Choosing sides

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 118803


Kneasy [with heavy snippage, but still probably not enough]:
> I see disagreement looming; never mind, it'll all add to the fun, 
> I  hate it when too many fans agree with me, it shows I'm slipping.
> 
> Naturally, his being dumped on the Dursleys was not his decision, 
> it was DD's. And since I'm a staunch advocate of Puppetmaster!DD I  
> think it quite possible that planting that cuckoo in that 
> particular nest killed a number of birds with one stone. Two are 
> pretty obvious (the need for blood protection and the wish to 
> prevent him being 'spoiled') but I  contend there's at least one 
> other and it didn't come to fruition for ten years.
> 
> Consider - if Harry had had a happy life among the Muggles, if all 
> were sweetness and light with caring guardians, lots of friends at  
> school, etc, would he have been so keen to jump into  the unknown 
> world of wizards? If, for example, Vernon had been the exact 
> opposite of what he is, if Harry had come to like, even love and 
> respect him, and Vernon had then advised him not to take up the 
> invitation to Hogwarts DD would have been in a pretty pickle. And 
> even if he did make the choice to step into a total unknown, would 
> he have had the necessary self-reliance and resilience to be 
> successful? Probably not IMO.
> 
> Some may point to Hermione in a counter argument; here's a Muggle-
> born who jumped at the chance of  switching  worlds. Little miss 
> bossy boots, Hectoring!Hermione. Just how many friends did she have 
> in the Muggle world? Not many, I'll  bet. 
> 
> Anyway, back to Harry. There's a comment I passed a couple of days 
> ago (and that Carol agreed with to a certain extent) that some, 
> perhaps many choices are made not  through high principles but 
> because of where people you like/dislike already  stand. And as 
> things stood at the start of PS/SS it would be more or less 
> guaranteed that Harry would choose the opposite option to any that 
> Vernon favoured.
> 
> Whatever - with Vernon as unwitting recruiting sergeant it's no 
> surprise that Harry leaps at the chance to get out. And it's not
> long before he makes another choice based on personal antipathy -  
> Draco Malfoy. The encounter in Madam Malkin's  provides the basis 
> for their future inter-actions. Harry decides he doesn't like Draco 
> before he knows anything about purebloods, Slytherin House or it's 
> association with Voldy. It's a purely personal reaction.
> 
> But not satisfied with that, Jo works it a third time - Snape. If 
> that  first Potions lesson had gone differently - what? Being the 
> sort of teacher ole Sevvy is it's unlikely that Harry would ever 
> actually like him, but it probably wouldn't have degenerated into 
> outright hate. A reaction on the personal level once again has long-
> term effects for Harry. And no, I  don't believe Snape hates Harry. 
> Doesn't like him much, that's for sure, probably never will, but I 
> doubt it goes as far as hate. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if 
> sometimes Snape retires to his dungeon and laughs his socks off at 
> how easy it is to jerk Harry's chain. Predictable!Potter.
> 
> Note that Harry never (until the climax of OoP) makes a conscious 
> decision to confront Voldy. Throughout the books he keeps 
> tripping over him unexpectedly and Voldy tries to blow his head off 
> with boring regularity, not to say ineptitude. All Harry's 
> interested in is getting out from under; actually facing down the 
> epitome of evil is the last thing on his mind. He's reacting to 
> Voldy - the killer of his parents  and four-time aspirant for 
> handing Harry the Black Spot - in terms of his own experiences 
> rather than philosophical  principles. It's personal.
> 
> And it will continue to be so, at least with some of his betes 
> noir, I think. Only next time, in HPB it's likely he'll have to 
> think about what he's doing, why he's doing it and what the 
> consequences are likely to be in much wider terms. We all do it 
> eventually. It's called growing up.
> 
> The choices made from now on really will show what he's made of.


SSSusan:
Kneasy knows that I'm one who has disagreed with him in the past 
about choice, and I'm sure I do still see *more* of an element of 
choice within those limited choices than he sees, perhaps because I 
don't believe as much in Puppetmaster!DD [I see more of a 
GrandPlanner!DD than fully Puppetmaster!DD, if that distinction makes 
sense].  Anyway, I find that I do agree with lots that's been said 
here in spite of a somewhat different outlook on DD and choice up to 
this point.  

Especially, I had not thought of the point that DD may have liked the 
notion of the Dursleys precisely because it would more likely put 
Harry into the frame of mind of *wanting* to skeedaddle into the WW.  
Also, I think it's quite right to point out the difference between 
Harry & Hermione's situations that way -- she likely focused equally 
on her studying/learning/achieving no matter which world she was in 
and drove everyone nuts in both.

I also happen to agree strongly with the idea that Harry reacted 
*against* what he'd seen in the Dursleys and what he sensed in 
Draco.  Awhile back Del wondered how it could have been that Harry 
could have made those "good" choices in the first place--how could 
someone whose upbringing had been so traumatic and awful even know to 
reach out towards the good choice?  That's where the thread turned 
all psychology-y [which of course you don't fancy, Kneasy], but it 
appears that we're in the same place in the end in that we think it 
makes sense for Harry to have chosen *against* what he'd seen and 
experienced.  Yes, lots of people end up following the path they've 
been shown and Harry might've become yet another Dursley.  But 
others, of which Harry is one, clearly look outward for other models 
of behavior, for other worldviews beyond the garbage they've been 
shown.  So when Harry met Draco and saw a bit of a Dursley therein, 
he wanted no part of him.  Makes sense to me.

I like the conclusion of this post very much.  Whether we think 
Harry's had some true choice or that it's mostly been foisted upon 
him by DD [or chance], at least at this point it reallly *does* 
appear that choice will be more *fully* choice from here on in.  
Let's hope so!!

Siriusly Snapey Susan, who loves the image of Snape snorting over how 
easy it was to jerk Potter's chain.  Easy to picture.