[HPforGrownups] Re: "Some won't like it".

[Ladi lyndi]

No: HPFGUIDX 129925

Alisha wrote:
 
Actually, I was just starting book 5 again last night when I came 
across the first incident of this feeling of entitlement.  When 
Harry is moping about not getting all the information he'd like 
from his friends (even though, as they have repeatedly explained, 
it would be a security risk for them to tell him anything), he doesn't reason that he has as much right as Ron and Hermione to 
know what's going on.  He thinks he has more.  Again, I don't have 
my book with me, but there's a lot of "wasn't it him who..." 
thinking going on.  /He's/ the one who did this.../he's/ faced 
more than either of them...Voldemort killed /his/ parents.  This 
is the attitude in Harry that I, personally, resent.


Lynn:

I'm curious to know why people feel Harry shouldn't feel entitled to know the information.  After all, it directly affects him.  He's the one Voldemort is after, who Voldemort wants dead.  Yea, he's entitled to the information much more than Ron or Hermione.

Harry should have been told earlier why he had to go to the Dursleys, why Dumbledore wouldn't even look at him, why he was being watched in secret and my personal favorite, why Hermione was brought into the loop before Harry.  I can understand Ron as he was with his Mom and Dad and I think Harry would understand that as well.  But Hermione?  Why Hermione?  More than likely it was for her safety but Harry wouldn't know that, no one is telling him anything.  And, if Hermione is being brought in for her safety, why is he being left hanging out there?  Dementors were sent after him!  It was only a month before that Voldemort tried to murder him!  He doesn't know that being with the Dursleys is the safest place for him.  At this point it must have felt to Harry that he was the only one being kept in the dark, which he was.  On top of that, he saves Duddy Dear's life and gets solitary confinement for it.  That can really do damage to someone who is already dealing with feelings he isn't
 equipped to handle.  I sure wouldn't have been able to get over what Harry went through that quickly with help, never mind in a hostile environment.

The impression I'm getting is that people feel that Harry should have already gotten over it, should be acting as if he hasn't gone through anything, that all the trauma he experienced in GOF should have all gone away and Harry should just accept whatever happens like a good little boy.  Forget it!  As I've said before, Harry is expected to act like an adult but continues to be treated as a child.  He has been through more that most in the wizarding world and faced the danger as a man and yet, feels as if he is being treated as a child who can't handle the truth of the situation, which is what is happening.  And yet, in his view, others who haven't done as much or been through those same fights, are told things while he's kept in the dark.  It doesn't make sense to him and he doesn't understand it.  

Harry's initial outpouring of anger is natural and justified.  Once Harry gets his feelings about the situation out of him, he doesn't ask the questions and accepts that he can't know.  And yet, Sirius calls him on being that good little boy.  Why isn't Harry asking the questions.  What happens?  Harry hears again that it's Dumbledore that doesn't want Harry to know, people he trusts who are keeping the truth from him.

We recently had a situation on our PTA Board where someone on the Nominating Committee was asked about a position and the committee member refused to answer due to confidentiality.  So the 30+ yo person asking the question blew up because she felt her "friend" was being disloyal by not answering the question.  Now, if this adult can feel this way over a PTA position, why shouldn't a teenager who justifiably feels that the information is a matter of life or death for him?

I wonder if all those who resent Harry's attitude have ever gotten angry when their government did something they didn't like or approve of, particularly if it ended up affecting them directly.  For example, the last time government raised taxes to pay for even more programs that aren't working?  How about laws that take away someone's right to privacy?  Wouldn't we feel violated to know someone is secretly spying on us?  And yet, Harry can't feel angry that this is happening to him without being told why?  What about in our jobs?  Those of us who have had major changes in our job situation sprung on us which adversely affect us know how Harry is feeling.  Yea, maybe the bosses did it in the best interests of whatever but it would have been nice to know they were planning to screw up lives so those lives could be planned better.  

What about when a partner in a relationship makes a decision that affects the family without talking it over with the other partner?  Without explaining it to the kids?  Should we just say, oh, that's okay, you know what's best for us.  I don't think so.  And I don't think any intelligent, mature adult would.  So why should Harry?

Inquiring minds and all that.



 

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