[HPforGrownups] Re: Special treatment - yes or no

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 145994

hickengruendler:

> But by McGonagall, who has her own personal interests. As already
> said, if it were Neville or Seamus she had seen flying, they would
> have gotten the place in the team. And if it were Snape and he had
> seen Goyle flying like this, Snape would have made sure Goyle got in
> the team and a good broomstick. Therefore I don't see this as any
> special example of special treatment for Harry or even Gryffindor
> house in general. And if Harry got some special treatment, than it
> wasn't because he's the "Boy who lived", but because he had shown
> some extraordinary talent.

Magpie:
I'm not disagreeing about why Harry is getting his broom etc., but the thing 
is, *it doesn't matter why* he's getting special treatment. All special 
treatment has some reason behind it.  Why does Harry get his broom?  Because 
he's special--he is different from other first years.  (A_svirn even pointed 
out there have been other talented players, but Harry's the first one whose 
talent bends the rules and possibly ever produced a broom.)  Kids--and 
adults too--resent special treatment all the time in circumstances that 
might seem like they shouldn't--imagine how they are when it's not one of 
those situations.  In Harry's case of course any kid would dream of being 
him. That's the major reasons people read the books--they are fantasies. 
Even when his life is bad it's significant and important.

Whether Harry's special for being talented (which he is) or TBWL doesn't 
really matter.  McGonagall needs a Seeker, she sees that Harry will be good 
at it, she wants him on her team so she can win and she wants him to have a 
good broom to ride.  It's not like McGonagall is just doing this because she 
wants to shower Harry with glory and gifts because he's TBWL, agreed.  Just 
as people didn't promote the Olsen twins for 20 years without getting a lot 
of personal benefits either.  That doesn't make the life of an Olsen twin 
life any less exceptional and dreamlike to an average 20 year old.

Harry's experience is very different than other boys in his class--he's a 
star. He's not only the Boy Who Lived BUT he also happens to be a Quidditch 
prodigy who's an incredible player without ever having to practice or be 
taught--and it's not his only talent, either--and one who's allowed to play 
in first year and own his own broom.

That actually reminds me--I'm not sure where I'm going with this--but I 
remember years ago reading about how PBS did a series for kids about child 
prodigies. They wanted the show to be inspiring when kids saw these other 
kids their own age doing these amazing things.  In fact, it had *the exact 
opposite effect.*  The kids weren't inspired, they were discouraged and even 
less enthusiastic about picking up the violin or the math book because they 
felt they were never going to be as good as a prodigy because they weren't 
touched by the gods the way the prodigy was.  In Harry's case things like 
talent and happenstance and connection to Voldemort and heredity and the 
choices and plans of others often also get bound up with the suggestion of a 
general superiority of character.  (Even the prophecy isn't as arbitrary as 
it first appears--Neville couldn't have handled being TBWL the way Harry 
has.)

kchuplis:
I just find that if a book I'm reading disturbs me enough to drop it, I'm 
probably not going to be following it very long. We definitely approach 
things differently.

Magpie:
Probably.  Or I may just be klutzier.

kchuplis:

It would have been an eyeroller if Harry had had a single clue at the moment 
it happened what it meant. He was, however, completely oblivious.

Magpie:
That was part of the reason for the eye-rolling for me.  I did say "for me."

To use the cliche, when it comes to my choosing not to get into the details, 
it's not you, it's me.  When it comes to discussing some things about Ginny 
or the way she is written, I just turn into Ginny in all the ways I don't 
like her.  I get very impatient very quickly and I begin to want to deal 
with the discussion just the way Ginny would (think Ginny and Hermione after 
Sectumsempra, or Zacharias Smith on the Hogwarts Express, if I could do 
magic).

Valky:
LOL! You and me both, then <g> because I see your argument building off the 
assumption that the Slytherins *deserved* that win in PS/SS
which would in turn assume that they worked hard to legally and rightfully 
gain every single point awarded them and we know unequivocally that they 
didn't.

Magpie:
Err...no it really doesn't build off that assumption.  It just means that 
when the contest ended Slytherin was in the lead for whatever reason.  It 
never entered my mind that they had to have gotten all their points in 
exceptionally admirable ways.  I would think most of their points were 
gotten in fairly ordinary ways. If losing points over Norbert is the issue, 
then that's solved by the giving of the points, period.  Slytherin didn't 
take the points away from the Trio for Norbert, McGonagall did when they get 
themselves caught by Filch (while gloating about Draco's own detention).

Basically you seem to just be saying exactly what Betsy is seeing, that 
Gryffindor needs to be given the cup in this way to make it clear that the 
people in their house are superior to the ones in Slytherin.  The Gryffindor 
points should be worth more.

-m