Angry Harry in HBP?

[javalorum]

No: HPFGUIDX 119828


Thanks everybody for the discussion. That enlightened me quite a bit 
in understanding the characters, or at least, looking at it more from 
other angles.

Well, I guess I should have said in my previous post that I always 
like children's literature. A good children's book is certainly no 
less than adults' in terms of giving insights and wisdom about life, 
only be told in a more playful and subtle way. And, I don't know if 
it's just a children's literature thing, or I should say all good 
books should have, is the positive message. No matter how dark the 
story is, the spirits can't be dark. 

Obviously Harry's behavior is understandable. He did go through a 
lot. I agree that the 5th book HAS to be read together with the 
previous 4. But the problem is it should also be looked at as a stand 
alone book.

Maybe I'm just asking too much here. But I thought, in order for a 
book to be outstanding (at least worthy of Harry Potter book's 
quanlity), and a character to be outstanding (at least worthy of the 
younger Harry), the book has to show Harry's qualities in a 
understandable yet remarkable manner. It's almost like you know this 
awesome kid, and you think, "wow, I can't wait to see what great 
things he's going to do when he gets older, and what a great person 
he's going to become". And he turned out to be just another self-
obsorbed teenager. I know he has way more obstacles than normal 
people, but hey, for one, majority of readers are normal, and young, 
it's tricky to make them understand something that farfetched (though 
I'm sure a fraction of readers will); and secondly, I just wished 
someone like the older version of the young Harry would be able to 
struggle and overcome the obstacles instead of just being self-
obsorbed all the time. It's kind of like LOTR:two towers, when facing 
the impossiblity of survival, the heros still say (and believe, more 
imporantly) "there is hope". Obviously Harry's a lot younger and less 
wise, but I guess it was just my "but he was such a great kid before, 
he's gonna become a real hero" that got me anticipated, and later 
disappointed.

Well, not every great person (or character) has to be great all the 
time. But I guess ootp was just a downturn for the HP saga. Hopefully 
this is a transition period and he'll be a bit different in the 6th 
book. But the reason I was kinda thinking ootp reflecting the 
author's mood was because in this book, everybody and everything, 
especially the grownups, revolve around Harry and that's kind of 
unusual for a children's book. If the whole set up is done in a 
unrealistic way, just for explaining Harry's bad behavior, then 
there's not much chance it'll change in the future. I guess what I'm 
trying to say is, I don't think half of the reasons that got Harry 
angry are logical or understandable at the first place. And that's 
why after finishing the last few chapters of the book all I could say 
was a big "huh?". All of this, the whole plot curve, ended up being 
on Dumbledore's old age and miscalculation? He doesn't understand the 
first thing about teenagers and he calls himself an educator? And of 
course, I don't think this is Dumbledore's fault. He's just written 
that way in ootp.

Anyway, thanks everybody for giving me a great chance to talk about 
Harry Potter. I do enjoy the books and am thankful for their 
existence. :)

Java