[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry : compassion vs saving-people thing

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 115107

> Lady Macbeth replies:
> 
> He is still running primarily off of his learned understanding of
> "right" and "wrong" - that's why he tends to see people two-
> dimensionally as well. McGonagall's all good, Snape's all bad, 
> Sirius is all awesome, Hermione's all bookish, etc - no matter what

> any of them do to suggest otherwise.  When
> Sirius lashes out at Kreacher, it's obviously Kreacher's fault. 
> When Snape does something seemingly nice or responsible, it's 
> because Dumbledore told
> him to, when McGonagall's snippy with someone, it's that someone's
> fault.
> 
> I expect that over the course of the next couple of books, Harry's
> 2-D world is going to be shaken very violently, and he's going to 
> be forced to do this "catch-up" in a very short amount of time.  
> That's why it's important that instead of defending Harry's 
> behavior it simply be UNDERSTOOD - because I think fans are going 
> to be in for a radical change in him before all is said
> and done.  The "angry teenager" of OotP is just the tip of the
> iceberg.


Excellent post, Lady Macbeth.  And very good points.  

One of the things that Harry has to learn in the next couple of books
is "empathy" - what it feels like to walk in someone else's shoes and
experience their feelings.  Even people he doesn't like.

Perhaps this is a result of the one way the Dursleys did spoil Harry
- they never made any secret of their feelings about him and
therefore he's never really learned about hypocrisy or hiding your
true feelings to get what you want.  People who are nice to him must
be nice people - it's still a little chilling how quick Harry is to
hand over the Marauders' Map to Fake!Moody in GOF after F!M implies
nasty things about Snape.  Relative Stranger + Anti-Snape feelings =
One Heck of a Great Guy.  

You would think that Harry would be asking himself questions about
people as he gets older - but there's no indication that he
understands Ron's attitude about the family poverty (he thinks it's a
matter of sharing his bank account with them when I think it's clear
that what Ron is practically crying for is some indication that he's
something more than just the last Weasley boy who never gets anything
that's actually his without having gone through several other hands
first.)  And Ron's his bestest mate.  

I hope that Harry does start being more curious about the people
around him.  It might save his own life soon.

Magda


		
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