[HPforGrownups] Re: JKR's dealing with emotions - Talking about Death

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 147507

On 2 Feb 2006 at 17:33, Kemper wrote:

> But a question to those who've expressed similar losses at similar ages:  isn't
> Harry supposed to have this great depth of Love, more so than any other
> Witch or Wizard and presumably much more then any of us Muggles and Squibs.
> I don't mean to discount anyone's loss.  I, too, have suffered.  But Harry
> is not one of us, he's not an Everyman (Ron is), Harry is a Hero.  With so
> much Love, you'd think Harry would experience loss to a 
> heightened degree.

Shaun:

Seriously, I don't see any evidence in the novels that Harry has 
a great 'depth of love' in the sense that he himself is somehow 
unusually capable of love.

"'"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort 
cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as 
powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a 
scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even 
though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some 
protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of 
hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, 
could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a 
person marked by something so good.'"

(PS, )

Note - "that love as powerful as your mother's for you."

"to have been loved so deeply." 

What is special in Harry Potter isn't his capacity for love, 
isn't his expression of love, isn't his feelings of love.

What is special in Harry Potter isn't the fact that he loves. It 
is the fact that he was loved - and that's very different.

There's no reason to suppose that I can see that Harry loves at 
all unusually deeply or intensely, or anything like that. I think 
he has about the same capacity for love as any normal person.

I know you say you don't mean to discount anyone's loss - and I 
believe that - but I would like to say that as one of those 
people who experienced loss at a similar age to Harry, that I 
loved my father with an incredible intensity.

http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/fifteenyears.html

is a tribute I wrote to him about two months ago on the fifteenth 
anniversary of his death and I submit it as evidence of my love. 
Not that love is something you should have to provide evidence 
for, but as I have it available, I mention it.

I loved my father intensely - he was my hero. He was everything 
to me. And he gave his life for me.

The way I reacted to his death, not falling apart, not showing 
much emotion, not showing much signs of my grief, and indeed 
suppressing it in some ways, was in no way a sign that my love 
for him was less.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia