[HPforGrownups] CHAP DISC: HBP 22, After the Burial

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 159464

> Allie wrote:
>
> CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter
> 22, After the Burial
>
>... Harry and Slughorn are the only ones awake. Harry
> launches "remorselessly" into the story of his parents' murder,
> describing in detail for Slughorn how Voldemort murdered James, then
> stepped over his body to get to Lily and Harry. His storytelling is
> dramatic and effective. Slughorn begs him to stop. Harry pretends
> he forgot how much Slughorn liked Lily. He pours on the guilt,
> finally saying, "I am the Chosen One. I have to kill him. I need
> that memory."
> ...
>
> Discussion Questions: ...
>
>
> 12. What was your reaction to the "remorseless" way Harry described
> his parents' murder in this scene? Do you think he only did that
> because he had to, or is he less sensitive about the subject now?
> Is this a different side to Harry than what we usually see? What
> does this tell us about Harry's growth since we met him as an eleven-
> year-old?



Kemper answers:
Harry was 'remorseless' to Slughorn.  He was relentless in his telling
not because his heart was becoming colder or hardening, but because
Slughorn needed to hear the cold, hard reality of his parents' deaths,
one for whom he expressed a loving admiration.

Slughorn had numbed himself from his feelings, and it took Harry to
hit him with cold, hard blows of Truth to soften him up.

I believe that even though Slughorn may still live in fear, deep down
the release of memory, his dark truth, has set his heart free.  And he
is glad in it.

In the end, Harry freed Slughorn of his memory and therefore his guilt
with cruel kindliness.

Kemper