[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry as last DADA teacher?

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 100374

On 8 Jun 2004 at 1:14, dzeytoun wrote:

> 
> > Geoff:
> > Because it's a male thing. We often don't complain because (1) we 
> > don't want to be called wimps (2) we don't want to let the ****** 
> > doing this think they're getting to us (3) we're going to grit our 
> > teeth and get through this.
> > 
> > I may be of somewhat more advanced years than Harry but I can see 
> > precisely where he's coming from.
> 
> Uhm, speak for yourself.  This is a problem SOME guys have, not all 
> of us.  I also am of somewhat more advanced years than Harry, and I 
> think he was an idiot.
> 
> If any teacher had ever tried something like that with me I would 
> have screamed all the way to the courtroom.

I've seen Geoff's response - and frankly, my attitudes is pretty 
similar to his on this - what he describes is pretty much how I'd 
have been likely to act as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if 
Harry did it.

And I think with Harry, you've also got a couple of other issues 
going on.

Thje first is that Harry has had to deal with rotten behaviour all 
his life from the Dursleys - whether it's technically abuse or not, 
he's been ill treated and he was pretty much powerless for the 
until he went to Hogwarts to deal with it. I can relate to that 
personally because of my things in my own childhood - and in such 
cases, it's quite natural to come to fight it in the only way you 
have - and that is often pretty much what Geoff described - don't 
let them see they've hurt you. When you haven't got any other power 
- well that can seem like all you can do.

The second - and again, I can relate to this very much from my own 
life because when I was 13 I wound up in a school which my feelings 
towards are very much like Harry's seem to be towards Hogwarts - 
is... now, how do I put this.

Hogwarts is Harry's sanctuary. It's his home. It's the place he has 
been able to escape his awful life with the Dursley's it's the 
place where he is happy. This can engender an *incredible* loyalty 
in a child. Hogwarts is Harry's idea of heaven on earth, to a great 
extent.

When you're in that situation - when so much of your happiness is 
tied up in your belief in a *place* - well, you don't want to admit 
there's something seriously wrong with it, and you're prepared to 
forgive an awful lot. You're also prepared to accept the bad with 
the good. I wonder if Harry subconsciously feels that 'Hogwarts has 
been a great place up til now, and I've taken advantage of that. 
It's be really ungrateful of me to refuse to accept the dark side 
of this as well.'

There's other issues involved as well - he may also be very tied up 
because - well, he does rely on people like Dumbledore and 
McGonnagal, on many levels. He hasn't the sceurity of a good home 
life - these people are his security in many ways. And when you're 
in that situation, you may not want to push things. He may be 
worried, consciously or unconsciously, that if he (for example) 
tells McGonnagal, what is going on - she won't do anything. That 
would be pretty devastating - and rather than risk the chance that 
she wouldn't do anything, he may very well be prepared to not put 
it to the test.

He may also understand on some level that putting McGonnagal into 
conflict with Umbridge wouldn't really help matters. He could 
believe she'd take a stand - but also feel she'd lose - and that 
would harm her, without helping him. In such a situation, it makes 
no sense to tell.

Is Harry an idiot for not telling McGonnagal? In my opinion, yes, 
he is.

But that's not unrealistic at all. I put up with abuse at school 
that left me clinically depressed for a decade, on a couple of 
occasions very close to suicide or even homicide, and attacks that 
left me requiring hospitalisation. And if I had asked for help - I 
had plenty of it available to me - my parents would have done 
anything - and I mean that, when they found out what was going on 
on occasion, they did *everything* they could - in fact, it's not 
going too far to say that my father died because of his efforts to 
help me. I had teachers who would have moved mountains for me as 
well. Help would have been available if I'd only *asked*. I was an 
idiot. Kids *are* sometimes.

Yes, I think Harry is an idiot for not asking for help - but I know 
plenty of kids and I was one of them who have been just as idiotic. 
It's not uncommon, unfortunately.

And I had reasons - the ideas I've described above that might 
effect Harry - well, those are based on my own experiences - they 
weren't *good* reasons - I can see that as an adult - but they 
seemed like good reasons to me until I was nearly 16 years old. It 
took my father's death to make me see sense.

Maybe Harry will get the idea from the loss of Sirius... I'd love 
to think so personally.




Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia