Hate Harry / Love Harry

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 100967

Meri wrote :
> In fact one of the qualities that always struck me about Harry was 
> his compassion for others.

Del replies :
Eeck, Compassionate!Harry again :-) !!! Sorry, but Harry never struck
me as particularly compassionate. He is a bit, all right, like tons of
people, but I don't find him exceptionally compassionate. Nope.

Meri wrote :
> When he first meets Dobby he asks him to sit (like, Dobby says, an 
> equal) and by the end of the book has not only made an effort to 
> know more about Dobby but also to help him, something most wizards 
> wouldn't have done.

Del replies :
Would you have done things differently ? I wouldn't. And Hermione
neither : she's even set up an association to "help" the Elves. She
might be wrong, but she has her heart in the right place.
And let's not forget that when it comes to Elves, Harry can't be
compared to other wizards : he didn't grow up learning to dismiss
House-Elves.

Meri wrote :
> At the end of the ressurection scene in GoF, Harry grants 
> Ghost!Cedric's wish to return his body to his parents, something 
> which he does at great cost to himself.

Del replies :
Yep, *that* one really impressed me !!

Meri wrote :
> He never tells Ron or Hermione about Neville's parents after 
> learning about their fate

Del replies :
So what ? He was forbidden to, he had no right to do so.

Meri wrote :
> and at the end of OotP, as he is torn assunder with grief over 
> Sirius' death he feels *pity* for Luna because she is made fun of 
> and because people steal her books and things. He even offers to 
> help her look for them.

Del replies :
Yeah, I loved that scene ! Harry is growing up, discovering that other
people can suffer even while he's suffering himself, and that helping
them can help relief his own pain a little bit. He's growing up all right.

Meri wrote :
> And also to Harry being, to quote Del "one of those kids who can't 
> be bothered by anything that doesn't concern them immediately" Harry 
> gets involved plenty with things that don't concern him immideately, 
> like both Pensieves, the Sorcerer's Stone, helping Hagrid with baby 
> Norbert and Grawp, etc. Though I am sure that Dell would just 
> dismiss that as nosiness.

Del replies :
Er, you have to admit that the Pensieve episodes *were* nosiness,
there's no denying that, is there ?
The Sorcerer's stone was an intensely personal affair : Harry wanted
to prevent Snape and LV from getting the Stone, because he hated them
both.
Helping Hagrid : he did it because Hagrid is his friend, so that was
personal too. In both cases, he knew Hagrid was being dangerous and
reckless, but he didn't turn him in because he's his friend.

Meri wrote :
> Anyway, one of the things that I love about JKR's books is that 
> there is no single saintly perfect character who has no bad 
> qualities. Every character has its good qualities and bad. Just 
> like, last time I checked, real people. That's what makes them so 
> compelling. 

Del replies :
Absolutely !!
And that's why I don't like Harry too much : because I don't like kids
like him in real life. It's not a condemnation or whatever, it's just
a statement of my personal preferences. After all, from what I know, I
wouldn't have liked my husband too much if I'd met him when we were
teenagers :-)

Del