How dim is Harry?

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 98423

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:
> Meri wrote:
> > > And as to Harry asking the wrong questions (or the wrong 
> > > questions to the wrong people), as far as he knows these are 
the 
> > > right people: DD, Sirius, Remus, Mr. Weasley, etc. He's not a 
> > > seer, after all. He's a kid.
>  
> Mel: 
> > But he never asks ANY questions! I mean...really! Kneasy's right. 
> > If someone told YOU that you were in a book I BET you'd run out 
> > and find a copy. Especially if you'd just found out your entire 
> > life was something knew nothing about. HE DIDN'T! If you were 
> > escorted to a bank and shown a HEAP OF GOLD COINS and 
> > told they were YOURS, wouldn't you ASK WHERE THEY CAME FROM? 
> > Sorry, your mom and dad left them ISN'T good enough for me.
> > 
> > And all this is before he even MEETS Dumbledore.

> 
> 
> Siriusly Snapey Susan:
> This is so fun to read everyone's thoughts on this. :-)  I sense a 
> fair bit of frustration with our Harry for his failings in this 
> area.  And I include myself in that, btw.  "Ask the QUESTION, 
> Harry!" I've been known to snarl at the book.  I've also been known 
> to offer up the excuse that Harry was told so often from the age of 
> 15 months to 11 years to "Be quiet!" and "Don't ask questions!" 
that 
> it became a way of life for him to just accept and not ask.
> 
> But of course, the REAL ANSWER to all this...and we all know it, it 
> just frustrates some of us more than others...is that JKR can't 
> allow Harry to ask those questions yet because she'd give too much 
> away.
> 
> I *love* Jen's suggestion [#98371] that Harry will "step up to the 
> plate" from here on in and ask loads of questions, demand all kinds 
> of answers.  Hopefully we're near enough to the end of the series 
> that JKR will "allow" that now!

Marianne:

This discussion makes me think of something I read on another list 
I'm on where the poster was expressing one of her many 
dissatisfactions with OoP.  Her two-pronged point was that 1) she 
felt JKR wrote her characters to act in a certain way to preserve the 
secrets of the series until such time as it was appropriate that they 
be revealed. And, 2) eventually, as a reader, those characters and 
their actions may start to be unbelievable.

I think the Harry discussion fits into this quite nicely.  JKR set up 
Harry's situation in such a way that it is believable he would 
hesitate to ask questions.  JKR then continues with that behavior.  
To some readers it's still perfectly understandable, if frustrating, 
that Harry is not more curious.  To others, it's long past the time 
when this lack of curiosity makes any sense. 

So, does Harry start spouting questions left and right in the next 
two books?  Does he grab Dumbledore or Remus by the throat and demand 
to know everything possible about his parents?  Are the events of OoP 
enough to shock him out of his previously passive state? Or does he 
remain essentially the same non-curious Harry, who only becomes 
informed when events toss information into his lap?

Marianne