Angry Harry in HBP and OotP

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 119775


>Java wrote (119681): 
>Harry being angry and arrogant is really my general
>disappointment with ootp. I'm sure a lot of people have pointed out
>Harry went from a quiet, mature, and happy boy and turned into a
>whiny angry punk.

>HunterGreen wrote (119701):
>Its interesting that you were so put off by Harry's attitude in 
OotP <snip>
>After seeing another student killed, being
>tied to a tombstone by someone he saved the life of a year before,
>watching the person who murdered his parents come back to life (so 
>to speak), he was tortured, barely made it back alive, and then was 
>sent home only a short time later to live with three people who 
>hate him and the only communication he has with anyone is just 
>cryptic letters to "be good" and that "there's a lot going on, but 
>we can't tell you what."


>Eggplant wrote (119697):
<snip humorous understating of everything Harry has had to face>
>Harry must be a silly little wimp to make tinny tiny little things
>like that bother him. I'm sure in similar circumstances you would
>have behaved far far more heroically.


Laurasia:

I agree with both points of view equally (sounds like a 
contradiction, right?). I think that Harry's OotP attitude was 
perfectly realistic when you think about everything Harry has had to 
face up until that point. AND I think that Angry!Harry came off as 
Whiny!Harry. The reason for this is apparent contradiction is 
because when I think about it in the context of the whole series, 
Harry's anger is perfectly understandable, but when I think about 
OotP as a brand new book, Harry is just some whiny kid.

I picked up OotP as a new book. A new book that has its own 
beginning and its own end. Yes, OotP is part of a series, and I am 
not foolish enough to expect that everything that I had read before 
would suddenly become irrelevant. BUT, OotP is a book unto itself. 
Or rather, the previous four books in the Harry Potter Series were 
separate books unto themselves, and I was expecting OotP to be the 
same. This is why Angry!Harry (however realistic when you view the 
series as a whole) is somewhat abrupt and disorientating when you 
start OotP as a new book.

We leave GoF with Harry feeling hopeful. He has seen death, but 
thinks that there is no point in worrying about what is to come yet. 
The last line of GoF is, after all: `What would come, would
come... and he would have to meet it when he did.' Cut to the
start of OotP. Harry is revisiting his pain, is scared and paranoid 
and anxious about the coming war. 

This change didn't happen over night. It happened because he was 
isolated for several weeks when he needed support the most. Spending 
over a month alone is enough to send anyone from hopeful to afraid. 

However, we aren't shown this transitional period. 

Instead, we see Hopeful!Harry at the end of one book and CAPSLOCK!
Harry at the start of the next. The reason for this is, yes, clear 
and distinct. Harry didn't unleash his angst for no reason at
all- it is perfectly understandable in the context - but being alone 
with no opposition is the most boring thing you can have in a book. 
Somebody sitting by themselves with nothing happening to them, not 
battling anything, but just doing nothing and being slowly worn 
away... BORING! No opposition! No change! 

Clearly, to start OoTP with such a scenario would be incredibly 
unsuccessful as a captivating opening to a book, so JKR has done 
what any writer would- cut to the part where Harry finally has some 
opposition. The only problem is, in cutting out the time he spent 
alone she has cut out the very thing which transformed him from 
hopeful. She has cut out his character's turning point. By
cutting it out, JKR hasn't been able to *show* us Harry's
change. Instead, we are thrust into the story *after* the change has 
occurred and *told* about how it happened.

As a reader, I can empathise much better with characters when I feel 
what they feel *when* they feel it. Meeting Angry!Harry after just 
leaving Hopeful!Harry disoriented me. I couldn't empathise with
him because I never saw Harry being eaten away slowly day after day. 
I only ever heard about it after the fact. Just hearsay. I never 
felt the turning point when Harry began to lose faith in his friends 
because I wasn't there when it happened. It was somewhere off 
after `The Beginning' but before `Dudley Demented.'
Off-page, off-screen. The most important incident which sets up the 
entire character arc and plot of OotP- Harry starts behaving angry 
and rash - isn't there! 

But, like I said above- the reason is clear. Being alone is boring! 
Although I am whining about *not* seeing Harry alone for a month, 
reading about Harry alone for a month may have been just as bad. 
Imagine the first four chapters as "Harry Stuck at the
Dursleys." Starts off okay. Then the letters aren't very
useful. He can't visit anyone. Voldemort hasn't made a move
and no one can tell him why. And then it stays like that. For a 
week. For a fortnight. For an entire bloody month. AHH!!!! I would 
be going insane! `Dear JKR, when is this book going to actually 
start? Love, Laurasia.'
However, there is no denying that when in the hypothetical Chapter 
(now) 5 "Dudley Demented" when Harry screams and yells and
practically attacks Vernon Dursley I would be right up there with 
him screaming `Yes, Harry! I know exactly how you feel! Because I
have just read four chapters of nothingness and felt it all right 
along with you. I was with you when you were hopeful, and week after 
week I became exactly as confused and frustrated as you are now 
about this sever lack of news.'

