just a couple of thoughts about Harry
ellencs44
ellencs44 at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 9 08:06:58 UTC 2004
No: HPFGUIDX 105230
This is my first post, so please bear with my ignorance. I've been reading a lot of the
more recent posts (golly you guys are prolific) and I've seen a lot about Harry not
getting the sort of support he should from the adults around him. I even saw one
about DD using "Harry as bait." I'm not sure who that was, sorry. How about this one
instead though. Harry as icon. He is a totally iconic character, with the minor
exception of his Divination homework, where he's all teenage boy. Virtually every
action he takes is to help, to save, for good. I work with children of varying ages, and
I've never met a boy that age, who's that good. Also, he's, considering all that's going
on around him, a remarkably passive character. He says very little really, but listens a
lot, not always to good effect, but he listens, and he watches, usually to very good
effect. I also saw a comment about his eyes, which made me think of something else.
When people remark on his resemblance to his father, it's always, 'you look so much
like James.' but then there's always 'but you have your mother's eyes.' Innocent
enough in our world, but in the WW nothing's ever quite that simple, right? And from
the Pensieve scene, we do know that Lily Evans saw things around her quite clearly,
didn't she. She defended Snape, but when he insulted her, she gave it back pretty
well. And when James tried to make Snape pay for that insult, she gave to James
pretty well too. Just something to think about. Ok, back to Harry. Hermione
mentions in OoTP that Harry has a 'saving people thing.' But isn't that exactly what
he's supposed to do. What if our world isn't the only one where babies can be
'created.' What if the prophecy, given, I believe, a year before both Harry and Neville
were born, wasn't about Harry at all, but was about Neville. What if, in order to
protect Neville, Harry was created, by Dumbledore, who knows exactly what will
happen, and lets it, to test the stuff, so to speak, that Harry's made of. Doesn't Harry
himself postulate something similar (different reasons, but similar) in SS? I mean, if
there is such a thing as a time-turner, it stands to reason there must be more than
one, it would be a simple matter for Dumbledore to have one, and go ahead, keeping
an eye on Harry. The only problem is, in order for Harry to accomplish what he must,
he must have the sort of personality that draws people to him, to help him, and he
does. This of course also includes Dumbledore himself. He says so at the end of
OoTP, at least that's the way I read it, that he's started to care for Harry, as a father,
and it's getting in the way of 'his plans.' He realizes that creating Harry will save lives,
but that sacrificing Harry for those plans may be beyond him. We already know it's
not beyond Harry though. I don't think that Harry will survive to the end of book 7.
Close, though. Sorry
Ellen (should I duck now?)
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