Harry : compassion vs saving-people thing

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 114891


Alla asked :
" How about that question? Does Harry, in your opinion has more 
compassion than any other character in the "Potterverse?" "

Del replies :
Oooh, now, that's a good one !!
Let me see...
I'd say that Lupin probably has more compassion. But he's an adult,
granted. And so are DD and McGonagall...
Among the kids, now... Hermione is slightly unreliable : she can show
tremendous amounts of compassion towards some people at some times
(Neville, for example) and be quite mean towards other people (Rita,
Luna, or even Lavender and her dead bunny...) But still overall, I'd
say she's more compassionate than Harry. But that's just off the top
of my head, I haven't really thought it through. Also Ginny maybe.

Alla wrote, about the Broom Incident in PoA :
"I wil grant you that Harry was supposed to make amends with her much
 earlier than he did, but are telling me that you expected Harry's 
INITIAL reaction to be any different?"

Del replies :
No, not at all. In fact, I said in my previous post that even when
Harry willfully refused to relent, it was still perfectly normal and
understandable, just not compassionate.
Harry was *of course* very angry when Hermione told McGonagall, but he
showed a total lack of compassion in this instance when he kept being
mad at Hermione even after Hermione explained why she did it and after
Hagrid pointed out to him how much Hermione was suffering. It wasn't
just a matter of days, that situation lasted for *weeks*. Weeks of
Hermione suffering miserably and Harry refusing to stop that pain.
Understandable from a 13-year-old boy, but absolutely not compassionate.

Alla wrote :
" As for heroism, we just have to agree to disagree, because I cannot
envision the hero who is not compassionate in my mind."

Del replies :
Really ?? Funny, I have no problem doing that. To me, the hero is just
the one who dares putting things right at great personal risk, but it
doesn't need to involve any compassion. If Snape vanquished LV just
because he wants to proclaim himself as Harry's greatest antagonist, I
would still consider him a hero, even though there wouldn't be the
least bit of nice intentions or feelings in Snape's behaviour.

Del