Angry Harry in HBP and OotP

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 119802


> Annemehr:
> I admit to having finished OoP the first time feeling stunned. 
Though
> I found Harry's outbursts painful, I didn't think of them as whiny.
> Maybe it's because I interpreted Harry's state at the end of GoF
> differently.  Another passage, besides the one you cited, stuck with
> me: "He liked it best when he was with Ron and Hermione, and they 
were
> talking about other things, or else letting him sit in silence while
> they played chess."  Add that to: "When he looked back, even a month
> later, Harry found he had few memories of the following days.  It 
was
> as though he had been through too much to take in any more."
> 
> From those passages, I read numbness and shock.

Finwitch:

I saw Harry's numbness in GoF as shock - more importantly, the way 
Harry couldn't take in any more - I thought that Neville had ALWAYS 
been like that - numb. Still, looking at his reaction to Fudge not 
believing him, and the way Harry gave his Triwizard-Winnings to the 
Weasley twins (being so angry at Fudge he'd not want it, remember?)  
that 'Take it or I'll hex you' and how he'd throw it to sewers if 
they didn't (that's where he'd rather have thrown C. Fudge, I'd say) -
 I think he was *already* moving from shock to anger right there. 
Anger to Fudge, and at the twins for being so stupidly proud as to 
refuse their dream and life-purpose when he's giving it to them...

And that about needing laughs... I'd say that's what he lacked all 
Summer, all *year* - as did Sirius, I think. They would have needed 
them. Yup - from shock to anger, with no laughs. He still has nothing 
much to laugh at - are we going to see depression next or will the 
twins come and pick him up for a few laughs?
 
> Laurasia:
> > 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.
> 

Finwitch:

As I see it, Harry's *angry* response to Cornelius Fudge due to 
Fudge's disbelief - and threat to hex the Weasley twins if they 
didn't take the 1000G from him *began* this transition.

When at Dursleys, Harry suppresses most of this anger, so it all 
piles up (as he always did!) so we wouldn't have seen him DO anything.
He even begins Depression during the Summer - (Dementors affecting 
him)... His anger just *gets out* troughout the OOP. As well as going 
to depression (wishing to be at Dursleys rather than GP?) - his anger 
and resistance are the only things keeping him from it, but Dursleys--
I wonder.

And um - since when did we get to see all July?

Mainly the books begin on 31st July or later (exception on PS, but 
there's only the zoo incident we're *shown* about Harry - and then 
we're told Harry was in his cupboard until summer), August (got 
skipped in PS, spent at Weasleys in CoS, at Diagon Alley in PoA, 
Weasleys&QWC in GoF, Dursleys until 2nd August, 12 GP afterwards) and 
Hogwarts. You know, if Harry gets to leave the Dursleys before 31st 
July in HBP, it WILL be his shortest stay ever.

> Laurasia:
> > 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? 
> 
> Annemehr:
> I think you are right to see the series as one story.  I remember 
JKR
> saying she began by trying to allow readers to read the books
> independently; thus the recaps of characters and events taking up
> large percentages of the first chapter of the early books.  But at
> this point, trying to make the plots stand alone is going to distort
> the overall tale. GoF was not as independent as the first three, and
> the plot of OoP is nothing without the other books.

Finwitch:

I agree. It's a series where the time *moves* on (Harry's a year 
older in each book, and the earlier events ARE in his past). In the 
first three - aside from being more independent of the rest - Harry's 
*birthday* is mentioned and held in high importance. Then, it's *not* 
there in GoF nor in OoP. So yes, *one* story split into 7 books.

This may not have come fully, but the hints were there: 1st book. 
Hagrid's comment: 7 years at Hogwarts and you won't be the same. AND 
it's Harry's 11th birthday, of which Hagrid makes a big deal of. END-
OF-YEAR: Voldemort, though defeated by Harry, is vaporised and left 
as the spirit. (So, the main evil is still there). Oh, and - WHY does 
Harry go back to the Dursleys?

2nd book. Harry still got to keep the smallest bedroom. His magical 
things are locked away. He has a visitor - a house-elf - his letters 
are stolen, his owl (Hagrid's gift) is stuck in a cage... He gets a 
warning letter (the importance of a note he got in the end of the 1st 
book) He's rescued by the friends he made during the 1st book. He 
goes to Diagon Alley with different means than 1st time around - and 
gets lost. Hagrid saves him (and if you didn't read 1st book, 
wouldn't this be Deus-ex-machina? But Hagrid's there.) The shops are 
same, and Harry's vault is as rich as in 1st book - can't tell the 
difference. Since Quirrell died in 1st book, they need a new DADA 
teacher: Gilderoy Lockhart. -- end of year: a memory of early Tom 
Riddle was the one responsible; we meet Moaning Myrtle; Dobby is 
freed; GL is hit by his own Memory Charm; Ron's wand is exploded; 
Ginny is rescued from Voldemort's posession; Polyjuice is introduced..

3rd book: We see a character mentioned in the 1st book in the TV-
news - first time around he was lending a flying motor cycle, this 
time he's accused of murder; Harry's worried about being expelled due 
to the warning letter of the year before; end of 3rd book, the 
prophecy of Trelawney & Pettigrew's escape mean that this is a 
cliffhanger even if poor Sirius got away!

beginning 4th: Harry's using his Godfather Sirius to scare Dursleys 
to be nicer. At the end of 4th book, Voldemort has returned - again a 
cliffie, and a bad one.

*********

There are those where the character grows along the Series, and yet 
each novel can be read alone - (like Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth -
series. The main characters are all adults...). But in these, 
character growth and time passed is not *highlighted* with birthdays 
or other yearly celebrations!

Finwitch