Harry Potter and Narcissism

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

So, a lot of people here seem to think that Harry Potter and his friends are narcissists. That's interesting because I was looking up narcissist behaviors for a villain in one of my own stories and I realized that Harry fits the "vulnerable-narcissist" pathology to a T.



So on this psychology blog there was a description of two types of narcissists: vulnerable narcissists and grandiose narcissists. The distinction lies in that vulnerable narcissists are obsessed with overcompensating for deeply-rooted inferiority complexes (possibly stemming from abuse in many cases), which leads to them getting defensive and angry whenever they're not treated like royalty, and being paranoid that people are about to turn against them (and thus obsessed with preventing that from happening). GEE, DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR?

On the other hand, grandiose narcissists have higher self-esteem, and tend to be more aggressive and obsessed with showing everyone how fantastic they are. They're also likely to ditch people who don't treat them like royalty on the grounds that they're "not good enough," not really caring how they think of them. The blog goes on to posit that such narcissists might have been spoiled from a young age. So Harry's parents could be grandiose narcissists.

An archetypal vulnerable narcissist is as follows:

"John, a truck driver, is a vulnerable narcissist. He prides himself on his technical abilities to deal with any problem situation. He has a good reputation at work for his skills, but others are offended by his arrogance. They try to avoid him and put him down behind his back.

He marries Sandy, who has an administrative job. He feels easily threatened by Sandy's success and independence. But Sandy is quite codependent and spends a lot of effort "fixing" him, helping him feel great about himself. He complains to her about how people mistreat him at work and don't appreciate how special he is. He talks a lot about quitting his job and working with people who appreciate him. But he never does.

He also complains that his friends "turn against" him when they seem to avoid him or have other priorities. He blames Sandy when things go wrong around the house while he's on the road, and she has learned not to argue back. When Sandy gets a raise at work, John insults her and claims she must be sleeping with her boss. He demands that he determine how they spend their increased pay. Sandy sometimes hints about divorcing him, but he says he would kill himself if she did--so she doesn't."

While an archetypal grandiose narcissist is more like this:

"Fred is a physician. He met Sharon at work, who is a nurse. He divorced his first wife (who helped put him through medical school) and married Sharon, an attractive "trophy wife." Their relationship revolves around hiscareer.

He routinely belittles Sharon behind the scenes and occasionally slaps her for acting "stupid." He doesn't want her to work, so she gives up her career to raise several children. Fred, in the meantime, has several short affairs with other secretaries and nurses, which he doesn't hide. He gets furious with Sharon when this upsets her.

When the children get older, she wants to return to work. But he belittles her abilities, so she devotes herself to volunteer work related to the children's activities.Then Sharon gets cancer and Fred gets the best treatment for her. But while she is in the hospital, he also develops a more substantial relationship with another nurse at work. When she finds out, she is crushed--not only about the affair, but his inability to emotionally support her."

If you read the rest of the blog, I think you'll find that a lot of the traits they describe to be reminiscent of the behavior of several Harry Potter characters.

Comments

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

What Oryx said. In the first Potions class, in particular, Severus is not especially nasty to Harry. We can and should reinterpret that scene in the light of what we learn from the Prince's tale. What do we learn? That Severus knows Petunia to have been protective of Lily, and to have wanted to attend Hogwarts. That Lily, his best friend, was gifted at Potions. It would never have occurred to him in a million years that Tuney wouldn't even have told Harry about Hogwarts, and it's pretty clear that he was trying to find out whether Harry shared Lily's gift for Potions. Even before I knew that, I could not think Snape's behavior terrible in this scene.

Just two more points, if you don't mind. I did say, above, that Severus, like Ron, shares some narcissistic traits with Harry and practically every other character in these books. I'm no psychologist, but, as I understand it, narcissism and other syndromes exist on a continuum. Practically every normal human being behaves - sometimes - in an "abnormal" way, just as a normal young child often shows autistic behavior (self-stimming, etc.) BUT-

Severus is really, truly, just about the only character in these books who does take some responsibility for his actions. That is the whole point, structurally, of the character. He is the repentant sinner. He's REPENTANT!! He apologizes to Lily, offering no excuses, and, from what we see, never darkens her door or bothers her again. He goes to Dumbledore and lives his entire adult life in expiation for his youthful mistakes. No, his repentance isn't always perfect. Nor is he. But it is real.

Which brings me to my second point - Rowling's writing skill, or lack of it. I have said repeatedly that Rowling is (among other things - there are other factors, too) a very good observer who is poor at examining/thinking about what she sees. She can describe characters awfully well on the surface. But the motives she ascribes to them just don't add up. To take a (hopefully non-controversial) example, look at Dudley. When he faced the Dementors, he had to live through his worst nightmare, and he was changed as a result. What was his worst nightmare? Obviously, being treated like his cousin. The Dementors forced him, willy-nilly, to empathize with Harry - because being Harry was his deepest fear. Dudley grew up knowing, on a very deep level, that his parents' love and indulgence was conditional. He must have been terrified of losing it - thus, his constant brattiness and testing. But what does Rowling say about this scene? That the Dementors "Showed Dudley himself as he really was". Really? Dementors can do that? Then why did they never do it to Harry? Why were we always told, in canon, that what the Dementors show you is your deepest fear?

Rowling just didn't think it through. As with Dudley, so with all the other characters.

My two cents.

[pearlette.livejournal.com]

Rowling's writing skill, or lack of it. I have said repeatedly that Rowling is (among other things - there are other factors, too) a very good observer who is poor at examining/thinking about what she sees.

I agree with this. She is a very good storyteller, IMO, but not a great world-builder. There are a number of logical gaps in the Potterverse. And while JKR creates great characters (even the less successful ones, like Rita*, are memorable), there is often a disconnect between how she sees her own characters and what readers pick up on.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Sorry to come in so late, but this is extremely well said. This is a lot of why, despite no longer being an HP fan, I continue to sympathize with Snape.