Hopes for Harry (was Re: Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter

[Joey Smiley]

No: HPFGUIDX 190261

>  "omegafold"  wrote:
> >
> >  One thing does disappoint me about Harry. He never seems to evolve, he just grows up slowly and aside from trite incursions, he lacks any true planning genius and ends up needing rescue from friends. It's getting repetitive and predictable.
> > omegafold
> 
> Potioncat:
> I don't think you're alone in this; someone else has said the same thing in a slightly different way---Severus Snape.
> 
> He feels Harry is merely ordinary,  who succeeds entirely because of incredible good luck and the support of friends. Snape himself comes from a generation of extraordinary wizards/witches. At Harry's age he was inventing spells and counterspells; the Marauders were inventing magical devises and teaching themselves to be animagi--Snape wouldn't know that, but McGonagall commented on how tallented young Potter and Black were. Young Barty Crouch also seemed to be very tallented.
> 
> I don't agree with your hopes for Harry, partly because I think JKR purposely made him Everyman (is that Geoff's term?)--he doesn't succeed because of great skill but because of his great character.

Joey:

I'd agree with Potioncat here. While Harry may not have invented spells or thinking maps, meeting LV face-to-face twice, when almost entire WW refuses to say his name, could have given Harry enough food for the drive to prove himself. Yes, this wasn't done by pure individual skill but it was certainly done by strength of character. 

Also, I think the way a person's life flows [past events and current priorities] and interests will play a part in deciding what he or she goes after. For example, Snape and Marauders did not hear voices from walls whose source they wanted to decipher. Their past and future goals were different from Harry's. Snape already wanted to be part of "brainy" Slytherin, wanted to carve a niche for himself - I guess these drove him to invent spells. Whle the Marauders didn't seem to have much of ambitions [initially], they wanted to look cool and so, kept inventing things for their own "fun" needs. That wasn't the case for Harry who was first keen to belong to WW in the real sense, to keep himself away from too much of attention from the WW and to pay attention to the puzzling things going around him. So, his reactions and responses were different.

JMO. :-)