Dirty Harry / 'Good' Harry (WAS: The intended murder of Pettigrew and

[kelsey_dangelo]

No: HPFGUIDX 116652


Kelsey:
> But I think I might see a hole in that bucket of water. 
>
> Harry's an angry teenager, but he's a goody-two-shoes. <snip>

Geoff:
>> Sorry, but I don't see him as a goody-two-shoes.
There are many people who basically lean towards being good. I 
suppose I do because I had it firmly drummed into me as a kid 
that "You don't do that sort of thing..." and again I suppose I want 
to get on well with people; it's a sort of instinctive thing with 
me now and I feel it be so with Harry.
But.
That does not make him perfect. As you said, his motivation isn't 
exactly saintly. He wants to be good, at least most of the time, but 
doesn't always make it. That's what I like about him so much. He 
messes up, he falls over his own feet, he loses his temper, he lies 
and don't we all? <<
<snip>


Kelsey: 
Let me clarify my definition of a goody-two-shoes or 'good' in 
general (which may be different from someone else’s 
definition). 'Good' means that he’s pure of heart, on the side of 
good (i.e. opposed to evil), has the best of intentions for the 
greater good, or he’s for good morals and what’s right. That’s really 
vague because I don’t want to get into a debate over Kantian vs. 
Utilitarian definitions of what is considered morally good.

I’m talking about Harry’s internal motivation, his inner workings, 
the self-contained Harry, and what he does and how he reacts to it.

In that respect, I think Harry is a goody-two-shoes. Unlike most self-
centered, greedy, power-hungry adolescents, he’s always thinking 
about what’s the right thing to do. Yes, he wants to prove himself, 
but he puts that aside for the sake of “doing the right thing” (i.e. 
not entering the Triwizard Contest because it would be lying or 
against the rules and not for a good cause).

I guess the reason that I use the term 'goody two shoes' is that 
while reading, I often am surprised how much other people accuse 
Harry of 'strutting' or 'wanting attention' because he seems so far 
removed from all that (getting his narrative/point-of-view we see 
that it never enters his mind). 

Obviously, Harry makes mistakes (a lot of them, particularly walking 
right into the clutches of the Dark Side). He’s not perfect (in that 
he makes mistakes), he’s not even all that intelligent, but his 
intentions are always good. Even when he gets angry, its because he’s 
frustrated that he can’t do anything for the sake of good (i.e. 
convince people of the truth).

I like Harry because he is a real person with real faults, and yet 
he’s so dedicated and motivated to “good”. It shows that even people 
that don’t have great ability can do great things and still be 
morally sound in the face of great evil, and therefore destroy it.

And I guess that’s why I can’t see Harry lying, cheating, stealing, 
using unforgivable curses, putting bullets in the head of evildoers 
and sleeping soundly.

Kelsey, who is reminded of Roger Ebert’s essay on Schindler’s List.