Dumbledore on the Dursleys in OotP - DD's Perspecitve

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 151368

> bboyminn:
> 
> I've only been following this conversation in a hit-and-miss 
fashion,
> so I will address the general concept more than specific points.
> 
> I think Dumbledore certainly has both the Right and the Duty to 
make
> that entire speech at that particular time. Dumbledore is Harry's
> friend, he is also Headmaster of the school, within limits, he is 
also
> Harry's guardian while Harry is at school, and he is the leader of 
the
> independant moment against Voldemort. In that moment of anger, 
rage,
> doubt, fear, pain, and most certainly guilt, Harry desperately 
needed
> what Dumbledore gave him, and that was Perspective.
> 
> It would have been very easy for Harry to come away from those 
tragic
> events blaming himself for Sirius's death, but Dumbledore softened 
the
> blow, just as the blow was hitting hardest by accepting the bulk of
> the blame for himself. He did not let Harry off the hook, nor did 
he
> let Sirius of the hook, he did not let anyone else off the hook for
> their level of responsibility in the events, but at the same time, 
as
> the leader, he accepted a substantial and fair share of the blame 
for
> himself. 

Magpie:
To me Dumbledore seemed like he was just dealing with events the way 
he, personally, dealt with events.  I did not see him taking the 
lion's share of the blame for himself in the way other people might 
have given it to him, but rather giving himself blame that he was 
okay with.  I just found that almost comical in his speech, the way 
he stepped in to explain exactly what he did wrong and why himself.  
We would all like to do that.  Sirius himself could have given a 
speech of equal perspective that somehow came out differently than 
Dumbledore's.  (And it will always be hard to take him seriously 
after his referring to Harry as showing up at Hogwarts as "a little 
underfed" or whatever he says--not exactly your call to decide that, 
DD).  It's just what it's called in the title of the thread--DD's 
perspective.  He's the character with nobody above him to judge him 
the way he judges everyone else.

But yes, Dumbledore is certainly doing what you're saying, ushering 
Harry's mind the way he needs it to go--and the reader's mind too.  
I think everyone recognizes that this is, in fact, an exposition 
scene telling *us* how to make sense of the events of the preceding 
year.  But I think it's always going to be difficult for some people 
to ignore what it unfortunately also is, which is somebody dealing 
with someone who's just lost a family member by imposing his 
perspective on events when many people are going to instinctually 
say a grieving person should be given space to feel his own feelings 
for a while.  Many people would say they don't want perspective in 
that moment and hate it when people give it to them, especially if 
they don't agree with that perspective ("He's in a better place," 
for instance or "Jesus wanted her to be with him now" have upset 
plenty of grieving people, though the people saying it feel they're 
giving a comforting perspective.)  It's perfectly common for someone 
grieving to irrationally blame other people, and a speech like 
Dumbledore's would not change that outside of a work of fiction, 
imo.  In real life a person might rant and rave at any number of 
things at first, then go into some other idea, then go through a 
phase when he blamed someone else.  It often takes a while to fully 
understand how things could have happened.  

In this story Dumbledore steps in an hour after the incident, Harry 
brings up any number of unprofitable paths to go down plotwise (more 
important than anything about Harry's emotional health none of these 
things are going to be important in the next book), Dumbledore 
knocks them down and a couple of weeks later Harry's decided Sirius 
wants him to go on with life.  The only unhealthy thought Harry 
manages to hang on to is...surprise!  That it's all Snape's fault. 
Now he's primed for HBP.

-m