What I have a hard time with in the canon...

[squeakinby]

No: HPFGUIDX 96247

Dale wrote:
> What continually niggles at me when I try to relax and enjoy the 
> Potterverse is the belief that any child who had endured the loveless 
> world of psychological abuse that Harry lived in from age 2 till 11, 
> wuld be undamaged enough to be able to make friends with Ron and 
> Hermoine the way he does. 

<snip>

If we are to imagine JKR is the new generation of Inklings, in her 
belief system there is such a thing as the spirit.  We must then imagine 
Harry's spirit is strong and intact (no matter what abuse he may have 
suffered), aided and guided by a Divine Hand.

Otherwise all the confrontation with Voldythingy is utter claptrap.
Impossible.   Harry wouldn't have the emotional or psychic resources, 
the courage, determination, sensibility.

Harry can triumph over evil because the spirit *can* triumph.  (The 
Phoenix will always rise again.)  The spirit is what enables humans to 
rise above the animals, it is what makes us glorious.  It is what makes 
us human.  Something Lord Voldythingy is no longer--he has returned to a 
pre-human reptilian self by renouncing spirit.

We must believe that love is always possible and that it is inherently 
more powerful than evil.

If this isn't what these books are about, then I've really misread them.
Big time.

Jem