some replies which are direct but off topic

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 186212

Carol wrote:
> But take any passage from the books other than dialogue, preferably
> one that clearly shows Harry's point of view. Did she get it right?
> Did she see as a teenage boy would see? Maybe it would help to
> convert the passage to first-person.

Miles:
This is an interesting and fresh approach to a question we discussed in 
extenso some two and a half years before: Is the description of Harry as a 
boy accurate? Is the description of boys - and girls?

My impression of the narrator's voice always was that of a male person, but 
not because of my answer to the question above, because I always felt that 
the narrator is Harry himself in later years (so I always was sure he would 
survive). I know that this special kind of a narrator does not automatically 
have to be the main character, even if s/he knows what the main character 
thinks and feels - it was only my impression or conclusion.

But I quite often disliked the narrator, because his description of 
(especially) teenage Harry was not believable to me. It's not only a 
question of sexuality (which a boy of 15 or 16 would not mystify as a 
"roaring animal" or such) and the total indifference towards girls' physical 
features. It's the indifference towards the changes of his own body as well 
(actually when did Harry begin to have beard growth - why do we not learn 
it, it's simple and "aseptic" enough even for younger kids). We don't learn 
about social interactions of the boys in the dormitory (we only get a 
glimpse in one of the movies). For list archeologists, my old posting about 
this: #161430.

While the knowledge of the narrator points to him being male, the lack of 
understanding and the fondness of handsome boys points to her being female - 
or better: Rowling. But the second conclusion is not so concrete. A female 
author could be good in describing the inside of a boy, as a male author 
that of a girl. And I'm not so sure that the narrator's description of girls 
is so much better (one of the things I learnt from the old thread mentioned 
above).

Miles