"Some won't like it"

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 129828

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Alina <mysticowl at g...> wrote:

Alina: 
> I think right you summarized why I'm one of the people that has a big
> problem with Angry!Harry - he's not kind and loyal anymore! He keeps
> on getting on his friends' cases, lashing out at them and acting like
> they're doing wrong by him. "What do they understand, stupid Ron,
> stupid Hermione, I'm the great Harry, how dare they act like they know
> anything about how hard my life is." Remember that scene where Ginny
> basically calls Harry stupid for forgetting that she's the only person
> he knows who's been possessed by Voldemort? Harry keeps on acting like
> he's the only person who goes through hardships or does anything worth
> while and even the above-mentioned scene didn't wake him up to the
> reality that there are other people out there who know things he
> doens't.

Geoff:
I feel that there are many factors to be taken into account here - as 
several other contributors have pointed out. 

He is a teenager, at a difficult age in the no man's land between 
childhood and adulthood when, as someone else said, he is expected to 
act like an adult and is treated as a child.

He is unique in that he is the only person who has faced up to 
Voldemort (in his various incarnations) five times and lived to tell 
the tale.

He can be forgiven for forgetting Ginny's experience - which was about 
two and a half years previous to the events of Book 5.

He has been deprived of information which involved him. I can remember 
getting very angry when I was a Head of Department in my school when 
decisions were made which affected my teaching programme and my 
departmental facilities and were almost presented to me as a fait 
accompli if a colleague hadn't warned me privately. 

It is very easy for anyone to feel that they are going through it on 
their own and no one else knows or understands - or cares. I am sure 
that many of us have had moments like that. Another personal memory 
which comes back to me was about 25 years ago when my wife went through 
a period of severe depression. Many friends did not know how stressful 
this was and made encouraging (but useless) noises. It was only when I 
found out that a colleague at school had been through the same traumas 
that I was able to talk about it and feel that someone really 
understood.

Several months ago, we discussed this question of Harry's reactions in 
OOTP and, in message 118574, I started a thread entitled "Harry's 
developing behaviour - average or unique?" As part of that opening 
post, I wrote:

"What about him in OOTP? I said earlier that at 11, things are black 
and white. It is as we approach our teens that the grey areas begin to 
creep in. People we have looked up to as marvellous – maybe even 
parents or grandparents – suddenly have occasions when they let us 
down, embarrass us and try to continue directing our lives as they did 
when we were younger. Teens want room to flex their muscles –
physically, behaviourally and socially – and like to spend time pushing 
at the barriers and seeing if they can be prised open a little further. 
And with it can come the tempers and the outbursts. I know about that – 
I had red hair (then!). Both my sons went through spells like this in 
their mid-teens. My elder son was dreadful; we didn't dare take him 
anywhere. He was angry, moody, sullen and anti-social. Today, he is 
happily married and working towards a doctorate in Theology as a mature 
student. My younger son lived on a short fuse for years (as did our 
nerves). Something would displease him and there would be a minor 
volcanic eruption. He would address us in capital letters and then 
stomp off to his room; you could tell by 
The diminishing sounds of doors being slammed hard where he was. He is 
now a highly-paid computer consultant used to making measured decisions 
for companies. OK, so Harry had extra reasons for blowing his top over 
and above the usual pressures of adolescence but much of what he does 
and thinks are in part the normal behaviour and
development of average teenage males.

Will Harry revert to being like he was before his outburst years? No. 
But he will return to being more civilised. He will not return to the 
unquestioning and naïve Harry of 11 but he will be the experienced and 
worldy-wise Harry of 17 or 18 growing into adulthood. This is How it 
works out in the real world and I see this as being the same for the 
Wizarding World. Let's stop trying to label Harry as a freak and 
consider him as a normal teenager for whom the screw has been turned a 
notch or so tighter than normal."