seeking knowledge and keeping secrets

[angelberri56]

No: HPFGUIDX 80864

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jwcpgh" 
<jwcpgh at y...> wrote:

> 
> Yes, of course, we tailor our responses to our children's 
questions 
> to their age, maturity level and any number of other factors.  But 
if 
> a child asks you a direct question I think you should tell them 
> *something*.  Maybe you try to answer the real concern under 
the 
> spoken question if you think that's what's going on.  But Harry 
has 
> learned already in PS/SS that LV has a vendetta going against 
him.  
> That's not going to change.  The reasons for it are 
immaterial-it's 
> the behavior of LV that's the problem. DD should have begun to 
> explain to Harry at an age-appropriate level rather than refusing 
> outright.


This is true, however in Harry's case, I think Harry would see that 
there was something more, other than what DD told him, at an 
age-appropriate level. Just like he spends all year trying to put 
together clues and solve whatever mystery, he would eventually 
find out something more about the prophecy. And anyway, how 
could DD possibly put it lightly that Harry was either going to 
have to murder LV, or be murdered? That's not something you 
could exactly make age appropriate. I think, this might be one of 
the reasons that Dumbledore withheld the information from 
Harry. 
 

> Kneasy suggested a few posts ago that kids Harry's age in 
PS/SS don't 
> have a sophisticated understanding of death--that it's forever 
and 
> that it can happen even to children.  So even if DD had told 
Harry at 
> that point that LV wanted to kill Harry, would he have been as 
> fearful as you think?  The idea would still be pretty abstract to 
> him.  


This contridicts my theory from above a bit, but another reason 
why DD didn't want to tell Harry the prophecy then would be 
because Harry wouldn't understand it fully, and appreciate the 
concept of death. Would Dumbledore want Harry to accept and 
comprehend it completely, the better to prepare himself? 
Knowledge is power, afterall, and maybe Dumbledore thought 
that if Harry couldn't understand the whole of it, he wouldn't give 
him any of it. 

Let me know what you think. :>)
-angelberri56

*This is just an off-hand thought... Isn't it interesting that Harry 
goes to many lengths to find out about the Sorcerer's Stone, or to 
learn more about the Chamber of Secrets, but never seems to 
want to solve that Egg Clue......