[HPforGrownups] Harry and Tom

[AnitaKH]

No: HPFGUIDX 110689



Neisha Saxena <neisha_saxena at yahoo.com> wrote:

>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.  

[snip-o-rama]


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.  

akh:

The two reactions appear to be control reactions to me.  Both LV and Harry remember being helpless and powerless as children.  (While the rest of us may have actually been powerless, our parents allowed us to believe we had some control over our lives.  In Dudley's case, he does have control early, only to lose it in GOF when he's forced on a diet. But I digress...)

I feel Harry has several things in abundance that LV knows not, and one of them is empathy.  Because of this, he finds satisfaction in "saving people," imagining their distress in a given situation and now having the power to control the outcome.  By contrast, LV also comes into a situation where he now has a control and power he never realized at the orphanage, but without empathy, he has no interest in helping people.  He goes to the other extreme, manipulating people regardless of their feelings.  

Harry's frustration in OOTP may be caused, in some part, by his powerlessness at 4 Privet Drive, although I also ascribe to the depression theory.  He has been deprived of the control he has now come to know and expect, and he also feels his efforts have not been appreciated.  Do-gooders rarely do kind acts in order to get appreciation, but they can grow resentful if they are never appreciated for their efforts. (This comes from a Development officer of many years.  Trust me on this one...;-))

I make no claims to being an expert in psychology, but I was an Education major, so I took my fair share of Psych classes, back in the ancient days.  

 

akh, who is probably reiterating someone else's post, but there are just so many posts you can read in a day...


		
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