[the_old_crowd] Re: Essay on H/H in light of OoP (long, VERY long) (SHIP, mostly SHIP)

[pennylin]

Hi --

Well, there was such a long silence earlier today that I was a mite afraid, but lo and behold, several people appeared to have at least skimmed my verbose treatise.  Cool!  

Pippin (who I met at Nimbus, hurrah!) said:

<<<<<Captain Penny, valiantly struggling to keep her ship off the 
shoals, (are we allowed to CARP around here?) said:>>>>>>>

Oh, I've no objections to CARPing, though I must say, my ship is nowhere near the shoals.  <g>

<<<<<Followed by an extremely well-argued post, detailing the  
closeness of Harry and Hermione in eyestraining detail, to which 
I can only reply with   Harry's own argument (all together now) 
"Yeah, because we're *friends*">>>>>>>>>

Um, yes, and where have we heard that before?  It's a fairly solid convention in the arts in general (literature, movies, TV, etc.) to have the lovers declaring each other "just friends" .... is it not?  In any case, whatever Harry may currently *think,* narratively speaking, Rowling has laid the foundation for him to easily move into romance with Hermione.   

<<<<<<<I will concede that Hermione takes the role of heroine in OOP. I 
will even concede that by literary convention, this entitles her to 
choose the hero of that book as her mate. Ah, but (you knew 
there was going to be a but) who *is* the hero of OOP?

Harry may be the narrative focus and the central character in 
OOP, but that doesn't make him a hero.>>>>>>>>>>

Oh, but it *does* though!  At least according to my dictionary.  Hero is defined as a variety of things, including "(4) the principal male character in a novel, poem or dramatic presentation."  He also still fits the bill for "(2) any man noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his life."  

A whiny, self-centered, largely ineffective hero he was (in OOP), I'll concede....... but he is still the hero.  And, I'd also argue that you can't deny that Harry is indisputably the most likely person to be the Hero of the series (though Neville stands a greater-than-average chance of being the one to really vanquish Voldemort once and for all).  And, I think Hermione is being set up increasingly as the heroine ....... it's a trend that really jumped out at me in OOP but was set in place much earlier.

Also, I think you've shortchanged Harry somewhat too.  Yes, he doesn't "save the day," in the classic sense that he does in the first 3 novels (or save his own neck in a dramatic, heroic interlude as he does in GoF).  And, he spends a great deal of time indulging in self-pity and paranoia.  He makes a good many mistakes, one with tragic consequences.  But, he is also widely-heralded as a leader; he really comes into his own with the DA.  Again, it was Hermione's idea, but Harry really steps up to the plate and finds that there's something else besides Quidditch that he can enjoy and excel at.  And, of course, any Hero must be flawed, must make some mistakes on his ultimate quest.  I expect Harry will continue to make mistakes in Book 6 and even Book 7, but he'll remain the Hero.    

Ron?  Hey, I like Ron considerably more than I did after GoF.  But, the hero?  C'mon.  Nah.  Sorry, no can do.

Penny
(also happily shipping Ron/Luna since 6/22/2003.........)



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