Voldemort good/bad. Was: Twisted Irony

[Rebecca Hoskins]

No: HPFGUIDX 138538

> Del: 
> > 2) You say that his entering the WW was some kind of chance to
> > change his life. But I don't think Tom saw things that way *at
> > all*. The very concept of changing one's life depends entirely on
> > someone realising that there has been something wrong with the way
> > they've lived their life up to now. As far as Tom was concerned,
> > the things that were wrong in his life were the world he was
> > living in, the people he was forced to live around, but it was
> > definitely *not* himself. He was special, he was better, it's the
> > others that were wrong.

I think that Del's observation is central to the argument of whether 
or not Tom Riddle had any chance of living a normal life when he 
had 'never known love'.

It was not what had happened to Tom that made him the person he was, 
it was the way that he saw what had happened to him, and the way that 
he reacted to it. "he was special" , "better", it was the "others who 
were wrong". He was essentially arrogant and, basically, not-a-nice-
person.

When Harry first sat with Ron on the Hogwart's Express in PS/SS it is 
said that he'd never before had anything to share, or indeed anyone 
to share it with. How heartbreaking is that?! In his living memeory 
he'd never experienced kindness or tenderness or generosity. BUT he 
is a brave, loyal and loving person.

Voldemort may never have been loved (which Harry was for the first 14 
months of his life) but are we to believe that he was never shown any 
kindness, generosity or tenderness as a baby or a child? Was he never 
cuddled as he was fed? Try feeding a tiny baby and not cuddle it - 
it's practically impossible - you'd have to be a dedicated sadist to 
manage that! Were there never any overtures of friendship made to 
him? 

I'm not saying that life in the orphage was easy for Voldemort, but I 
am saying that it's highly unlikely that life for Harry was any 
easier. Harry was certainly mistreated, Tom Riddle may have been. But 
neither were treated with love and yet only one grew up to be a 
psychopathic megalomaniac.

Circumstances can certainly affect a persons' character, but really 
it is our own reaction to a given situation that makes us what we 
are, not what has happened.

If young Tom was a psychopath who had grown up in a loving and stable 
environment, would he have been a nice person? Having 'seen' his 
father I'd say 'probably not', although he may not have been as 
supremely nasty as the Voldemort that we meet in the HP.

Tom was not very nice. Possibly he was gentically not able to be 
nice. I'm not saying that he was born evil, but I do honestly believe 
that he could never have been a nice, generous, 'well-rounded' 
character. Simply because of who he was and not because of what had 
happened to him.

I believe that, had Harry and Tom traded places at birth, Harry would 
still have been 'good', and Tom would still have been 'bad'.

I hope that I have made sense, and that I haven't waffled too much. 
Anyhow, have got to go as the children are now squabbling loudly in 
the living-room.

Rebecca