Suspension of disbelief - Being dependent
Carol
justcarol67 at yahoo.com
Wed Apr 9 17:20:02 UTC 2008
No: HPFGUIDX 182479
Carol earlier:
> > I think Harry does realize that he was wrong about a lot of
people, or, at any rate, he changes his view of them (Luna, Neville,
Kreacher, Regulus, Draco, Snape), but it doesn't come to him as an
epiphany--it's a more gradual change in perspective.
> > <snip>
>
> Betsy Hp:
> I meant more, Harry realizing that he was the ass in this scenario.
Pretty much everyone you mention bows down at Harry's feet (sometimes
literally, as in the case of Kreacher). Or they're dead. Or they're
evil and finally realize it. But Harry himself doesn't have to
recognize that someone else was right where he was wrong. Harry
never has to rethink the way he comes at things.
Carol responds:
I don't know of anyone who fits the "evil and finally realize it"
scenario. Young Severus Snape realizes that he's made a terrible
mistake and comes to Dumbledore for help. And once the mistake becomes
irreversible (because a variety of other people have made mistakes or
committed crimes) he spends the rest of his life atoning for it. He
never, however, "bows down at Harry's feet" (the memories he provides
help Harry to understand *him,* not vice versa, as well as provide the
message that Harry has to sacrifice himself).
And Kreacher comes to respect Harry because Harry understands
Kreacher's devotion to Regulus and is helping Kreacher destroy the
locket that Regulus wanted destroyed. He's not worshipping Harry as
the savior of the WW as Dobby does (quite prematurely), and, as I read
it, he's not referring to Harry at all but to Regulus when he rallies
the House-Elves to "fight! fight! fight for my master, the champion of
House-Elves." Regulus died to avenge a House-Elf. Harry merely learns
to understand Kreacher's psychology. (Sure, Kreacher bows to him as
his rightful master, but that's House-Elves for you. He rejected Harry
and did his best to undermine him until Harry understood him.)
Neville and Luna never "bow down" to Harry, either literally or
figuratively. They want to help him fight the Carrows (and overthrow
Snape, whom, of course, they misunderstand). Neville has become a
leader in Harry's absence (more of a leader than Harry ever was, IMO,
because he's not self-obsessed) and Luna, too, has shown courage,
never losing her inborn optimism even in captivity. Neville doesn't
question Harry when Harry tells him to "kill the snake": he knows that
it has to be done and, for some reason, Harry can't do it. So he faces
Voldemort, whom he thinks has killed Harry, without fear, even after
he loses his wand, and proves his worthiness to receive the Sword of
Gryffindor (need and peril and chivalry being the conditions required).
Regulus, of course, doesn't bow down at Harry's feet. He dies before
Harry is fifteen months old. And he doesn't view himself as evil,
either (though it seems he realizes he's made a great mistake in
following Voldemort, one he intends to remedy by making Voldemort
mortal). In this instance, we see Harry's expectation (that Regulus
would make Kreacher drink the potion as Voldemort did) completely
overturned. Regulus, not Sirius, is right about House-Elves. Regulus,
not Sirius, willingly sacrificed his life to weaken Voldemort. (Sirius
dies protecting Harry, true, but it's his own overconfidence and
rashness (or carelessness) that cause him to fight Bellatrix on the
dais in the first place.) Regulus shows Harry that Slytherins (and
even Death Eaters) can act on principle with incredible courage, a
lesson that perhaps prepares him for a similar revelation regarding Snape.
As for Harry himself admitting that he's wrong, that doesn't happen
often because Harry doesn't engage in introspection very often. I did
come across one example, though; he's jealous of Ron for being
appointed Prefect and at first laughs at him behind his back but then
has the grace to be ashamed of himself. He goes through his reasons
for thinking that he, not Ron, should have been made Prefect and
concludes that Ron must have something he doesn't have. (The moment is
rather spoiled, for me, at least, when DD tearfully confesses that he
didn't make Harry Prefect because he already had enough on his plate,
so what Ron has that Harry doesn't turns out merely to be the time to
deal with Prefect duties, but at least Harry, in this instance, is
trying to think things out and accepts Ron's beating him at something.
It's an important lesson for Harry, who has been dwelling on his own
importance and his own suffering all summer. Of course, it's
immediately pushed into near-irrelevance by the photo of the Order
members, half of whom are already dead or as good as dead by that
point, and by Mrs. Weasley's Boggart. Yes, Harry; the danger posed by
LV and the DEs to the Order and the Weasley family and everyone you
care about is more important than who's appointed Prefect, and you
would have made as bad a Prefect as Ron, anyway. But my point is that,
in this instance, at least, Harry does examine his own motives and
emotions and find them wanting.
Carol, understanding Betsy's disappointment in the books but not
convinced by unsupported assertions involving "never" (which can be
overturned by a single counterexample)
More information about the HPforGrownups
archive