Eyeglasses: the key to Harry's vulnerability

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 163626

Debbie:
> Much is made of the fact that Harry's eyes are Lily's eyes.  In her
> sacrifice, Lily exhibited the same talent for doing the right 
> thing. 

> She didn't have time to analyze the situation; she acted, 
> instinctively, out of love.  Their green eyes symbolize their great
> capacity for love, and Harry's glasses symbolize how easy it can be 
> to underestimate the power of love.
> 
> Or something like that.

Jen:  DH is the last chance for Harry to 'find his mother inside 
himself' as he did in POA with James. I have high hopes for DH in 
that respect, high hopes JKR will explore the symbolic connection of 
Harry having Lily's eyes.

As with the oft-repeated, 'I trust Severus Snape', Harry having 
Lily's eyes is a repetitious phrase of significance that wasn't fully 
explained by the Slughorn memory.  The similarity of the undeveloped 
phrases and the general lack of information about both characters are 
the main two reasons I see Snape's and Lily's stories wrapping up 
together (in some form).  Then Dumbledore's reason for trusting Snape 
and Harry's connection with Lily will both play an important role in 
transforming Harry's anger and hatred into forgiveness.

The Slughorn moment did show how Harry's eyes being like Lily's 
helped him, yet there wasn't a poignancy to it, a moment when Harry 
recognized how Lily is still with him even after her death.  I expect 
we'll see how her memory lives on in Harry when he acts in ways she 
would have acted, just as Harry showing mercy to Peter was an example 
of James inside Harry.
 
I've used the word 'compassion' to describe the character trait Harry 
shares with Lily but that doesn't quite cover what Lily was doing in 
the Pensieve scene or Harry's 'saving people thing'.  There is a 
basis of compassion there, an awareness of someone else's pain and 
wanting to help relieve it, yet Harry's and Lily's actions go beyond 
that and involve what is right, as Debbie mentioned.  Compassion 
alone can cause a person to act in a wrong manner to relieve 
someone's pain.  What Harry and Lily do has a component of justice as 
well, they act spontaneously (if imperfectly) because they feel 
empathy for another and act out of that feeling to do what is right 
and just in the situation.

This explanation feels like a better fit.  What would that trait be 
called though?  Is it sacrificial love?  Being able to love, I guess, 
that's how Dumbledore described it in HBP,  'You can love'.  

Jen, who thought Lilygale's "Half-Blind Seeker' was a perfect 
description for Harry. :)