Cruelty vs cruel

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 112213

In a message dated 9/6/2004 11:24:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com writes:

> Naama <naama_gat at h...> wrote:
> >Well, ok - I take the "everybody" back, but as regards Harry, 
> >we are specifically shown that he does have cruelty in him. He 
> >imagines torturing Snape with Cruciatus, and he actually does 
> >it to Bella. There is also a description in OoP where Harry 
> >says something to Hermione or Ron, or yells at them, and feels 
> >satisfaction at hurting them. Sorry not to be able to pinpoint 
> >that further. 
> >
> >You know what? In light of this, I think that I would say that 
> >for JKR at least everybody does have cruelness in them (this, 
> >based on my understanding of Harry as Everyboy).
> 
> ----------
> Tonks here:
> 
> I still disagree. Harry is not a cruel person. Yes he may have had 
> thoughts and feelings about hurting someone when he is angry, but 
> that is not the same as being cruel. Remember it is our actions.. 
> our choices .. even when he choices to respond to his feelings of 
> rage, the strongest feelings he has had in his life, he can't even 
> do a proper Cruciatus on Bella. Because he does not have it in him 
> to really hurt another person, even the evil Bella. But Bella can do 
> a Cruciatus because she IS cruel and sadistic. She ENJOYS hurting 
> others.
> 
> Humans are basically kind/good, they are not basically cruel/evil. 
> So it follows that EVERYBODY does not have cruelness in them.
> 
> Tonks_op

I think everybody has the capacity to be cruel, and everybody has
probably said or done something cruel at some point in their lives.
If you have siblings, that alone just about assures that you've been
cruel, since brothers and sisters often deliberately say unkind and
cruel things to each other. (Fortunately they grow out of it as they
get older, most of the time). We all give into our baser instincts
at times, out of anger, or fear, or jealousy. 

Speaking or acting in a cruel manner does not make one a "cruel
person," IMO. When we label someone by a behavioral quality--
a cruel person, a kind person, a funny person, etc--we are
usually referring to a quality that is present in that person's 
everyday behavior, not a quality which that person exhibits 
infrequently. In that sense, Harry is not a cruel person. Nor
is Hermoine. Bella is. Voldemort is. Snape...well, the jury's
out on that one, though he certainly does push that "infrequently"
envelope ;-)

Juli 


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