Chapt. Discussion: Chapter 22 - Harry's Support

[nailteacher]

No: HPFGUIDX 105391

> Del:
> I'm sure Hermione pestered everyone she could get her hands 
> on about how awful Harry must feel all alone at Privet Drive: 
> the Order must have known about Harry's needs. And as you said, 
> it would have taken very little to start fulfilling these needs. 
> Yet they didn't. The only logical explanation I can find is that
> they didn't want to.
>
> Pippin:
> Um yes, and everyone is going to take advice from fifteen year 
> old Hermione?  And what could they do anyway? The adults at 
> Grimmauld Place are in no position to comfort Harry: they're just 
> as depressed, frightened, miserable and traumatized as he is. 
> Look at the state Molly's in. And Sirius. And Arthur, feuding with 
> Percy. Mundungus, skiving off to buy dodgy cauldrons. 
> Dumbledore, deciding that his affection for Harry is a liability.  
> Etc.
> 
> And it appears that until Snape reported, they had no more 
> information than Harry had about what Voldemort was up to, so 
> they *couldn't* have told him anything even if they'd wanted to. 


It seems to me, a new member, that there are more things going on 
here than meet the eye, and looking at them from the point of view of 
a parent might help explain why Harry was left in the dark:

a) Harry, although growing up, is still 15, and is not considered to  
be on an equal par with the "adults", he is still regarded as a child 
to be protected.

b) In the rush to protect our children, we don't always have the time 
(or think of the need) to explain to them why we are doing things, or 
to explain the plan. For example, a parent and child are walking in 
the woods, the parent sees that a snake is too close to the child, 
who does not see it, and the parent yells for the child to stop. At 
this moment, the parent sees that the child's life could be in 
danger, and they expect the child to unquestioningly obey, in effect 
to trust the parent. This could very well have been the perspective 
of the adults at Grimmauld Place, with the exception of Sirius, who 
seems to aguing for Harry's complete adulthood.

c) With these two points in mind, I see the underlying problem 
throughout all of OOP to be communication. DD still sees Harry as a 
child, so he hasn't felt the need to explain himself to Harry, and 
although Harry is capable of making astounding leaps of magical 
maturity, has yet to exhibit the kind of emotional maturity, and 
behaviour choices, that could make DD see Harry as an adult. Impulse 
control, anyone?

I think that there is a distinct possibility that JKR did this on 
purpose, knowing that both adults and children read her books- to 
point out how important trust and communication are in any 
relationship. Harry has never had any reason before to doubt that DD 
had a plan, and has always known more than he was about to divulge, 
but also that DD should have known that Harry would get 
into "trouble" if everything wasn't spelled out to him. It's also 
good to see that DD isn't infallible.


"nailteacher"