Harry's Lies

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 125071


Over on the Sugarquill, I saw a couple of comments that I thought
might be worthy of discussion here.  Madam V. Hunter said:

"Harry does not often behave like an honest person, but his dishonesty
is not about telling a certain number of untruths. Harry is brave, but
is he brave enough to tell Mrs. Weasley that he gave Fred and George
the money for their business? He didn't do anything wrong. Fred and
George are his friends. Harry had a great deal of money he didn't want
any part of and Fred and George wanted to make an investment he
believed in. So why is he reluntant to be honest with this woman who
has shown him nothing but warmth. Harry tells us why. He doesn't trust
that her love for him will survive her dissaproval. He saw the way she
treated Hermione, he's watched her disapproval of her children: What
are Fred and I, next door neighbors?  Molly doesn't began to
understand or appreciate how much Sirius means to Harry--anything she
is going to say about Sirius is eventually going to alienate him. So
with Molly, Harry has begun a tradition of being dishonest--not lying
necessarily, but telling her what he thinks she wants to hear because
he believes that is the only way he can keep her love and affection.

Harry's dishonesty here is not shown as an admirable trait. It is very
sad. He's afraid to be honest because he's afraid that this woman will
stop loving him. That's no way for a child or teenager to feel about
their parent figure. A child who is afraid that Mom or Dad will
dissaprove of them to the point of rejection will never tell a parent
the truth. Children so afraid of parent's rejection have done some
very sad things:running away,keeping abuse secret, or even harming
themselves. Harry has done all the above. We're looking for the scars
of the abuse Harry's suffered with Petunia and Vernon. I think this is
it."


In reply to which Grace has Victory wrote:

"I think this is the crucial issue with honesty. The problem is not
whether Harry has a character flaw (because everyone has some, and
this one makes him more human) but whether JKR recognises that this
particular trait is a flaw.

And we don't know. It's something we won't know until the end of the
series. I don't think JKR would ever go to the extreme of promoting
dishonesty. But I do sometimes wonder whether it's a moral blind spot
for the author, and that she hasn't noticed how many casual lies Harry
tells."


So what are we to make of Harry's lies?  How do they fit with his
psychology?  How do they fit with the morality of the Potterverse?


Lupinlore