Wizards wearing glasses Was: New to site

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185453

michelevp wrote:
>
> Ok, this is the first time here and this has probably come up but
why has Harry never corrected his sight with magic? <snip>

Carol responds:

Just a few more comments in addition to what others have said. Harry
has worn glasses for most of his life; he's probably so used to them
that they seem like part of him. I know that the first thing I do in
the morning (after I've shut off the darned alarm clock) is put on my
glasses. It's as natural as putting on my slippers and robe before I
go to the kitchen to make coffee. It probably never occurred to him,
any more than it did to James or Dumbledore or McGonagall or any of
the other glasses-wearing characters to get their eyes fixed magically
(assuming that it can be done). Glasses are as much a part of Harry as
the hair that won't lie down or the scar on his forehead. (The first
two help to create a sort of bond between James and Harry and, of
course, serve as a plot device to explain why two important
characters, Severus Snape and Sirius Black, see James in
Harry--different sides of James, but that's beside the point.)

It's interesting to me, as a far-sighted person, that while most of
the characters who wear glasses seem to be near-sighted (just as most
real people who wear glasses are near-sighted), Trelawney, the
Divination teacher and Seer (of sorts) is far-sighted, as indicated by
the thick lenses that magnify her eyes (rather than making them look
smaller, like Bob Ogden's). She can see what's far away (even if, as
with the "Grim" in the crystal ball, she often misinterprets it), but
she can't see what's close to her, the "mundane." (The medium that
must not be named makes her far-sightedness into slapstick comedy.)
It's a bit of JKRish humor that I, at least, appreciate. Then, again,
put me in shawls and bangles, and I might be mistaken for Trelawney!

To return to Harry, it's interesting that he no longer needs his
glasses in "King's Cross" (though he needs them again when he
returns). Dumbledore, however, still has his even after he dies, as
does James. It's as if, symbolically, Harry's vision has been cleared
in a way that theirs has not; thanks to Snape's Pensieve memories and
his own self-sacrifice, he can see (understand) what has happened and
must still happen, not only what Dumbledore explains to him but much
that Dumbledore doesn't say--for example, he understands that the
horrible childlike creature represents the future of Voldemort's soul
if he doesn't feel remorse for his many and terrible crimes. He sees
Snape clearly, as well, as his words to Voldemort in front of all
those spectators indicate. Harry's figurative myopia, his inability to
see Snape and Dumbledore and the nature of death and whatever else
clearly, is cured. His "mundane" myopia, however, his actual eyesight,
IOW, remains as it was before his little excursion, mental or
otherwise, to what he interprets (again symbolically) as King's Cross.

Carol, just giving her own interpretation and observations without
expecting anyone to share them