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

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 80542

> 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.

I'm not sure. I grew up without a father, and only recently did I 
start to realize what I was missing. As I read about the 
psychological scars that fatherless people can have, I discovered the 
source of some of my emotional problems. But when I was 5, 10 or 15, 
I was convinced I wasn't worse off for not having a father. Because I 
didn't know what I was missing. And I still don't, not even after 
seeing so many people interact with their fathers, so many men taking 
care of their kids. I did have a few father figures from time to 
time, but they never meant much to me *consciously*, I didn't think I 
needed them. Unconsciously, I desperately needed them of course. But 
I wasn't aware of it. So I'm not sure Harry knows what he's missing. 
I'm not even sure he's aware he's missing anything. How can you 
consciously miss something you've never had ?

> 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?  

Ask them : they'll generally be the first ones to tell you they 
aren't heroes. We think they are, because we know what they risked. 
But they weren't aware of it, the thought that they could die didn't 
come to them, so they don't see anything heroic in what they did. It 
had to be done, so they did it. I did something once to defend a 
classmate, it didn't put my life in danger, but it did put my 
physical safety at risk (in other words, I took a blow to the nose :-
), but when I did it, I didn't think anything of it. It had to be 
done.

> 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 agree they were heroes. And Harry is a hero when he puts everything 
he holds *dear* (school, friends, etc...) in jeopardy in order to do 
what he feels is right. But putting his life at risk is not 
necessarily a sign of heroism, because most of the time he doesn't 
realize beforehand that he might actually die.

> 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.

I think the sad Sirius's death experience will bring Harry precisely 
that : a true sense of death. Not just for himself, which wouldn't be 
a strong incentive to change his behaviour, but mostly for others. He 
will finally understand that his actions can bring the death of 
people he loves. His actions, not just LV's actions, or whoever 
else's actions. No, his, Harry's. He can end up getting someone he 
loves killed. So I think he will finally understand what caution is 
about, why he has to learn to be more cautious.

> So would you say that in PoA Hermione is a hero? 

Of course she's a hero ! She's putting pretty much everything she 
holds dear at risk in order to try and save someone that's nothing to 
her. She risks being killed, being expelled from school, being stuck 
in time, creating a major time problem, etc, etc... And she does it 
only because it's the right thing to do and because of Harry and 
Hagrid. I mean, what is in there for her to gain ? Pretty much 
nothing, as far as she can tell. They *might* save Buckbeak, they 
*might* save Sirius, but more surely they might get themselves in big 
troubles. And still she does it. Though I suspect there was also a 
strong hint of intellectual challenge in the whole thing : can we 
actually pull such a crazy scheme off ?

Del