Dumbledore on the Dursleys in OotP (was:Re: Old, old problem.)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 151381

lupinlore:
> 
> > Which, of course, brings up a problem that many of us have with
> > OOTP, which is that THAT (i.e. the way Harry's grief and
> > relationship with DD is handled) just is not in any way believable.  
> 
> Given that Harry would have learned not to cry before he learned how
> to read, and that he'd just found out the hard way that his own good
> intentions could lead to hideous results, what were you expecting?
> 
> Amiable Dorsai
>
Carol adds:

The only things that bothered me about this scene were its length (too
much exposition) and the tear at the end (too sappy). And I agree with
other posters that the apology for not making Harry Prefect didn't
ring completely true. It was *good* for Harry to realize that he
didn't need to receive all the honors, that Ron might have something
thathe doesn't have (aside from skill at chess). And it was good for
Ron, Harry's loyal friend and partner in the fight against Voldemort,
to have a shot at responsibility. Harry, for all his importance as the
Chosen One (as DD already knows), is not the only student at Hogwarts,
or the only one worthy of his attention. So I think that making Ron
Prefect was the right decision but that DD gave the wrong explanation,
or at least, an incomplete one (as usual). What I did like, though
(love, really), was DD's calmness in the face of Harry's fury ("By all
means continue demolishing my possessions. I daresay I have too
many.") Too bad that wouldn't work in RL as we don't have recourse to
Reparo to restore our possessions as DD does after Hurricane Harry.

As for DD's references to Sirius Black's faults, I think that DD
needed to help Harry see the truth. White lies about a dead man would
not have helped. ("Kreacher is what wizards have made him" does take
away Kreacher's freedom of choice, however, and his responsibility for
those choices. Dobby has been treated at least as badly yet has chosen
the side of good. But I don't think that DD is blaming Sirius for all
of those choices, only trying to get Harry to pity him a la Gandalf
trying to get Frodo to pity Gollum.) And possibly DD doesn't want
Harry heaping blame on himself (or Snape?) for Black's death. IMO, he
wants Harry to understand that Black made his own decision to come to
the MoM. Of course, the blame *could* have been directed a little more
squarely onto Bellatrix's shoulders, but DD was clearly trying to
shoulder as much of the blame as possible himself. 

Given DD's recognition (and admission) of his own mistakes, Harry's
attitude and behavior throughout the interview, and (as Pippin so
wisely pointed out) DD's understanding that he was LV's next target
and that his days were numbered, I think that DD did a remarkably good
job of telling Harry what Harry needed to know, unpleasant or
otherwise. Dumbledore isnotperfect or omniscient. He had just gone
through an exhausting battle with an evil wizard whose powers nearly
equalled his own and had seen Harry possessed--his greatest fear
realized. Even though he now knows that LV can't possess Harry, that
knowledge reveals to him that he's been on the wrong track for the
entire year. I'd say that, like Harry, DD has "quite enough to be
getting on with" at that point, and it's remarkable that he was in
control at all with a furious and grieving teenager who doesn't want
to hear anything he has to say. (I'm wondering if those of us who
sympathize with him in this scene and are willing to tolerate his
blunders as those of an emotionally (and perhaps physically) exhausted
old man are those who have confronted furious teenagers ourselves and
know how very difficult DD's situation was in every respect.

Harry was about to leave for the summer. DD had to say everything he
could at one time, and he could not be sidetracked by what Harry,
given his mood, might take as false sympathy for the loss of his
godfather. He had to get on with the business at hand, chiefly the
Prophecy and its consequences.

We can gently chide JKR for putting too much exposition in this scene
(surely the summary of Harry's previous confrontations with LV could
have been left out), but I for one don't fault her characterization of
Dumbledore in this scene. I think that considering what he and Harry
had just been through and what he alone deduced that they would be
facing in the coming year, the depiction is spot on. I doubt that any
of us in his place could have done better--and many of us, faced with
CAPSLOCK Harry demolishing our possessions, rebelling against our
authority, and denying our capacity to understand him, would have done
far worse, reacting with anger or making excuses for our own failings.
 DD, for all his faults and failings, does neither. He does what a
wise and honorable adult ought to do--he takes responsibility for his
own mistakes and tries to rectify them as best he can in the limited
time available, at the same time managing the exceedingly difficult
task of getting Harry to listen to him. (I'm sure that anyone on the
list who's never faced an angry teenager can at least recall being one
and perhaps empathize in retrospect with the adult authority figure on
the receiving end of their righteous wrath. [Teenagers are always
"right," at least in their own minds.] And the fact that Harry is not
just any teenager but the future nemesis of Voldemort, as well as
someone that DD loves and admires, multiplies the difficulty of his
task exponentially.) At any rate, I for one can and do empathize with
DD in this scene though I can also empathize with Harry, having been a
teenager myself once upon a time.

Carol, who disliked DD's criticism of the Dursleys in HBP (though they
deserved it) and felt that JKR was bowing to reader criticism of OoP
rather than standing her ground and keeping the characterization of DD
consistent