends 
with Sirius, 
> Remus and Peter. Harry also finds out in PS/SS, that James was the 
> Gryffindor seeker and that James owned an invisibility cloak, which 
Harry 
> now has...But nothing is said about his mother.The only thing I can 
ever 
> remember about her, is that she was muggle born and that she was in 
> Gryffindor...
> 
> Joanna


> 
Hi.  Same here, it has bothered me since Book I that Harry has not 
made more of an attempt to find out more about his parents, his 
grandparents, and their pasts.  

So that it doesn't bother me as much, I have tried to put myself into 
the mind of a pre-teen boy (and that is saying something!)  I think 
Harry seems to be very much like your typical young teenage boy.  
They are fascinated with sports (Quidditch in this case), joking 
around, and seeing how far they can go with sneaking around & pulling 
pranks without getting caught.  I think Harry is just caught up in 
his life as a young kid in school, as we all are at that time.  I 
would expect that Harry is very curious to know about those things 
that we are also very curious to know about, but he is caught up in 
being a teenager.  (Plus JKR needs to keep us guessing or the story 
would end too soon!)  

Plus, I think he might be afraid to find out the truth after what 
Dumbledore first told him.  Harry is very brave when it comes to 
fighting giant basilisks and dark lords, but all young boys (and 
girls) are very fragile emotionally.  I think it's because Harry 
hasn't been quite ready to open himself up to all of that.  I think 
when he gets to know Sirius and Lupin better, he will become more 
inquisitive.  

Just my two knuts!

Brooke