Potter's Teacher's Edition

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 175579

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > Snape vomits up his memories and then dies.  There's not one     
> > scene where Harry has to deal with an unpleasant man who's not    
> > evil.
> > <snip>

> >>Pippin:
> "The longer they spent together, the more Harry realized he did not
> like the goblin." <snip> -DH ch 25
> <snip>
> Then there's the trio being deeply unpleasant to each other under
> the influence of the locket, to the point where Ron almost kills
> Harry. Not to mention that Dumbledore's twinkly niceness turned
> out to be more of a facade than Harry ever knew.
> 
> The important thing about this, IMO,  is that Harry puts up with
> it as best he can, and doesn't assume that these people were        
> hateful because they wouldn't be sorry if he was dead or because    
> they're secretly allied with Voldemort. 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
This doesn't do it for me.  Harry and Snape have had a relationship 
for six books and I'm supposed to be satisfied at the climax of the 
relationship with some wimpy stand-ins?  Elizabeth (from Pride & 
Prejudice fame) didn't turn to Mr. "Hi, we've just met" when her 
sister went all scandalous on her.  Luke Skywalker didn't plead with 
Han Solo to show him his good side.  

Griphook, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore do not cut it, as far as I'm 
concerned, as Snape want-to-be's.  If JKR wasn't wanting to deal with 
the relationship she created between Harry and Snape, she shouldn't 
have written it in the first place.

> >>Pippin:
> And if you don't see Harry giving up the Elder Wand in spite of
> Ron and Hermione thinking he's mental as proof that his
> self-satisfaction has taken a pretty deep hit, and he's not happy
> about everything they did to win, then I don't know what would 
> convince you.

Betsy Hp:
A scene where Harry is humbled would have been nice.

> >>Pippin:
> He says he's had enough trouble for a life time. Jo says
> there's not going to be another HP book, meaning she doesn't
> envision him doing anything thrilling, IMO. He spends nineteen
> years not doing anything thrilling. What more proof do you need?

Betsy Hp:
Hm... I don't think you're getting what I was wanting and missed so 
desperately.  I wanted to see Harry's world view get shaken.  I 
wanted Harry to be pushed out of his complacent and bigoted view 
of "how things are" and take a good look at the world around him and 
see the things that are so horribly wrong with it.  

That Harry settles into his complacent little life is actually proof 
for me that nothing changed.  Voldemort died of course; Harry 
achieved the vengence he wanted.  But his view of the world is pretty 
much the same as it was way back in PS/SS.  That lame little speech 
about "I knew a brave Slytherin once" was not enough for me.  It 
smacked too much of "there are honest negros out there" for me.  
IOWs, praise that reveals the inner bigotry.  An "honest negro" is 
strange enough to remark on, just as a brave (or worthy) Slytherin is 
a one in a million thing.
 
> >>Pippin:
> Do you need some kind of soapy scene where Harry decides
> to bury Snape somewhere in Godric's Hollow near Lily and
> Dumbledore's family, with the vial of memories in the grave?
> (Though I think that's what happened, I don't need to read it.)
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
No, no, no.  I was wanting Harry to deal with a *live* Snape.  One 
that would snark and judge and be something real that Harry actually 
had to wrestle with.  Instead we got the soapy scene of dead Snape's 
memories.  Which proved to not be a challenge for Harry at all.

> >>Pippin:
> How realistic would it be for a seventeen year old, whose
> emotional depth is, well, a teacup to Ron's teaspoon, to            
> demonstrate deep insight into the mind of someone who's something   
> like twenty years older and far more complex?  
> 
> I suppose she could have had Harry dive into the pensieve again
> as a thirty year old, but that'd be kind of  dull and way over the
> heads of half the audience. 

Betsy Hp:
Or, she could have gone with the more exciting option of having Harry 
deal with Snape while Snape was still alive.  As it was, practically 
the entirety of HBP was wasted.  Why set up the conflict between 
Harry's best friend, the half-blood Prince, and Harry's bone-deep 
rage towards his professor Snape when the conflict is never delt with?

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Harry is beautiful, athletic, rich, and a Gryffindor with the 
> > strength of the almighty Dumbledore behind him.  Any suggestion   
> > that Harry knows how Snape feels is laughable, IMO.

> >>Pippin:
> So...he was feeling all those things when he was out in the forest,
> on the edge of starvation, believed to be a murderer, with no clear 
> idea how he was going to get out of the mess he was in? Canon       
> please?

Betsy Hp:
Eep, well I'm at work so no quotes for you.  But Harry's normal 
feeling of vicitmized self-righteousness wasn't shaken.  Life was 
hard for him, sure, but Harry was pretty pleased with his own ability 
to suffer.  IIRC, there's even a bit where Harry notes that Ron is so 
spoiled by having parents that love him he can't cut it.

> >>Pippin:
> And is he supposed to have entirely forgotten how it felt before he
> knew he was any of those things, when he was living in a cupboard?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Goodness, no!  Why, Harry hardly lets a moment pass that he doesn't 
remind himself (and others) about the horrible hardship he went 
through before age eleven.  (I'm, um, not all that sympathetic 
towards Harry's "suffering" anymore.  He's made too much of it, IMO.)

> >>Pippin:
> I just don't recognize the Harry you're talking about. Stupid with 
> very little natural compassion or empathy makes him sound like     
> Voldemort.

Betsy Hp:
IMO, Harry is a lot like Voldemort actually.  Except that he's a 
Gryffindor and is therefore blessed.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > I honestly cannot think of one thing about the Trio that I find 
> > admirable.  Even within their own universe they're remarkably 
> > lacking. 

> >>Pippin:
> Compared to who?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
James, Sirius, Peter, Lupin, Dumbledore and Snape.  Oh, and Tom 
Riddle himself, of course.  (Personally, I've always felt Draco 
showed more true grit than Harry ever did.  But then, Draco had to 
work harder, so there you are.)

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Their flaws actually make me tremble for *JKR's* humanity because 
> > I get the impression she doesn't see them as flaws.

> >>Pippin:
> <snip>
> I think her interview comments are sensitive to the needs of her 
> younger readers, who indeed will not see Harry as deeply flawed, or
> Snape as good even when he's giving Harry a hard time, because
> they aren't equipped to see things in shades of gray. But that
> doesn't mean that JKR can't or that grown up readers aren't         
> supposed to.

Betsy Hp:
I was going by what's in the books, not JKR's interviews.  None of 
the Trio really have to face and deal with their flaws.  Not in any 
meaningful way that I've seen.  Those they judge unworthy are always 
shown unworthy.  That's not a realistic or healthy way of going 
through life, IMO.

Betsy Hp (again, posting from work, so here's hoping! <g>)