CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 22 - St. Mungo's Hospital

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 104764



Wendy wrote :
> > I'd like to address the questions: 1. "Do the adults (and Moody in
> > particular) really care about Harry as a person, or do they mostly 
> > see him as a pawn in the fight against Voldemort?"
> >
> > and 2. "To what degree is Harry receiving (or *not* receiving) 
> > support from the adults in his life?"
> > 
> > My answers are 1) they sure don't seem to care about him in this
> > scene; and 2) not a whole heck of a lot.

Lee added :
> Molly's being over-motherly for the most part, Moody doesn't have 
> much empathy, Lupin's trying but I think he feels bound by some 
> orders as well as trying to maintain a "peace-maker" role...all 
> adding up to something vague and not as supportive as Harry really 
> needs.

Del replies, with a very puzzled look on her face :
OK you two, I'm completely at sea here ! Could you tell me what you
think the adults should do to show support to Harry ? It seems to me
that they're doing a good job, but obviously you don't think so, but I
can't for the life of me figure what you think they should be like.
Please enlighten me, would you ?

> Lee wrote :
> Yes, Yes! And there are times when his peers aren't so "in his 
> corner" either.  Harry's sort of running the gauntlet alone in many 
> places in the book.

Del replies :
Uh, you kind of lost me with your idioms, but I'll assume I understood
what you meant :-) (I do that all the time ;-)
So you say Harry is on his own most of the time ? I say : yes of
course, he's a teenager ! Most teenagers *feel* like they are all
alone with their problems, so it doesn't surprise me that Harry feels
the same. However, many teenagers are wrong in thinking that nobody's
there for them, and Harry is wrong too. But most teenagers won't
accept help even when it is offered to them, they will pretend
everything is OK or that they can handle things on their own, and so
Harry does too.

We see how Harry feels and seems all alone to face his problems, but
that's only because the book is about Harry. I'm sure if we saw things
through Ron or Hermione's eyes, we'd see that they too feel and seem
all alone. And Neville too !

Lee wrote:
> I hear ya.  I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I used to 
> do a lot of extra-curricular listening. :-)  And it's amazing how 
> parents can discuss a child like an object or whatever.  I used to be
> annoyed but, at the same time, fascinated at the things they talked 
> about. :)

Del replies :
Yep, because that's the *normal* way to talk about people. Isn't it
what we do on this list too ? We talk about characters we sometimes
care a lot about, but too often it comes accross as a cold analysis of
some bizarre object. It's normal.

Del