Harry: Not Quite So Admirable

[lilypo2007]

No: HPFGUIDX 158151

alcuin74:
> Second, and more seriously, Dumbledore thinks that Harry's desire to
> finish Voldemort arises from Harry's ability to love, the love he
> has for his parents, whom Voldemort killed.  Perhaps it does, but it
> seems to me that Dumbledore (i.e. Rowling) is conflating love with
> vengeance.  After re-reading this passage, I can't help but think
> that what Dumbledore is praising here, what he thinks is Harry's
> great strength, is really nothing more than Harry's desire to avenge
> the death of his parents.  I just can't see this as a
> particularly "magical," heroic or admirable quality.
>
>

Lilyp: It is a possible interpretation and it has bothered me the fist
time I read HBP. But if you see the rest of the chapter, there is at
least another possible interpretation. I think particularly of this bit:
"You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!" said
Dumbledore loudly. "The only protection that can possibly work against
the lure of power like Voldemort's! In spite of all the temptation you
have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart, just as
pure as you were at the age of eleven, when you stared into a mirror
that reflected your heart's desire, and it showed you only the way to
thwart Lord Voldemort, and not immortality or riches. Harry, have you
any idea how few wizards could have seen what you saw in that mirror?
Voldemort should have known then what he was dealing with, but he did
not!"

>From the things you mentioned and this last bit, I think Dumbledore
(and Jo) intended to say that, because Harry loved so much, he
wouldn't be attracted to power, he wouldn't accept to follow
Voldemort, the man that had killed so many people, even if his own
fight seemed hopeless and Voldemort offered him power. That is exactly
what I think will happen in the next book.
Other evidence of this possible way of interpreting in the last
chapter of book one:
"Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own life and
join me... or you'll meet the same end as your parents..."
Voldemort has already tried to attract him.

Lilyp