Harry : compassion vs saving-people thing

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 114935


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at y...> 
wrote:
> And...
> I have one more thought to explore, which that last paragraph of 
yours is suggesting to me. It has to do with the difference in the 
way he feels during a regular day and how he feels when someone's in 
peril.  Day to day, as you say, Harry seems to get along pretty 
normally, with flashes of empathy and moments of callousness.  But 
perhaps, because of Harry's nature and history, when someone's in 
peril, Harry has an overload of identification with the victim(s) 
which shows up, maybe not as compassion, but as an urgent need to 
MAKE IT STOP!  Sort of a transferred defensive reaction to help 
Harry *not* have to suffer with the victims?  Which was just fine in 
PS/SS and CoS, but which made it difficult for him to listen to 
Hermione's voice of reason in OoP.
> 
> If that's how it is, I give Harry credit for listening to Hermione 
as much as he did,

Tonks here:

This reminds me of a bit of advise I once hear directed toward those 
in the helping professions. *always ask yourself "whose need is it*. 
Sometime people feel for the other person because they are 
projecting their own pain upon them. And it is easier, less painful 
to help the other than to look at ones own situation and deal with 
it. In a sense Harry's "saving people thing could be a *saving Harry 
thing*.  But I think that Harry is a compassionate person. There are 
times when he shows that. When a person is treated badly and they 
are a good, gentle person, this mistreatment develops in them a deep 
compassion for others.  But so much for the psycho... stuff.  I 
think the real reason that JKR puts that bit of information in 
Herione's mouth is that she is setting us up for Harry to be THE 
*saving people person*.

Tonks_op