Harry's glasses: Protection?

[Kethryn]

No: HPFGUIDX 115384


>>charme:
Has anyone else noticed the references to Harry's glasses being "missing"
when he experiences something mental I'd loosely coin "unusual?"  For
example, a recent event was in OoP where Harry awoke from the LV's
possession in the DoM:

"Harry was lying facedown on the floor, his glasses gone..."

I also note where several times Harry awoke after having a dream or other
more "vivid" likewise experience and had to put ON his glasses. Note this
from JKR's 2000 Reader's Digest Article:

"She's thrilled with Stephen Fry's taped version of the books, outraged that
an Italian dust jacket shows Harry minus his glasses. "Don't they understand
that they are the clue to his vulnerability?"

I wonder when Harry got glasses?  Maybe that "missing time" from when he was
taken from GH and deposited on Petunia's doorstep? <<



Kethryn now - 

Speaking from the viewpoint (no pun intended) of someone who is cursed with glasses (actually contacts, thank you modern science!), being without my contacts or glasses leaves me excessively vulnerable.  I literally cannot see without them...not unless whatever I am looking for is less than 3 inches from my nose which makes it a real pain in the butt to find my glasses or contacts when I loose them.  And when I loose my glasses or contacts, I tend to go a bit mental til I find said objects.  That is a part of the curse of myopia, I am afraid.

Of course, since I bear that particular burden, I can sympathize and relate to Harry a lot.  I do tend to wonder, however, why they don't call him "four eyes" ~represses a shudder from the horrid memories that particular phrase conjures up...

Again, speaking as a myopic person, I got my glasses in the third grade (both my parents have myopia as well) so I always took it for granted that Harry would have gotten them at about the same time.  That means he would have been about...uhhh math is so not my strong suit...8 I think.  So 8 to 11, three years to get used to it but lessee for me it's been contacts/glasses for 20 years and I am still not used to it.

Circling back to the original point, though, I do think that his glasses emphasize his vulnerability, especially as he has not yet had his glasses long enough to learn to ignore the debilitating effects, to set aside that particular vulnerability...but it is odd that he is not all that self-conscious of having glasses...I still am and I am an adult, for crying out loud.

Kethryn




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]