[HPforGrownups] Re: I don't think that Harry will die

[Lynda Cordova]

No: HPFGUIDX 160356

Sarah:
My question is, is she writing to give people a role model, or writing
to tell a story? I believe the latter. If Harry is meant as a role
model, he's already got some problems.

- He considers himself above the rules and breaks them at every
occasion, often to be rewarded for it

- He's disrespectful to every authority figure that he doesn't like

- Seriously considers using magic to get the girl he wants

- Gets people wasted in order to manipulate them


Lynda:

I think that she's writing the story she wants to tell, and in the course of
doing so, she has/is creating a role model. Now as to your points
claims--I'll take each in order--

-He considers himself above the rules and breaks them at every occasion,
often to be rewarded for it.

         -He comes upon situations in which a rule needs to be broken for
him to proceed with the task he is trying to accomplish. When he is rewarded
for that behaviour it is because in the end it accomplished a greater good
than not using his "considerable ingenuity" would have done.

-He is disrepectful to every authority figure that he does not like

       -He is only disrespectful to authority figures he dislikes after they
have treated him with contempt or disrespect on their own part.

-Seriously considers using magic to get the girl he wants

      -Considering that he fought off the impulse to act on this temptation,
I'm not sure why you listed this, especially considering what some of the
girls tried to do to him.

-Gets people wasted in order to manipulate them.

      -The people in question were old hands at getting themselves wasted
and more than likely would have been far gone on their own before the
evening was out. This is one of those situations where, yes, Harry had a
choice to act and enable himself to be able to complete a task that needed
doing or sit back on his haunches and lose the opportunity. Had he not
refilled the wine, I'm sure that Slughorn would have done so.

Am I saying that Harry "always does the right things for the right reasons"?
No. Rowling's made Harry too human for that, but I don't see the purpose of
laying his actions out in the worst possible light either.

Lynda


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]