Harry : compassion vs saving-people thing

[Alex Boyd]

No: HPFGUIDX 114898


I'm on digest, so forgive me if this has already been said:

I do see a different between what-we're-calling-compassion (in the
sense of having an awareness and emphathy for other people's feelings)
and what-we're-calling-heroism (saving people's lives in extreme
situations).  Harry shows more of the latter than he does of the
former.  However, I wonder how realistic we would find it if Harry
*had* been very concerned about Hermione crying in the bathroom in
PS/SS.  He's an *eleven year old boy*.  Even by book five, he's still
pretty clueless about people's feelings--which is also fairly typical
of a teenage boy.  If he was always running around feeling bad for
people, I think he'd come across to me as a bit Mary-Sue-ish.  I don't
think we're supposed to *admire* his preference for saving people in
extreme situations over helping them through mundane difficult times,
but I don't think we're supposed to consider it a major moral failing,
either.   

Alex