An odd musing about Harry's attitude

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 53902

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Carrie S" <carrie525 at m...> 
wrote:
<snip>  
>  But I think this goes right along with Harry's attitude that he 
> can break the rules, pretty much all the time. He sneaks around the 
> castle. Leaves the castle. Tries to catch his teachers doing stuff. 
> It seems to be his character that he feels he is above the 
> rules...Snape is right in that account. It seems to never occur to 
> HHR to take a problem to Dumbledore or McGonnagall. Like the 
students are better able to solve the problems. 
> 
>  Well, then again....if HHR didn't feel this way, the books would 
> be a lot shorter and less interesting......  
>  

Well, not so much shorter as inexistent .... I'm sorry, but these 
kind of accusations against Harry - that he's disrespectful, that he 
thinks he's above the rules - they go totally against JKR's world 
view. And that's ok. You don't have to accept the author's code of 
morality. But it doesn't make sense to accuse a character in this 
case - accuse the writer for portraying a good character in a way 
that doesn't agree with what you perceieve as moral or moral enough. 
ALL of Harry's escapades, rule breaking, etc. (except for his trips 
to Hogsmeade) are GOOD, within the framework of JKR's imaginary 
world. Whether you approve of rule breaking or not, JKR does approve 
of it, *when it serves a higher good.* Not only does she approve of 
it, she despises people who blindly follow rules. This she sees as 
just another form of cowardice (see Fudge).
So, comparing Harry and Ron's impersonation of Crabbe and Goyle to 
Draco's attempt to sabotage a Quidditch game (it appeared in 
somebody's previous post) goes completely against the way they are 
presented in the books. Again, whatever you may think of rule 
breaking, JKR thinks that what Ron and Harry did was an act of 
heroism. What Draco did, OTOH, is a mean, vicious attempt at 
cheating. You of course may see it differently than she does.  
The Australian prime minster (whose name I don't remember) said today 
something like: I understand people who have reservations about the 
war, but please, it you do, bring your beef to me, bring your beef to 
the goverment, but don't bring your beef to the soldiers. In the same 
vein: bring your beef to JKR, but don't bring your beef to Harry, who 
is being as good a little character as he can be. :-)


Naama