Harry : compassion vs saving-people thing

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 114888


(Del mutters to herself : explain yourself clearly, girl, how do you
want people to understand you otherwise ?)

OK, Alla, I'll try again :-)

1. Harry has compassion. Yes he does, like most anyone else. He's
touched by Neville's predicament at St Mungo's, like all the other
kids present that day, and like most readers. He's suffering for
Sirius when Sirius goes hungry, because he was hungry too just a few
months before. Perfectly normal compassion.

BUT

I object to the idea that Harry has more compassion than "average".
IMO he is not *extremely* compassionate. For example, he knows what
it's like not to have any friends at school, but he doesn't mind
inflicting that on Hermione in PoA. He doesn't care that her intent
was noble, he doesn't care that it makes her sad, he doesn't care that
she's over-working herself to death. He doesn't show any compassion.
Even Hagrid reminds him that as a friend he *should* care, but still
he chooses not to. It's understandable, it's normal, but it's a
definite sign that Harry does *not* have an *extreme* amount of
compassion, contrarily to what has been posited on this forum before.

2. Harry helps people in uncommonly heroic ways. He saves many
people's lives at his own life's risk, for example. And this is good.

BUT

I object to the idea that Harry helps people because of extreme
compassion. IMO he does it because he wants to save their lives, not
because he feels their pain and wants to relieve it. He does it out of
heroism, not out of extreme compassion.

Does that help ?

Del