Re: Snape and Harry’s Sadism (was: Lack of re-examination)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 186615

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eggplant107" <eggplant107 at ...> wrote:

Eggplant:
> Rather than continue the debate over the morality
> of Harry torturing people and enjoying it I want
> to ask a very different question: Do you think
> it was artistically wise of JKR to have Harry do
> that, did she have to in a sense force Harry to
> do it or did it come naturally? I think it was
> very wise indeed. True it's not what a supernaturally
> moral epic hero would do, but it is what a real flesh
> and blood person would do if they'd have gone
> through as much as Harry had. If in 7 books Harry
> had never once shown a bit of joy in the pain on
> one of his enemy's faces it just wouldn't ring
> true to me because it's in the nature of war.

Geoff:
I have to admit that I agree  with you on this one, but in slightly 
more general terms.

It's not just war. It's life.

I have often said that I identify with Harry so much because 
I can see myself at that age. There were times when something 
generate fury within me when I would literally "see red". To me, 
this term is not metaphorical; it happened. And when it did, I 
would sometimes react in ways which I would never have dreamed 
of when I was calm. Not so much hurting people but wanting to 
express my anger in some outward, violent manner: as an example, 
damaging things in the way that Harry did in Dumbledore's office.

I don't think this is on a par with the institutionalised violence 
which one contributor has mentioned such as occurred in Iraq or 
in civil confrontations but, at a personal level, the phrase "I could 
kill him for this" verges on the truth.

The instances which come easily to my mind with Harry - the 
attempts to curse Bellatrix in the Ministry battle and the attempt to 
get Snape after the Tower incident - I can certainly understand 
because I've known feelings like that myself.

For me, it harks back to our discussions on the Christian faith. No one 
is qualified to be a saviour or a Christ figure. We can all attempt to be 
Christ-like in our lives -and those of us who are Christians are 
commanded by Jesus himself - to love God and love our neighbour 
and seek after good.

But that does not stop the selfish side of us surfacing from time to 
time; greed, envy and, on occasions, an explosion of feelings which 
perhaps gets momentarily out of control because we are human. It is 
not to be condoned or encouraged - which on one or two occasions 
may happen to Harry - but it means that we all have our nastier sides 
to deal with, however good or well-balanced or altruistic we may 
appear to be to others.

I believe personally that there are only two people who know what 
pushes our buttons: ourselves and God. And it all goes back to 
Dumbledore's remarks about what choices we make in handling 
those feelings  that dictate the sort of person we become in the final 
analysis.