"Put yourself in my shoes"(Re: Harry and special abilities )

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 89470


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Doriane" <delwynmarch at y...> 
wrote:
> quoting Hitomi :
> 
> > I think the character Harry has always reminded me most of, in 
his 
> > beauty, heroism, and extreme imperfection, (and perhaps becuase 
we 
> > read him as a child, too) is Ender Wiggin (the Ender series by 
> > Orson Scott Card).  Though who are meant to lead and protect are 
> > the ones who believe they are most undeserving.
> 
> > "I'm not one to despise other people for their sins.  I haven't 
> > found one yet, that I didn't say inside myself, I've done worse 
> > than this" (Ender from Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card 
350).
> > 
> > "In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him 
> > well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love 
> > him.  I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, 
what 
> > they want, what they believe, and not love them the way the love 
> > themselves" 
> > (Ender from Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card 238).
> 
> Del answers :
> 
> I don't think we've seen Harry get there yet. He's very far from 
it 
> still. He can't even figure Draco out, let alone Pettigrew, 
Bellatrix 
> or LV ! As for loving them...

Now me:

True, Harry is far from understanding his enemies and, "as for 
loving them" he is even further at the moment. But what Hitomi says 
is interesting however: understanding someone implies,  in some kind 
of way , identifying with them (you know, the old  "Put yourself in 
my shoes"). I don't have much time to develop a theory about that at 
the moment, but it could be interesting regarding the end of the 
series and the way Harry could manage to defeat Voldemort, if he is 
really the Prophecy Boy. How it will work, I don't know. It's rather 
an intuition I have. But in my opinion, JKR didn't write things such 
as "The Dark Lord will mark him as an equal"(OotP) "
there are 
strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter" (CoS); she didn't 
create the Mirror of Erised, she didn't make Harry say " I'm never 
going over to the Dark Side" (PS/SS) without an intention: putting 
him in Tom Riddle's shoes. She did it already in OotP, making Harry 
have a dream of himself being the Dark Lord. When it happens,(OotP, 
chapter 26), Harry sees his own reflection in a *mirror*, and what 
he sees is Voldemort's face. The way Harry's mind and Voldemort's 
interact can't be just a detail.  I don't think Harry will turn 
evil, at least definitely; I'm not sure either that it will lead 
necessarily to a "love and compassion save the day" ending. But I 
have the feeling that Harry will have to understand Tom/ Voldemort, 
and why not, to force him into understanding him. I also think that, 
in some kind of way, understanding Voldemort will lead him to face 
himself, with his flaws and qualities, and then will have to choose 
what he wants to do with what he sees. In other words, he will have 
to face his own consciousness (yes, I know, I always say that; 
apology for the redundancy). 
 
Del: 
> One last example : when I saw "X-Men the Movie", I immediately was 
> drawn to Wolverine, not Scott. Wolverine is the one who is 
fighting 
> to do good, he's the one who has flaws and has to overcome them to 
> work for the general good. Scott, OTOH, seems to be *born* "good", 
he 
> doesn't seem to have any internal conflict or whatever, he never 
had 
> a choice but to be good, he never had to make a conscious decision 
to 
> become an X-Men. He's flat, he's boring, while Wolverine is 
exciting. 
> I love my Wolverine-Harry, I'd be bored to death with a Scott-
Harry.

I see what you mean; perfect heroes always bothered me too.
Harry is a character I love because he has flaws and qualities, 
because he is "just Harry", an average human brother. While he 
is "just Harry", he doesn't deserve idolatry, he doesn't deserve 
blame; he deserves tolerance. For that reason, I forgive him his 
weaknesses, I celebrate the qualities he shows, because he's facing 
a situation that is everything but normal. But he is there, and he 
does what he can. What would we do if it were *our* situation?  You 
know, the old "Put yourself in my shoes"


Amicalement,

Iris