Harry's emotions his strength or his weakness? WAS: Re: Dumbledore's pleading

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 141560

Alla:
> I absolutely believe that "feelings" are what matters the most
> in "Potterverse", not cold intellect. <snip> Now, could you tell
> me which character tells Harry that he should shut down his
> emotions, except Snape of course( and I would not say that he
> understands Harry well at all. :-))?
<snip>
> To sum up - NO, I don't believe that Harry should follow Snape 
> advice at the Tower at all, and this is one of the predictions I 
> feel quite confident to make for book 7. Harry will NOT learn how
> to close his mind or anything like that. Now, preparing to eat a
> nice tasty crow. :-)

Jen: I'm not sure JKR is saying feelings matter more than anything 
else in Potterverse. She mentioned being a little reserved herself, 
and her author alter-ego Dumbledore is remarkably reserved as well 
(with good reason, I think, but still presented as emotionally 
contained).

Dumbledore approved of Harry moving on from Sirius' death and not 
continuing to agonzie over it, he praised him instead for being like 
his parents and Sirius. Then when Harry finds out about Snape-as-
Eavesdropper and attempted to master his strong emtotions so he 
could go on the cave expedition, Dumbledore didn't try to intervene 
and tell him to let it all hang out. ;) Dumbledore doesn't *tell* 
Harry to control his feelings, but rewards him when he's able to do 
so. A different approach from Snape, lol.


Carol:
> As for pain being part of being human, that's absolutely true. But
> it's not the key to defeating Voldemort. It's only a legitimate
> reaction to Sirius Black's death, which is the context in which the
> remark was made.

Jen: And Harry wasn't out of control with his emotions when he felt 
love and painful loss for Sirius; the heartfelt feeling which 
expelled Voldemort was a very specific, momentary feeling, not an on-
going, rampant feeling like the hatred Harry feels for Snape. 
Dumbledore doesn't stop Harry from destroying his office in OOTP 
because he knows Harry has a very good reason to feel angry about 
Sirius, but he also doesn't support him when he starts to blame 
Snape or allow his hatred to take over the conversation. Another 
instance of rewarding the emotion he feels is important to Harry's 
well-being and ignoring/gently reprimanding the out-of-control 
emotions which could hurt Harry.(Dumbledore must have been a 
behavioral psychologist in a different life <g>).

Dumbledore told Harry his heart saved him from Voldemort's 
possession, yet he offered Harry a slightly different explanation 
for why Occlumency wasn't necessary in HBP (besides Harry not being 
skilled at it). He told Harry: "Lord Voldemort has finally realized 
the dangerous access to his thoughts and feelings you have been 
enjoying." (chap. 4). That's a very rational explanation, not an 
emotional one. 

Jen, reading ZC's post while writing this and can only say "I agree" 
about the Occlumency lessons.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141555