CHAPDISC: HBP5, An Excess of Phlegm

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 144225

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Miles" <miles at m...> wrote:
>
> > Marianne:
> > I guess what bothers me about Harry's situation is that no one,
> > other than DD, makes any mention of Sirius' death as a loss for
> > Harry. While Ron, Hermione and Co., might think they're doing what
> > Harry wants by not talking about it, even a clumsy "Gee, we're
> > sorry" would give Harry acknowledgement that they understand he's
> > in pain and that they realize that Sirius' death is a very 
> > personal loss for him. Instead, Harry soldiers on alone, with his
> > grief popping up in his own head in response to whatever is going
> > on around him.
> 
> Miles:
> But this is the way he is. It is one of his flaws, that he is more 
> or less unable to express his emotions properly.  You may say
> that it is a question of age and gender, and surely that's part
> of the problem. But it is more. Harry grew up learning, that he 
> does best without showing any emotion at all. He is not much better 
> in handling his emotions at the end of HBP than he is at the
> beginning of PS/SS.
> And his friends - they see him suffering, but they know him good 
> enough. And they kind of fear the emotional outbursts they know 
> from him - anger, frustration, rage.
> <snip>
> 
> If love is his power, it may be necessary for him to improve in 
> expressing his feelings. I'm not so sure about Rowling, if she will 
> be able to develop the character of Harry in that way.
> 
> Miles
>

In this way, he is a mirror to Snape more than any other character, 
someone who cannot express emotions appropriately and seems to prefer 
to suppress them, except the outbursts of explosive anger.  Thinking 
about the statement of Rowling's that Snape was loved by somebody and 
thinking he might have felt favorable towards that person as a 
result, I wonder if this may have led to his being manipulated by 
Voldemort as Harry was manipulated into the Ministry battle, through 
emotion.  Perhaps part of Snape's anger during Occlumency was that he 
had seen it all happen before and wanted to prevent it from happening 
again.  If the person who cared about him was lost as a result of his 
actions, much as Sirius was lost, I doubt Snape could have easily 
expressed his sorrow or guilt over the loss -- and yet it might have 
been visible for another Legilimens, Dumbledore, to see.

Just wondering if there is a parallel there.

lealess