Harry's arrogance (was Evil Snape)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154375

Ceridwen wrote:
> <snip>  Sitting down and thinking about things is something  that
Harry doesn't normally do.  And I think he'll have to do this in book
7 because it's part of growing up, of actually becoming an adult as
opposed to becoming one by arbitrary age only. <snip>
 
Carol responds:
Exactly. Having a seventeenth (or eighteenth or twenty-first) birthday
doesn't make a boy a man (or a girl a woman). Harry has learned some
valuable lessons in the previous books, but he still has more to
learn--and thinking before he acts is just one of those lessons.
another is actually listening to others and considering the
possibility that they might be right. (Being right about Draco doesn't
make him right on all counts.)

Ceridwen wrote:
<snip> 
> And that's another thing that makes me wonder if Harry's story isn't
partially about relying on others.  Tom Riddle didn't and doesn't.  He
uses people, but that isn't the same.  He doesn't trust his people, he
keeps them guessing and at each other's throats about it. Since it is
set up this way, I honestly do believe that Harry will need to break
down and depend on someone besides Ron and Hermione even despite
misgivings. <snip>

Carol responds:
Excellent point. In any case, I don't see how he can avoid working
with others, including adult Order members and/or Snape, in dealing
with the Horcruxes. I'm sure that his self-sufficiency (as opposed to
self-certainty or "arrogance") will come into play at the end of the
book in dealing with Nagini and Voldemort, but Harry has as much
experience in curse-breaking as I do.

Ceridwen wrote:
<snip> I really wasn't pleased that, when Harry did as he had been
told to do for five books, he was so badly received.  But I think he
will have to push forward, keep on trusting the people DD trusted
despite their doubts about him and his mission. <snip>

Carol responds:
Or rather, *learn* to trust them, especially Snape if he's DDM. Harry
doesn't really trust anybody now other than Ron and Hermione (and
Hagrid, within reason).

Are you referring to Harry being told to confide in adults or in
Dumbledore? I don't remember that happening, other than DD's "Is there
anything you want to tell me, Harry?" in CoS, to which Harry, like Tom
Riddle before him, says "No." (Harry sees that parallel himself but
then seems to forget about it. Admittedly in OoP, he can't confide in
Dumbledore because Dumbledore is avoiding him.)

However, if you mean that Dumbledore rebuffed Harry for confiding in
him about Draco and Snape, I also found Dumbledore's response
disconcerting. And yet, if Snape had already reported the entire
interview to him, if indeed Dumbledore did already know and understand
more about that interview than Harry did, including Draco's assignment
to kill him and the three provisions of Snape's Unbreakable Vow, what
else was Dumbledore to say? He couldn't very well confide either of
those things to Harry. And if he planned for Snape to (seemingly)
rejoin the Death Eaters at the end of the year (as he must have known
would happen as the result of the DADA curse), he couldn't tell Harry
that, either. What else could he do? What else can any adult do when a
teenager persists in asking for information that it's not in his best
interests to have?

Dumbledore is uncharacteristically brusque in many scenes in HBP (and
more than a little immodest about his own abilities, which annoys me
more). He's also annoyingly close-mouthed about Snape's role in saving
him from the ring Horcrux and why he trusts Snape and all the rest. It
seems to me that Dumbledore's brusqueness can be justified (or at
least explained) by the knowledge that he's running out of time, and
his reticence can be justified if (and only if) he's right about
Snape. And since I very much doubt that Rowling sees Dumbledore as "a
foolish old man," I think we'll learn that DD had his reasons for
receiving Harry's confidences so "badly," and Harry will learn that he
can indeed trust the people Dumbledore trusted, including Snape.

Carol, wondering how we'll find out what Dumbledore knew