Harry : compassion vs saving-people thing

beatnik24601 beatnik24601 at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 5 19:02:32 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 114948


<<massive snip>>

> Del replies :
<<snip>>It is heroism. It's not compassion.
> Harry wants to save lives, he doesn't want to relieve suffering. He
> doesn't suffer people's pain, and then wonder what could help them
> best. He only wants to take them out of the situation they are in,
> which is not necessarily the best thing to do. 
>
> Let's take an hypothetic example. Let's imagine a kid living with 
> his alcoholic mom. She doesn't physically harm him, but she doesn't 
> take good care of him either, and he's suffering emotionally because 
> of that. A hero who would come to this house and see the harsh 
> physical conditions the little boy is living in, would consider it 
> his duty to make sure that this little boy is taken away from his 
> mother. He would send him into foster care, which would only enhance 
> the kid's suffering. But the hero would be satisfied that he's done 
> his duty. On the other hand, a compassionate person would rightly 
> identify the boy's main problem being his lack of emotional relationship 
> with his mother, he would feel the little boy's pain at not being taken 
> care of by his mother. He would also identify the mother's problem, the 
> reason she's an alcoholic. And he would work on improving the boy-mother's
> relationship, on getting them closer to each other, at least
> emotionally. If the circumstances forced him to send the boy into
> foster care, he would recognise the boy's enhanced pain, and he would
> do everything in his power to reduce it, by arranging visiting as
> often as possible for example.


Beatnik:
I agree with Del, that Harry has qualities of heroism, rather 
than 'compassion'; I also think you've hit upon the reason why with 
your hypothetical situation.  OK, so part of the reason why Harry 
lacks understanding or compassion, is because he's an adolescent 
boy, who, strictly speaking, aren't the most sensitive people, but, 
I think the bigger reason why Harry isn't as compassionate as we 
would like, is because he doesn't even really know what compassion 
is.  That is, he's never really been shown compassion.  In the above 
situation, DD kind of made Harry the boy who is put into foster 
care.  Staying with the Dursleys saved his life, but it didn't do 
much for his emotional state.  The Dursleys didn't physically abuse 
Harry (although, making him sleep in a cupboard...), but nobody at 
the Dursleys showed Harry compassion, not for him or anyone else.  
Harry never had a model for compassion, let alone had any given to 
him in his early life, so it's hard to expect him to really have any 
himself.  IMO, it's a miracle Harry's as adjusted as he is, but 
anyway...
  
I think that Harry's heroism is necessary for his life, for his 
fate, but I think it's also his fatal flaw.  If he doesn't learn to 
use his heroism in conjunction with compassion and logic, it will 
lead to more Sirius-like disasters.  Luckily, he is best friends 
with Hermione (logic queen) and Ron, who I think shows compassion 
(although, I'd have to do more reading to come up with some canonical 
evidence).

Beatnik (who is a Ron fan, but is shocked to find that she seems to 
be in the minority)










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