Too "Good" Harry / The resolution of Snape

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 118466



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> 
> Well, you were certainly not alone, enjoying Angry!Harry in OOP. 
> I also felt that it was long overdue.
> But wouldn't you agree that despite being angry, Harry basically 
> stayed the same person?
> 

Certainly.  However, basically the same person is not the same as 
exactly the same person.  I don't see Harry's angry spell as a 
temporary abberation, but as part of his overall character 
development.  Thus, to have him simply return to "calm, gentle Harry" 
would be the same, from an emotional standpoint, as chopping off one 
of his arms then having him show up with both of them.

> What I am trying to say is that his "goodness" is still within him, 
> he just temporarily did not display as much of it as he used to?

As I said above, I do not see Harry's anger as a temporary 
aberration, but a part of his character arc.  That is not to say that 
he will be as angry or angry in the same way in the next book, but I 
don't think it's realistic for him to go back to what he was.

> 
> Harry IS expected to defeat Voldemort. How believable is that? What 
> I am trying to say that him trying to work with Snape is no less 
> believable than fifteen year old expecting single handedly kill 
> Voldy.


Actually, I think it is less believable, considering what we know 
about Harry, his past, and his character arc to this point.  
Consider, would you find it believable for him to work effectively 
with Umbridge?  Yet there are points in OOTP, even after the quill 
incident, where he lumps Umbridge and Snape together in his thoughts.

It's a highly debatable point, I admit.  I just think that I, as a 
reader, would find it too much.  That's why I use the word (a strong 
word, and purely my own opinion) "insipid" for such a development.  
It would just be far too much in the way of sweetness and goodness to 
fit well in the story, and would strongly shake my ability to suspend 
disbelief, much as the issues about Harry and child abuse have 
already shaken that ability.

I acknowledge that we are dealing here with preferences.  In the end, 
I just am not interested in reading such a simplistic (and, purely 
IMO, unbelievable) morality tale as "Good Harry decides to selflessly 
make all the right choices that Voldemort and Snape did not, despite 
being abused by the Dursleys, persecuted by Voldemort, abandoned by 
Dumbledore, and harassed by Snape.  He rises above nastiness and 
pettiness and revenge to show the way to doing what is right even 
when in isn't easy, foregoing retribution for his own suffering to 
better serve the good of wizardkind."  As someone has already said, 
that just smacks too much of the type of thing you see on "family 
TV," not to mention Sunday School, and would leave me badly in need 
of an insulin injection (as well as with seven books to use for 
kindling the next time I build a fire).

Lupinlore