[HPforGrownups] Voldemort good/bad. Was: Twisted Irony

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 138877

--- Rebecca Hoskins <elbarad at aol.com> wrote:

> 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.


True....but there was another aspect to the 11-year-old Tom Riddle
that no one has commented on.  When Dumbledore first appears in his
room, Tom is immediately suspicious that he's some kind of doctor
who's come to take him to an asylum, he denies that he is crazy and
insists that Dumbledore tell him the truth about who he is.  Later,
he confides that he can understand snakes, that they come up to him
and "tell him things".  

I think that would be a pretty freaky thing for a kid to experience. 
Imagine hearing reptiles talk to you in clear language and then
trying to tell someone else about it.  Small wonder that when he
finds out it's magic, his relief makes almost giddy and he carelessly
tells Dumbledore things he later regrets.  His demeanour when he
tells Dumbledore about parseltongue is quite notable: finally he can
tell someone who WILL understand.

The relief at finding out he was sane and that there was nothing
"wrong" (in the way he'd feared) with him, must have been almost
overwhelming.

Magda


		
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