Good moral core (Re: Dirty Harry/Clean Harry)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 117060


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> 
> Kelsey Dangelo wrote:
> " PS. I recently read something I wrote in a journal a few months 
ago
> about the parallels between Voldemort and Harry (their connection 
and
> similarities in situations, their connection to 'Slytherin 
traits'). I
> saw how much Harry is 'ambiguous' in some ways as a hero because he 
is
> so connected to his polar opposite (his nemesis Voldemort). But I
> think that this also comes back to choice and moral cores. Although
> Harry is a lot like Voldemort, he's still got that ultra-good core
> that determines his choices and actions."

Del:
> This to me begs the question : WHY ? Why does Harry have this
> ultra-good core and not LV ? Were they born that way or did they
> acquire their cores while growing-up ?
> 
> I'm not sure there's an answer, I'm just wondering.

Geoff:
I wonder this myself sometimes. After 30 plus years of teaching 
teenagers, I'm sure there seems to be something inherent which angles 
a person towards being good or otherwise. 

I'm not convinced that it's necessarily from parenting. I can recall 
pupils who always seemed to be bad - in temperament and behaviour who 
came from smashing family backgrounds and seems to behave that way 
form sheer perversity. Again, you would get a kid from a poor 
background - dysfunctional or abusive family members or who would be 
disadvantaged from a money point of view and they were pleasant and 
generous.

But again, two people from similarly difficult backgrounds can react 
in totally opposite ways.....

Take Harry as an example. He suddenly discovers that he has plenty of 
money and could easily want to keep it to himself but what happens? 
He buys stuff on the train and....

'"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry who had never had anything to 
share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice 
feeling.....'

(PS The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters" p.76 UK 
edition)

And Tom? 

'!I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old 
self in its pages so that one day, with luck,I would be able to lead 
another in my footsteps and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work..."'

(COS "The Heir of Slytherin" p.230 UK sdition)

'"No, Harry, I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards 
everywhere would one day fear to speak when I had become the greatest 
sorcerer in the world"'

(ibid. p.231)

A lot of "I" there and the great things he wanted to do. Not much 
mention of generosity or wanting to share things with others although 
I suspect he'd not had things to share nor, indeed, anyone to share 
it with in the past.

Geoff
http://www.aspectsofexmoor.com