JKR made an intelligent narrative/plot choice (cut to exciting bit), 
but in doing so she made a poor characterisation choice (cut out 
Harry's character turning point). This meant OotP started with a 
bang, but that readers had to adapt to the different 
characterisation very quickly.

Also, Harry spends a great deal of the book reflecting on all the 
things that he has achieved- `I saved the Philosopher's
Stone, I went into the Chamber of Secrets...' All valid points,
right. But I find it incredibly unconvincing to listen to a 
character whinge about all the things he's done and why he's
special and why he deserves to be treated better, without actually 
seeing those events for myself. Wait a second, of course you've
seen those events for yourself! You've read the other books
haven't you? Yes, yes, yes. If you're read the entire series
as one giant book then you're well set up to remember those
events when Harry lists them, but I picked up OotP expecting a 
distinct book. Hearing a character talk about all the painful things
they've experienced (when they've never been pained by them
before)without actually seeing them suffer (in *this* book*) just 
makes Harry look like a whinger. "Oh, I did this, I did that! And
It was four years ago,and I was perfectly okay with it them, but now 
I'm going to bring it back up to make myself look more
important." I'm not going to sympathise for a character like
that.

Talking about OotP's place in the broad schema of the whole HP 
series makes it clear that it was both necessary and a realistic 
period for Harry. But I find that actually reading it as a book unto 
itself makes its flaws very apparent. And it all comes down to 
expectations. Books 1-4 were all distinct stories. OotP wasn't.
Now, I am not saying that books that are continuations of stories 
must be inferior, only that I wasn't expecting that. If you
don't know what to expect, its very hard to ground yourself and
just read the story.

In-my-not-so-humble-opinion, the one thing that would have saved me 
from thinking Angry!Harry = Whiny!Harry would be if OotP started 
with Harry as we left him in GoF and if we got to actually *see* him 
change into Angry!Harry. Hypothetical Chapter One: The Dursleys give 
Hopeful!Harry something to distract himself with (renovating the 
front garden sounds like a good idea) that he can measure time by. 
We see Harry spend his days doing something and slowly and no 
letters come. He writes many, dozens, which become progressively 
more desperate, and none of the replies satisfy him. We see the pile 
of discarded Daily Prophets become bigger and bigger. Then, "It
had been over a month. The front garden was complete. Harry picked 
up the last pile of swept leaves and put them into the compost bin. 
He threw his pile of letters and old newspapers right on top then 
closed the lid. He didn't understand it. It had been over a
*month!* He walked over to kitchen window and laid down, exhausted, 
behind the dying begonias. Insert OotP text-as-we-know-it..."

This, IMO, would have oriented readers better. They would have 
entered into OotP with Harry as they were familiar with him (Hopeful!
Harry from the end of GoF) and then empathised completely as Harry 
transformed into Angry!Harry through a lack of news because they 
would have seen it for themselves. Angry!Harry's character arc 
culminates when he rushes rashly off to the MoM, despite it being an 
insane thing to do seeing as it was 5pm on a weekday afternoon at 
the time. 

Also, I'm sorry for generalising about `readers.' Not
everyone found that they couldn't adapt to Harry's
characterisation in OotP. Presumably because they were using logic 
and thinking in the context of the series as a whole and were 
satisfied to accept that Harry was going to be angry and rash for 
the sake of the story (without ever needing to see the transitional 
period for themselves). Maybe this is a more intelligent way to read.

When HBP comes out I will not expect it to be a distinct novel unto 
itself. In order to avoid the same disorientation and disappointment 
that I felt with OotP, I am only going to expect HBP to be part of 
series, not a distinct book unto itself with its own beginning and 
resolution. This means that I won't be disorientated if Harry has
an abruptly different character development. And it means I won't
be confused if the turning point that dictates Harry's character
arcis not in HBP but is at the end of OotP or off-page entirely. 
Sure, it will still irritate me if I can't *see* Harry's
turning point, but it can be forgiven if it is logically consistent 
with the series. Angry!Harry *was* consistent. The lists of 
everything that Harry had to face up until that point are completely 
valid. If only I could have been shown the change, not just told 
about it after it had already happened. 

This brings up a debatable point: should we treat HP as a one giant 
book, or should it be read as 7 separate books? 

~<(Laurasia)>~