Dumbledore and Harry - Books 1-4 and Book 5 (Was: A child is, by definition, WRONG)

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 120096

--- huntergreen_3 <patientx3 at aol.com> wrote:

> And what happened after these incidents? Did Dumbledore go to Harry
> at the end of SS/PS and chide him for going after the stone? Did he
> say that the stone was perfectly safe without intervention? No, he 
> *rewarded* him. He *publically* rewarded him and Hermione and Ron 
> with a heck of a lot of points to get them the House Cup. Neville, 
> who was doing the smart thing and trying to stop them, got points
> as 
> well, but not NEARLY as many as the trio. The same thing happens at
> the end of CoS, he's rewarded for not going to an adult, for
> risking 
> his life and trying to save everything himself when he's surrounded
> by adults. Dumbledore is TEACHING him to do things on his own. If
> you 
> want to think of Harry as being always wrong, that's fine, but the 
> adults in his life aren't that smarter if they're encouraging this 
> behavior (goodness, Snape is right!).
> 
> 
> -HunterGreen (Rebecca)

I quite agree.  I found Dumbledore's book 5 speech to Harry to be
almost incredible.  "I tried to protect you"?!?!?!?  Um, since when?
For four books Harry was rewarded for going off on his own but at the
end of Book 5 we're expected to believe that Dumbledore was trying to
shelter him by not telling him anything.  And calmly saying that what
did it matter if many unknown people died as long as Harry was safe. 
Yes, I'm sure Harry needed to hear that, will make him feel so much
better when he gets the time during the summer to reflect on
Dumbledore's words.  

I would have found it more consistent with the encouragement of the
previous books if Dumbledore had said that while he regretted Harry's
personal pain and stress, that this was how things had to be done
because there was a war on and that Harry would be a big part of it. 
The idea that Dumbledore could love Harry so much based on year-end
summings-up of events and occasional meetings during the school year
is not credible, to me.

Magda


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Jazz up your holiday email with celebrity designs. Learn more. 
http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com