On the perfection of moral virtues

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 168739

wynleaf:
> Dumbledore praises Harry's ability to love, so we are led to believe
> that Harry loves more than the average person.  In fact, he 
> doesn't.  He loves people who particularly love him in return.  The 
> notable factor of Harry's love isn't that it's unusually strong,
> but that someone from Harry's background would have a more or less 
> normal capacity to love in the first place.  But we -- and even 
> Harry -- are directly led to believe that his degree of love is 
> unusually commendable. 

Jen:  I don't think Dumbledore's making the claim that Harry loves 
more than anyone because that removes the context from his words.  
He's saying that Harry is unique in being entwined with Voldemort 
but not following the path Voldemort represents.

Harry could have chosen hatred and revenge when he learned how his 
parents were murdered or how he got stuck with the Dursleys.  He 
could have given into boiling rage over Sirius' death when Voldemort 
possessed him and fed the link between them instead of expelling LV.  
Perhaps he might have decided to give up after hearing about the 
prophecy instead of continuing on the path Dumbledore laid out for 
him.  Harry is 'remarkable' as a person whose life was destroyed by 
Voldemort and who has risen from that destruction to love and rebuild 
rather than hate and destroy.  His love is only great because of what 
he lost and how he responded to those losses, not because he has some 
type of love no one else is capable of feeling or expressing.

To speak more generally about some of the other points made in the 
thread about Harry, I'm not certain it's as important that Harry grow 
and change in his personality traits and habits as it is for him to 
discover who he is?  Just because there are some elements of classic 
stories to the books, it doesn't mean JKR is going for a classic tale 
along the lines of The Secret Garden, where the children grow to be 
better people in the sense of daily interactions with others.  There 
are enough Jungian elements and alchemy elements to suggest JKR could 
be talking about the transformation of the Self as a whole rather 
than the elemental parts that make up a person, and Harry is 
introduced as an orphan whose real life was hidden from him for 10 
years.  Learning more of his story has been the key to his success in 
defying Voldemort at critical junctures.

I do expect certain outward changes in Harry as those last elements 
of discovery slip into place, the story begs for Harry to be able to 
feel true mercy and forgiveness in my opinion.  Will that make him a 
better person in daily interactions?  I dunno.  But he'll finally be 
free to make choices from his authentic self as he sheds the self 
formed from the elements of Voldemort's action, Lily's sacrifice, the 
Maruader legacy and Dumbledore's plan.  

Jen