Harry's questions about his parents

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 117401



> My annoyance with Harry over the whole curiosity issue has grown so
> much that it interferes with my willingness to see him as an
> attractive character.  I'm starting to think he's just dumb in a lot
> of ways.
> 
> Magda

I think JKR wants to keep the readers in the dark about Harry's
family so she can spring a few surprises on us. She's mentioned
that there will be revelations about Lily, for instance, and that we
will hear something about Harry's grandparents even though they
don't play a pivotal role. If Harry acted the least bit like a normal kid
and asked constant questions about his parents and grandparents,
then too much would be let out of the bag. 

To explain Harry's lack of curiosity internally (so as to make sense
of the character) I suppose one can use the "He was abused" theory
to let him off the hook. It still doesn't jibe for me. Because of the abuse
he lived with, finding out his parents (and, presumably, grandparents)
were loving and devoted to him would be something you'd think he'd 
embrace, wanting to know everything he could find out about them. 
(After all, parentless children often create such loving parents in their
minds, so imagine what joy it would bring to find out the fantasy was
indeed true). 

I prefer to chalk it down to the plot device it clearly is, and assume 
Harry does think about his family, and has asked questions about
them out of the readers' presence. It's preferable to assuming he's
stupid or in some way insensitive--at least for me--even if it means
conjecturing beyond what's actually written. 

Julie 


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