Harry's Lies

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 125285


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:

> Alla:

<small snip>

> Yes, I am comfortable with Harry's lying too when it is for the 
> noble purpose of saving somebody, but are you specifically 
> comfortable  with Harry telling twins not to tell Molly about him 
> giving them the TWT money?
> 
> Do you agree that Harry is lying because he knows that Molly 
> dissaproves of twins' venture and that by association she 
will "stop 
> loving Harry", if she learns about that?
> 
> Do you think that in this instance Harry's lying could be looked at 
> as the scars of his abusive upbringing showing up - namely his 
> inability to trust that adult can held PERMANENT genuine affection 
> for him even if said adult ( Molly in that instance) can disagree 
> with his actions?


Geoff:
I think that this question of lying is one of those situations where 
it becomes more complex the further you dig into the topic.

I agree that there are occasions where it is imperative to lie 
because you might be saving someone - World War II situations spring 
to mind here.

There are also "white lies" where perhaps you perhaps dilute your 
answer to avoid making things more difficult.

We might even lie as a form of bragging or maintaining our image and 
street cred - suggesting that our prowess in some area is far better 
than it is...

Again, as with Harry, I'm sure we have all had experience of getting 
ourselves into a complete mess over something and have had to lie to 
get ourselves off the hook, knowing that we /are/ lying but doing it 
to save face, or save further trouble or embarrassment or worse. It 
is part of the "human condition" that none of us are perfect. we all 
have little Snape or Draco corners in our lives which we try to keep 
locked away.

So, as a corollary to my last paragraph, no, I wouldn't agree that 
the lying was a necesarily a symptom of abuse when Harry was growing 
up.