[HPforGrownups] Re: 2 Maddening Questions

[Cristina Rebelo Ângelo]

No: HPFGUIDX 91224

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "theultimatesen" 
<senderellabrat at a...> wrote:
> 
> #2- WHY WHY WHY didn't Harry say anything about that digusting, 
> revolting, macabre quill of Professor Toads and the detentions? Why 
> didn't he go see McGonagall or ANYONE? I understand the fact that 
he 
> wanted to tough it out and not give Professor Toad the satisfaction 
> of knowing he told someone, but COME ON. There's certain times when 
> you've got to draw the line instead of being a stubborn prat! 
> 
> If anyone has any input on this, PLEASE tell me! 
> Insane Sen

Siriusly Snapey Susan:
I think Harry has a habit of both this kind of NOT telling AND not 
asking the questions we want him to ask.  I imagine it has a lot to 
do w/ old habits dying hard.  "Don't ask questions!" was a constant 
refrain in the Dursley household, was it not?  Harry was to stay 
quiet, in his room, pretending not to exist.  Harry surely learned 
during those years to rely on himself first & foremost, and even 
though he has Ron, Hermione, DD, McGonagall, Neville, Ginny--any 
number of people--who WANT to help him now, I think his first 
tendency is still to go it alone.  "*I* have to fix this", "*I* have 
to handle this", "This is *MY* problem", etc.  

Harry's unwillingness/inability to report things, to ask questions, 
and his tendency to lose his temper JUST when we wanted to hear what 
was coming next are things that drive us readers batty...AND pave the 
way for JKR to keep some of her best secrets for a little while 
longer. :-)

[Cristina Angelo] (thirdly) 
 
Also, remember when Harry didn't want to tell Sirius or Dumbledore about his
scar hurting, and one time it was Ron who pushed him into it. I took that as
from a kid who feels he's being a bother, that others will find him
ridiculous - I think that's also an heritage from the Dursleys, and
something he began to overcome in OotP. From someone who is nothing and
shouldn't interrupt others (their talking, their train of thought, their
effort of inhaling and exhaling...) to someone who doesn't really considers
himself as the-boy-who-lived but as someone who actually has some rights. He
began to feel like this when the attention he had had for four years seemed
to stop, in OotP, and he realised, not only that he might be someone
important even if he didn't want it (especially as he could die), but as
someone who had rights. I see OotP as Harry growing, sometimes recoiling to
his past learnings (and the "This is *my* problem" coming after the "Don't
be a nuisance"), sometimes rebelling against that (when he "bothered"
everybody, and got Hogwarts in a turmoil just so he could ask Sirius about
James). I don't think it has anything to do with being a stubborn prat. He's
being a prat when he tells, when he makes himself heard. I think the quill
episode is one where he's being the submissive boy-in-closet who gets beaten
and shuts his mouth.





 
 
 
***
Cristina Rebelo Ângelo
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