OoP: McGonagall

[grindieloe]

No: HPFGUIDX 62354

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Taryn Kimel" <amani at c...> 
wrote:
> Tamara:
> Fourth: Why does McGonagall never call Harry "Harry"? She always 
> calls him Potter.
> 
> Me:
> I think this just has to do with the teacher-student relationship. 
Although they certainly like each other (Harry complains about 
homework, but not really about McGonagall, and never seems to think 
she's a bad teacher or a mean person, and McGonagall seems to like 
Harry well enough as a student), it's a very unpersonal, professional 
relationship. And she seems to keep this standard for all students.
> 
> --Taryn
> 


I think that McGonagall has gone through a transformation in these 
books - at least from the readers/Harry's point of view.  When Harry 
first met her, she simply was a strict teacher.  She has become more 
and more "human" toward the students as the series goes on.  Being a 
teacher, I can relate to this transformation.  The first week of 
school is where you have to pull the strictness and continue it 
through the year.  However, as the students grow to know you as a 
person, and you grow to know them, that guard breaks down a bit.  
However, the teacher/student relationship must still stay in tact.    
I think that this is also true with McGonagall.  She is a very fair, 
trustworthy person, and IMO genuinely likes Harry as a person. 

grindieloe :)