[HPforGrownups] Annoyed with Harry (was Re: Lusting After Snape)

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 129372

--- lupinlore <bob.oliver at cox.net> wrote:

> So, to those people who dislike Harry or who are annoyed with him, 
> what is the basis of your judgment?  What particularly about the 
> character do you find objectionable?  And, very importantly, how do
> you see your objections being resolved, or do you think the series 
> will end at a place and with a set of judgments about Harry you
> will find disagreeable?

Harry's Objectionable Points:

1.  He doesn't ask questions about his parents or his family.  Yes, I
know the Dursleys discouraged question-asking but you'll notice he's
managed to ignore just about every other lesson the Dursleys taught
him so why hang on to this?  Personally I think it's a plot device
because we're supposed to learn a lot about James and Lily in Books 6
and 7, and I'll accept that but it does make Harry seem incredibly
incurious about something every other kid would be asking everyone in
sight about.

2.  He doesn't appreciate his friends enough.  At the end of OOTP,
when he visits Ron, Ginny, Hermione in the hospital wing there is not
one moment when he thinks that he could have got these friends killed
because of his stubborn refusal to really listen to Hermione's very
reasonable objections.  Yes, he's grieving but he's lived with and
known these kids for years; they should be at least as important to
him as a distant godfather who he hardly ever spent time with or
talked to.

3.  For a kid who's not selfish or mean-spirited, it's amazing how
clueless he can be about the big picture.  Once he experienced
Umbridge's "lines", he should have hightailed it to McGonagall
immediately and told her about it, realizing that if she did it to
him, she'd do it to everyone else too.  With Dumbledore, Lupin,
Sirius telling him how important occlumency was, he should have gone
to the library and looked up the subject in an encyclopedia or book;
instead he just - did nothing.  Still amazes me.  Snape explained to
him before the first lesson about the danger of Voldemort being
inside his head; from his questions to Snape it's clear Harry
understood and then promptly forgot the answers.  

4.  His lack of support for Ron in GOF and OOTP.  Ron was hurting in
GoF, thinking that Harry had cut him out of things; Harry never tried
to get past Ron's barriers but instead got behind his own protective
shield too, culminating in his yelling at Ron in the Common Room and
throwing something at him, telling him that now he'd have his own
scar too.  Harry deserved a kick for that.  When they did make up, it
was Ron who came around on his own and apologized.  As for OOTP, I
think Harry could have done more for Ron's misery during the fall
term when he was so bad at Quidditch and when he was trying to be a
Prefect.  At the very least Harry could have told the twins to ease
up on the ragging; it's clear that Ron's fear of what the twins will
say is a big part of his worries.  Ron has his best game after the
twins leave Hogwarts - coincidence?  I think not.  But again he did
it largely on his own.

5.  Just do your damn homework already.  Sheesh.

Magda

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com