Harry and questions (again :-) (was : The Problem with Lupin )

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 97060

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Batchevra at a... wrote:

I, Del, wrote :
> I agree with all those who say that Harry doesn't ask questions 
> because JKR doesn't want to give answers. First the very first 
> book, I knew she wasn't playing fair with us. Harry didn't have 
> any reaction to Hagrid giving him the photo album of his parents 
> and their friends. He's happy to get it, but he doesn't care about 
> learning more about them, let alone ask for any further 
> information about them. He's an orphan and he's not curious about 
> his parents ? Nope, sorry, I don't buy that. I was 11 too when I 
> went crying to my mom, pleading for her to tell me a bit more 
> about my biological father. If anyone had come over who'd been 
> friend with him, I would have questioned them to no end.

Batchevra answered :
> I was adopted, and I continually asked questions of my parents 
> about my adoption. By age 11, I learned not to ask anymore. When I 
> said something to my friends, they pointed out that maybe my 
> biological parents were in prison. Ok. we were 11, not thinking 
> clearly, but it said maybe it is better not to know. Did I become 
> not curious? no, I went to books to find out about adoption, how 
> it works and when at 17 I left a book about adoption on my night 
> table, my mother blew a gasket. Now, I learned that the best way 
> to listen for information that you want to know, listen to adults 
> without them knowing you are doing it. That is what Harry is 
> doing, he has learned not to ask direct questions but to listen to 
> exactly what is said by those adults. Harry is finally asking 
> Petunia in OOTP, because the world of Muggles and Wizards was 
> breached and he knew that Petunia wouldn't throw him out.

Del replies :
I'm afraid I disagree.

You explain quite clearly that you grew up as a kid full of 
curiosity about your biological parents, but that your curiosity was 
squashed by your adoptive parents and by your friends. However, this 
didn't stop you researching as much as you could. From this I gather 
that if you *had* found someone who told you that your biological 
parents were nice people and that was willing to tell you about 
them, you *would* have questioned them, right ? You only stopped 
asking questions because it hurt/angered your parents and because 
you were afraid of the possible answers. Did I get all that right ?

Harry does something very different. He grows up with people who 
keep telling him that his parents were bad people and that won't 
answer his questions. So I understand that before he discovers the 
WW, he's a bit wary about learning more about his parents.

HOWEVER, everything changes as soon as he meets someone from the 
WW !! Hagrid makes it quite clear that he holds James and Lily in 
very high esteem. And almost everyone else Harry meets later have 
only praises to say about the Potters. By then, I would expect Harry 
to be a) extremely relieved to discover that his parents were good 
people after all, and b) very anxious to learn more about them. But 
no ! Oh, he is indeed quite happy to hear good things about them, 
but he's not at all curious to learn more ! And *this* is what is 
absolutely irrealistic for me.

Maybe I could have accepted it if we had been shown that Harry was 
in fact emotionally blocked somehow, and if we had seen him getting 
unblocked later. But it has been 5 years since, and he still hasn't 
shown any kind of curiosity concerning his parents. He's a teenager 
looking for his place in the world, and he's not researching his 
roots, even though he has nothing to fear (well, up until the 
infamous Pensieve episode, at least) and plenty of available people 
to question ? This is not natural. JKR is cheating. Only IMO, of 
course :-)

Del