Harry the child soldier (was : Am I the only one)

[sienna291973]

No: HPFGUIDX 95927

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> 
> Sherrie (MadameSSnape) wrote :
> > Harry is a SOLDIER, fighting a war against a horrific enemy.  He 
> > needs all the information he can get in order to complete his 
> > mission and come out of it (hopefully) alive and intact. 
> (snip) 
> > My rambling point is, when children are put into battle - and 
> > Harry is in the vanguard - heck, Harry IS the vanguard - they 
> > cease by default to be children.  Do you want to keep them 
alive?  
> > Give them the tools they need - and give them the information 
they 
> > need. 
> 
> Del :
> I just answered a post from Sienna who said exactly the opposite, 
> that Harry is *not* a soldier. I think this is very telling of 
both 
> the readers' and the book characters' difficulty to deal with 
Harry. 
> Harry is a child soldier, but those two terms can't be reconciled, 
> not even by DD. So sometimes some people act towards him like he's 
> just a kid (Molly), and sometimes some act like he's only a 
soldier 
> (Snape ?). 

You make a good point here Del about reader and character confusion 
in knowing how to deal with Harry. 

What I personally object to is the concept of Harry as a soldier who 
does what he's told with no questions asked and minimum input.  I 
don't think that is fair or right.  Harry ultimately will need to 
become a warrior.  (Sorry if this sounds a little dramatic <grin>). 
In order to defeat his nemesis, he will need to master both himself 
and his destiny.  This means, that he is ultimately the one in 
charge of his destiny and that the apron strings were cut for him, 
whether he wanted them to be or not.  Harry has never had the luxury 
of being 'just a child'. He's fifteen and he's faced Voldemort four 
times already.  

Molly's motivations are admirable but misplaced.  Give him love and 
affection, yes.  But don't try and hold back the tide of the boy's 
destiny because it will come to him (and the wizarding world) 
whether he wills it or not (and whether Molly accepts it or not).  
In this sense, I agree with Sherrie (and of course Sirius ;)): he 
needs all the information and help he can get in order to complete 
his mission and get out of it alive.

I don't see him as a child, but I don't see him as a faceless 
soldier either.

Sienna