An odd musing about Harry's attitude

[Ali]

No: HPFGUIDX 53892

Hobbitguy wrote:

>>>Harry's treatment of authority figures he doesn't like.
I've noticed that if Harry doesn't like a person who is in 
authority, he shows complete disrespect to them; this despite any 
qualifications they may have or any reasons that they SHOULD be 
respected. 
<snip>

(The Dursleys and Snape)
 but they are still in authority over him, and 
 he ought to treat them with SOME respect.  Snape is a teacher and a 
 learned (possibly very much so) man, and he has SAVED HARRY'S LIFE. 
 The Dursleys may have treated Harry badly, but they did take him in; 

<snip>

 Now, maybe I  was brought up oddly, but I distinctly remember my 
parents drilling "respect your elders" into me for as long as I can 
remember. Harry's had almost the opposite lesson, it seems; from 
his actions, it looks like he learned "respect those elders who are 
nice to you and whom you like." )<<<

I don't know whether this is a cultural thing, but I think in general 
we Brits appear to be much less deferential towards our elders than 
the average American. My parents and grandparents were certainly 
taught to respect their elders, but I wasn't. To me, respect is 
something to be earned, not given on a platter because somebody 
happens to be older than me. Now, my father was a Head Teacher, and I 
was certainly taught to be polite etc and do as I was told, but 
respect is something different (IMHO).

The Dursleys may well be in authority over Harry, but to date, Harry 
has seen nothing to justify respecting them. He believes an orphanage 
upbringing would have been better than the way the Dursleys brought 
him up. So the fact that Aunt Marge would not have taken Harry in, 
but the Dursleys did is irrelevant; they did still abuse him. Should 
he really respect people, who acting as Legal Guardians kept him shut 
in a cupboard and deprived him of love and friendship? 

He might well discover in OoP and beyond that the Dursleys do justify 
some respect and even gratitude, but I can't see that he should 
respect them just yet.

Snape is a different kettle of fish. Snape established the 
relationship between himself and Harry, and in some ways is 
responsible for Harry's attitude towards him. Nevertheless, I do 
agree that Harry should have thanked him for saving his life in 
PS/SS. In fact, I  find the failure to mention any kind of 
acknowledgement of Snape's actions as strange and do wonder why. 

Harry should certainly re-examine his view of Snape post GoF. 

Ali