Adults "failing" Harry (was: Themes in OotP)

[dcgmck]

No: HPFGUIDX 119946


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> 
wrote:
> 
[snip] 
Neri:
> I don't think you should admit defeat so fast, SSSusan :-)
 
What Dungrollin forgot to add is that in response to this urgent 
request, DD gets from Harry one of those snake urges, and DD tells us 
later that he did notice it. So DD had a very clear indication that 
he is losing the battle on Harry's mind, and still he hasn't done 
anything about it, and left Harry alone. Regardless of Harry's fault, 
I think this passage is actually the strongest indication of DD's 
failings. This is not about being nice to Harry; this is about 
winning or losing the damn war. And I might add that DD knew that, 
while Harry had no reason to think that this is about something more 
than his own security. 

Neri

dcgmck:

I have to disagree with the argument that DD had a responsibility to 
do more than he did. Between the danger of LV getting any clear read 
on him through Harry's eyes/mind and the matter of HP's right to free 
choice, DD's responsibility was to do precisely as he did: let Harry 
choose his own path and hope desperately that he would choose wisely. 

For all the complaining about lack of guidance towards adulthood, 
there seems to be little acknowledgement that growth comes from 
facing just such choices and living with the consequences. 

Yes, Harry has been allowed to get pretty spoiled in his first five 
years at Hogwarts, feted and permitted license by an overly indulgent 
administration, or so it seems. But if he is to mature into the hero 
promised by the prophecy, then he does need the experience in battle 
that he has gained. It's unfortunate that a by-product is a growing 
sense of entitlement, if indeed that is what has happened, as Snape 
suggests.

As parents, teachers, mentors, don't we sometimes have to stand by 
and watch loved ones indulge in folly, despising the "bad" choices 
despite our best given advice, in order to allow our charges to see 
the value of pruning their own vices to grow into stronger human 
beings?

Nah, watch 'em fall, pick 'em up, dust 'em off, and send 'em back 
into the fray. All that matters is the final score, right?