Harry and Tom

[Neisha Saxena]

No: HPFGUIDX 110670


> Neisha Saxena <neisha_saxena at y...> wrote:
> This has been an extremely interesting discussion.  
> 
> But, it causes me to wonder not so much how Tom went
> bad, but what is it about Harry that causes him to
> have such a clearly defined sense of good?

Josh:
<snip book quote>
> 
> ... his mother's love is not only something that serves 
> as a basis for Harry's protection... it is a built-in
> thing. He's stuck with it. I think the 'magical' inference
> we are supposed to draw is that Harry literally survived
> on his mother's love... just just through LV's AK, but also
> the next 9 5/6 years of his life. 


Oh dear.  You seem to have snipped out my real
question.  So, I'll ask it again in hopes of a
response.  

What is it with Harry and his "saving people thing"? 
This is just as extreme, IMHO, as LV's reaction to his
very similar childhood.  There is a
super-hero/super-villan dichotomy between Harry and
Voldemort that is extremely interesting.  They are
mirror images of each other.  

I have two theories as to why Harry is so hell-bent on
saving people (or "heroics" as Lucius Malfoy put it):

1)  When LV's AK curse went all wrong whatever was
left of his own sense of good went into Harry, along
with Lily's sacrifice, love and protection, and this
created a sort of super-heroism in Harry.  Not sure
how any of it would work, just throwing it out there.

2)  This is some sort of deep-seated psychological
reaction to being an orphan and being raised by the
Dursleys, although, not being a psychologist, I'm not
sure how it would work.  It does however, seem to
mirror what many of you are suggesting is a
deep-seated psychological reaction that LV had to his
childhood.  

What we do know is that Harry had it all along, he
became friends with Ron by trying to save him from
some unappetizing sandwiches, for goodness sakes!

Anyway, I would love some responses on this,
especially from the psychologists among you, because I
think the question of good is just as interesting as
the question of evil.      

Neisha Saxena