[HPforGrownups] Re: "A Little Romance"

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 127850

Susanne:
> I'd go along with your interpretation had Harry shown *any*
> hint of having come to these conclusions after the trial.

I think he has shown many hints of doing just that (I honestly can't 
think of any other way to interpret the way he noticed the falsity of 
the DoM statue, for instance), although I don't think it's within his 
narrative role or his character to suddenly become a crusader for 
non-wizarding rights.  As with what happened in Dobby's case, Harry 
very much has a "saving people thing" when he can directly see 
someone's suffering and is in any position to effect immediate, 
demonstratable, positive change in that person's life.  That is what he 
is passionate about, whereas Hermione, by constrast, will always be 
looking at the big picture and trying to make change on a more general 
level.

> But he still gets annoyed with Spew, he still avoids
> supporting Hermione with it, and I haven't seen any signs
> that Harry now feels differently about the issue.

I guess I wouldn't normally think of Harry as ever being actively 
*annoyed* by SPEW (not the way Ron is), although I would certainly 
agree that he ignores and avoids Hermione's brand of "elf liberation" 
if he can, because it's not in his character to tell her that she's 
doing it wrong (mostly because he's probably never given the right way 
much thought himself).

Actually, I think Harry has always had his head in sort of the right 
place when it comes to elf rights, even though he doesn't have 
Hermione's desire or drive to *do* something about them.  See, I've 
always felt that both Harry *and* JKR agree with the principles behind 
SPEW, but disapprove of Hermione's methods and attitude (rightly so, 
IMO).  In the real world, the ideal thing for Harry to do would take a 
personal interest in improving matters and explain to Hermione how her 
actions are *hurting* her cause.

In the fictional Potterverse, however, there are a number of narrative 
reasons why this SHOULDN'T happen.  First of all, it's *Hermione's* 
narrative function to symbolize the maturation of a social conscience 
amongst the Trio (and, by extension, their generation), not Harry's.  
Thus, while it is necessary for her to make mistakes, it is also 
necessary for the resolution of the mistakes and the final conclusion 
on the matter to come FROM her.  Letting Harry suddenly have all the 
answers would be undercutting Hermione's journey toward developing a 
responsible, well-informed social conscience, IMO.

> I agree that JKR wanted to point out these WW social
> issues to us the readers (the before/after the trail contrast is quite
> clear), but I saw Harry grinning at the
> thought of Hermione's reaction to the statue of the house
> elf. Nothing about thinkly fondly of her, or realizing how right
> she was, but more thinking how she would be going off on one
> of her spew-inspired rants.

I actually think it was a "fond" sort of grin, although it probably did 
have something to do about her going off on SPEW.  Here's an analogy:  
Harry sees an article about something Quidditch related (perhaps about 
the Chudley Cannons or Vicktor Krum, pre-GoF), and smiles to think of 
Ron's humorously enthusiastic response to it.  I don't think this is an 
instance of Harry *mocking* or disrespecting Ron's interests in any 
way, he has merely seen something that reminds him of his friend and 
his smiling at the imagined response.

> Harry, and a few (or hopefully many others) will probably
> get to the point of realizing the problems touched upon in
> future books, but I don't believe Harry has really
> understood yet.

As I mentioned before, I think he already *instinctively* understands 
much better than Hermione in some ways, perhaps because he actually has 
a friendship with a liberated elf.  Hermione, unfortunately, often 
shows elves the same kind of condescension that she's trying to fight.

> A glimpse, yes, but nothing too profound at this point.

I'll agree with that, certainly.  ^_^  Again, it's Hermione's job to be 
profound about this issue.  In the narrative sense, Harry has "bigger 
fish to fry".

Laura