Harry's Characterization (was: Satisfaction of the story to date )

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 163426

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mike" <mcrudele78 at ...> wrote:
> 
> JKR has hinted from day one that Harry has extraordinary powers, not 
> just advanced powers for his age. What happened to that in HBP? OK, 
> he still has to figure out how to harness the *power of love*. I know 
> that was never going to happen until book 7. But shouldn't he have 
> shown a little more advancement? Where is that kid that produced a 
> Patronus at 13, held off a dozen DEs until help arrived at 15?
> 

Mike I share your feeling on a gut level that Harry isn't ready, that
he simply hasn't even begun to learn enough. I would note in passing
however that Harry is learning far more than the pages of the book
lead us to believe most of the time. Were you surprised by his OWL
results? I wasn't but I was. I wasn't because I thought those results
were expected of him, that the author planted those expectations in
us. I was because I am at a loss to see how he got to that point, the
books give us the expectation but then portray a character who would
seem to be a very poor student. For all that has been said about how
poor a teacher Snape is for Harry and how Harry is simply incapable of
learning from him (and I understand where those feelings come from and
agree with them) Harry did surprisingly well in his potions OWL. The
text of the book is consistently misdirecting us from Harry's true
potential and actual performance as a student. It is also grossly
overstating Snape's failings as a teacher.

There seem to be strong similarities between Harry Potter and Luke
Skywalker and Frodo Baggins. All three seem woefully unprepared for
the task before them. Luke is nowhere near the level of Darth Vader or
the Emperor. In his early career Luke is saved by the power of love
isn't he? His father wants to turn him, not kill him. We don't know
how exactly but we do see Luke make quite a bit of progress in
advancing his skill as a Jedi through the three movies. He is more
than a match for ordinary foes even when outnumbered. But in the final
battle with the Emperor he is way out of his league again. He has no
hope, he can do nothing against the Emperor's power, it is his
father's love that saves him in the end and turns his father not him.

Sending two Hobbits into Mordor was the height of folly. They did not
even have the benefit of an education in any martial art. They were
armed only with their dogged determination and loyalty to each other.
At the climactic point in their mission they could not accomplish the
task. Frodo could not take the simple step of opening his two fingers
and letting a ring drop into the abyss even though by then he hardly
had the strength left to hold them together any more. It was the love
that they had showed Gollum, often grudgingly, that saved Middle
Earth. Neither wisdom nor strength was any help. It was only the
willingness to spare the life of a murderous, untrustworthy wretch
that saved the mission.

Harry cannot oppose Voldemort strength to strength. Harry could not
even follow what was happening when Dumbledore and Voldemort dueled at
the Ministry. Harry is gifted but he is still a typical 17 year old
boy. He does not embody the wisdom and prowess of a 40 year old the
way some young prodigies do. I am sure he is going to walk the path of
Luke and Frodo to success. Perhaps, I hope, that means like them he
will survive. Harry has lost his Gandalf, his Obiwan, even as Frodo
and Luke lost theirs. He still has his Sams and he does have many of
them. He has a Darth Vader figure in Snape and he has a Gollum figure
in Wormtail. In the end I don't expect his education will play much of
a role although it certainly will be used to get him to the final
showdown. He is already a match for most members of the wizarding
world and he most likely never will be a match for Snape or Voledmort
in direct combat. He has a bond of forgiving love with Peter and he
has a bond with Snape that runs through his parents. The last is
currently expressed only in hatred but it seems on the cusp of a
dramatic shift. They were very close to connecting after the pensieve
moment but their history with each other got in the way. All the signs
point to Snape playing a crucial role for the good guys in the end no
matter where his loyalties lie at the moment.

This is not the story of a young gunslinger advancing to the top of
his craft. This is the story of a young man learning to embody the
goodness and love that the author says is epitomized by Dumbledore,
however hard it is for some here to see that. Harry is not going to
stand atop Volemort's corpse at the end, smoking wand raised high,
shrieking a challenge daring any and all to match his prowess. He is
going to survive, if at all, by the skin of his teeth, with the help
of others. He will stagger through the halls of a floundering battle
station carrying the dying body of his now beloved potions teacher to
an escape pod on the hanger deck, he will collapse on a spit of rock
surrounded by lava flows and be rescued by a girl with flaming red
hair riding a hippogriff, he may even die in the moment of his triumph
like Beowulf. He will triumph, he will be a hero, he will not be the
mightiest wizard who ever lived.

Ken