A Harry Failure (was: Re: Harry's Sacrifice. / Sorting and Character Traits)

[drmm_fuuko]

No: HPFGUIDX 58869

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at y...> 
wrote:> Annemehr:
<<> A short while ago, there was a thread going on discussing 
whether, for thematic reasons, Harry might need to *fail* at 
something important, since he hasn't so far.  The most prominent 
conlusion reached at that time was that some action of his would 
result in the loss of someone's life.  However, if Harry is to have a 
failure, I think you might have hit on just what that might be -- the 
failure to make just this sacrifice of someone else's life when it is 
needed.  On the other hand, I think you will get some argument from 
the list about whether he actually *should* do such a thing.  
Personally, I'm not so sure either way and will have to think about 
it some more.>>>

I'd be interested to read this thread (must have joined after it 
finished) as I've always thought Harry needs to fail in a big way in 
order for him to grow.

While others may disagree, I've always thought that Harry tends to be 
careless, reckless and just a touch arrogant. Let me explain why.

PS/SS: In the first book, Harry & Ron race into the bathroom to fight 
a troll. They both could have run off to find a teacher and explain 
what they saw but they rush in and fight it themselves. They never 
consider the consequences, which could have been deadly.  In a 
somewhat more iffy example, Harry rushes off to try and stop Quirrel 
*by himself*. While he recognizes the danger, he at least thinks he 
at least has a chance to stop him, which has always seemed a bit 
arrogant to me. As we find out when we read the story, if Hermione 
hadn't been there, Harry would have been stopped at the second 
challenge. True, what he does is brave and courageous and he at least 
*tried* to tell the teachers but, IMO, he showed a lack of trust in 
Dumbledore and a touch of arrogance in his assumption that he, an 11 
year old, might have a chance to defeat the teachers challenges and 
fight Quirrel.

CoS: What reckless things DIDN'T Harry do in CoS? He doesn't tell 
Dumbledore he's a Parseltounge. He rushes off to the Forbidden 
Forest, knowing full well how dangerous it is and nearly dies. And 
the thing that has always annoyed me -- knowing the location of the 
Chamber and after discovering what a completely incompetent person 
Lockheart was (which he already suspected), he and Ron didn't go ask 
another teacher for help. Instead, he and Ron go to the chamber 
themselves -- knowing that they're going to face a very dangerous 
monster.

PoA: There are a lot of things that happen here. Harry doesn't even 
consider that Hermione might be right about the Firebolt (not to 
mention how badly he treats her when he's angry about it). He runs 
off to Hogsmede, knowing that a killer is after his life. When Ron is 
attacked, he again rushes straight into a dangerous situation rather 
than asking for help. If Sirius Black *had* been a Death Eater, he 
would have been dead the minute he entered the door. And while we 
don't know this for sure, if Harry had gone to the school for help, 
someone else could have seen Peter and Sirius would have been proven 
innocent.

GoF: This is the book where I think Harry's *finally* starting to 
think about things more. In fact, I can't think of one thing that 
Harry does that he isn't forced to do because of his unwilling 
participation in the Tournament (Well, he should have told Dumbledore 
about his dreams.).

In all of these books, Harry has survived out of luck and with the 
help of his friends. I admit that if Harry weren't the typical 
storybook hero, these books would be very boring and short, so Harry 
*needs* to do some of these things. I just think that, if JKR wants 
to show a real growth in Harry, some of the things he does will have 
to change. Sometimes a hero has to think ahead and not rush into 
things. 

Until GoF, I think Harry was treating most of these things as a game. 
They were adventures and he wasn't really thinking seriously about 
the consequences.

If Harry fails, I think it will cost the life of someone he cares 
about.  And for Harry to learn and grow the most, it should be his 
own carelessness that causes it. I predict that the death most people 
think will happen in OOtP will be caused because Harry does something 
stupid -- and is caught because of it. Or at least in book 6.

DrMM