what makes a hero? (wasRe: The magic power of love.)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 80489

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "arrowsmithbt" 
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Kneasy: (no hero)
> Does Harry  really understand who or what Voldemort is? It's only 
been a few months since he first heard of him. He hasn't lived with 
years of seeing adults, your parents even, turning pale at the mere 
mention of his name. The ultimate bogey-man. The merciless killer.
> 
> And an eleven year old thinks he can beat him.
> Not my definition of heroism.

Laura:

In PS/SS, Harry doesn't know that he's going to be facing LV-he 
thinks until the very last possible moment that he's going after 
Snape.  (Still not an easy opponent, but nevertheless human and hence 
vunlerable.)
> 
Kneasy:
> He knows that V killed his parents. But what are his parents to 
Harry? Can he remember them? Are they anything more  than just words?
> A vague concept of something other people think he ought to feel 
> strongly about. How can you feel strongly about something or some-
> body you have never known? You can't. Not when you're just eleven
> years old. You just pay lip service and hope one day it will make 
sense.
>  

Laura

He may not have known his parents but he has a very clear idea of 
what it is LV deprived him of.  Harry lives in the world, so he knows 
what parents are supposed to do-love, protect and care for you.  He 
even has a somewhat warped example in the Dursleys.  They may be 
pretty pitiful as parents and as human beings, but they unarguably 
care for Dudley.  So Harry might not be able to miss the particular 
individuals Lily and James, but he can still feel the absence of 
parents.


> Death is even more of a puzzle. Death is what happens to old people.
> It can't, won't happen to me. I'm on the good side! Besides, I 
haven't
> finished my homework. Young people can't grasp the finality, the
> permanence of death these days. Not unless they are very unlucky.
<snipped discussion of ritual, which was right on but not relevant 
here> 

Laura:

So does that mean that when teenagers do things like rescuing 
drowning friends or family, or something along those lines (it 
doesn't happen all the time but it does happen), it's only heroic if 
the kid has a full understanding that s/he is risking her/his life?  
Can you be a hero if you do something that doesn't risk your life?  
What about the people who refused to testify during the McCarthy 
hearings here in the 1950's?  Their physical lives weren't in danger, 
but their reputations and livelihoods were.  

I'm not sure when it is (if ever) that people come to an "adult" 
understanding of death, but if that's one of the criteria of being a 
hero, it may be that Harry will never qualify within the time span of 
the books.  Boys at 17 and 18 are still in full risk-taking mode, as 
I understand it.  They're still kids, with some of the limitations in 
thought and experience that kids have.

Kneasy:
[Harry] talks of V flattening Hogwarts, hunting friends and family 
down, destroying everything in his path, yet blithely suggests that 
three children can stop him. How?
> 
> "Well, we  get past Fluffy," (vague plan) " avoid the other 
security measures provided by Hogwarts staff" (no plan and no idea 
what the traps are) and "stop him." (no plan). Then what? (no plan).
> So might mice vote to bell the cat. Good strategy, but the logistics
> and tactics come up short. (Let's put the show on right here in the 
barn!)
> 
> Heroism is a bit different. A hero knows and *calculates* the risks 
in a course of action, but takes them anyway, even if the odds are 
bad. Otherwise it's luck or foolhardiness. Harry doesn't have a clue 
what he has to face or how he will deal with it. That's foolhardiness.

Laura:

So would you say that in PoA Hermione is a hero?  She seems to have a 
full understanding of the dangers involved in using the time-turner, 
and she makes sure she and Harry operate within its constraints.  
They don't exactly have a plan, but they can't really have one in 
advance, because they have to see how events unfold from their new 
perspective.  And Hermione, via her correct use of the time-turner, 
(and a well-timed alohomora) works alongside Harry to rescue Sirius 
and Buckbeak.
> 

Kneasy:
> One day Harry might be a true hero, but not yet. So far he hasn't
> had to go and deliberately seek out Voldemort, knowing that he
> might fail, but doing it anyway. Cedric has given him a nasty taste
> of the realities. If you fall, you don't get up again. Up to now 
it's been skirmishing, chance encounters, no planning from Harry.
> The real battle is to come. Then he will have a chance for heroics.