Harry's Cold Anger (was RE: How should Harry deal with Snape)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 107905

SSSusan:
>>>In fact, and maybe surprisingly, I think that icy hatred might 
work *very well* to get Harry to the point where he can do this. 
Maybe I'm weird, but I think when he's hopping mad, filled with fiery 
indignation and rage, he CAN'T see reason. When a person feels *icy* 
hatred, it's somehow calmer, leaving room for a little rationality to 
enter in. I mean, it's "hotheads" who make rash, angry decisions, 
right?<<<

 
DZEYTOUN:  
>> Oh my goodness, no, no, and absolutely not!  Icy anger is MUCH 
more dangerous than hot anger, and MUCH harder to deal with.  Whereas 
the hotheads make rash decisions, its the people possessed of icy 
hatred who make misguided, malicious decisions that cause a hundred 
times as much hurt and injury.  Look at Snape himself....
 
That last is the most dangerous aspect of icy rage - it endures.  
Whereas hot anger burns itself out relatively quickly, icy hatred 
settles into the core of a person and sinks roots.  It can easily 
persist, unabated, for decades (and even centuries in the case of 
whole groups of people).
 
JKR has said that Harry must "Master his own feelings."  I would 
caution against making easy assumptions about what this means.  Lots 
of people would like to see Harry not exploding.  Very well.  That 
would be a form of mastering his feelings.  But it is quite possible 
to master your feelings in this regard and do nothing whatsoever 
about eliminating your anger.  

In short - and this is not a prediction, just a plausible outcome - 
Harry might well "Master Himself" in book 6 by controlling his 
outbursts, but at the cost of feeding the cold anger inside.  His 
isolation from his friends at the end of OOTP is not a good sign.  By 
the end of Book 6, Harry and Snape might well be able to work 
effectively together in some sense - but only because Harry has 
become MUCH more like Snape.<<


SSSusan:
Yes, I *can* see your point about the danger of this kind of icy 
hatred, Dzeytoun.  You are likely right that the "danger period" with 
hot rage is a shorter one because it tends to burn out quickly. And I 
don't know enough about icy hatred to know whether it allows for 
rational thought & behavior or not.  I think it is something we're 
going to have to wait & see about.  

btw--I don't necessarily want Harry not to explode on occasion.  I'd 
just like to see him do it somewhere *besides* when he's with Snape. 

If you're right that if Harry masters himself by controlling his 
outbursts but becomes only colder, harder, more rage-filled inside, 
more like SNAPE...then I wonder... would that help him in the end if 
he needed to use the AK against Voldy?  Or would that just make 
him "not Harry"?  I wouldn't want that.

Well, it's all interesting, and we've probably gone 'round & 'round 
as far as we can go.  My hunch is still that Harry will find a way, 
eventually, of coming to terms w/ Snape because he'll be so focused 
on the mission at hand.  And I think he'll manage to do it *without* 
turning into another Snape.  BUT we shall see!

Siriusly Snapey Susan