Harry's rapport with the HBP

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 162852

Carol:
> And all the time, throughout the book, there's the parallel motif of 
> the Half-blood Prince, who improves Potions and invents clever spells 
> and reminds Harry of Snape's lesson on Bezoars, an unknown teenage boy 
> whom Harry sees as a friend, who helps him out in many ways--and turns 
> out to be Snape. But at the end of the book, all Harry sees is Snape 
> as murderer of Dumbledore.

Jen: I believe Harry identifies with that boy and that will be important for
his own compassion, but it says more about who Snape was & what he lost,
imo. 


Sherry now:

I actually want to take this thread in a different direction.  I was very
uncomfortable with Harry's attachment and fascination with the half Blood
Prince, up to the time we discovered the prince's identity.  I was right
there with Hermione, distrusting the Prince and the book very much.  My
reactions had nothing to do with the potions part of it all.  I was
concerned with the way Harry reacted.  The trying out of the jinxes on
unsuspecting people and all that.  I felt like the real Harry was slipping
away, being swallowed up by the Prince.  I didn't think the fascination was
healthy and I didn't see the Prince as a good friend or good influence on
Harry.  The discovery of the identity of the Prince didn't make me think any
better of Snape at all either.  It made me feel that Snape wasn't a very
nice person as a boy, anymore than he is as an adult.  Didn't anyone else
feel uncomfortable with the effects the absorption in the book had on
Harry's development throughout the book HBP?  Even DDM Snape people ... was
anyone else uncomfortable with it all?  I kept wanting to have that book get
eaten alive by the giant squid or something.  The feeling Harry had for the
prince, till he learned his identity, does not make me think any better of
Snape, because the Prince seemed to be pretty unpleasant.  It also helped to
resolve some issues about James for me, because it didn't seem that Snape
was an innocent victim, being bullied and picked on by mean old James.
Looked to me as if James  and Snape gave as good as they got to each other,
and nobody really comes out looking too good.  Except for the fact that they
all grew up, and most of them became heroes, loved and respected in their
world.  

Anyway, it's taken me a long time to be able to put my feelings into words
on this subject, and I'm curious to see what other people's first reactions
were to Harry's reactions to the HBP.

Sherry