The redeemed individual in HP

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

Declaration: I do not agree with all statements made in this article and, as a non-American, am hardly a political expert, so this link does not mean endorsement of any 'non-HP things.'

Why is this article worth reading?

What stood out to me was the interesting reading of OoTF. It has always been my least favorite HP book. After waiting for years for its publication, I remember practically suffering and wanting to shut the book down every time Dolores Umbridge or Harry's anger made an appearance.  Since one of the two, of most often their combination, are ubiquitous in OoTF, you may imagine the 'joy' of reading.

Renee Gorman's interpretation of Harry's evolution in OoTF at last reconciled me to this part of the series.

QUOTE from the article

Harry’s frustration stems from both the fact that he knows the truth and that he is being punished for his virtue: an injustice that is difficult to swallow. But he is also battling with his loss of popularity and celebrity. Though Harry consistently claims to hate the limelight—and though he genuinely does at times—he also secretly prizes his famous persona.

When Harry makes the reckless choice to leave Hogwarts and save Sirius after seeing a vision of Sirius captured by Voldemort, he has the following heated exchange with Hermione, the wisest of his peers.

“OK,” she said, looking frightened yet determined, “I’ve just got to say this—”
“What?”
“You … this isn’t a criticism, Harry! But you do … sort of … I mean—don’t you think you’ve got a bit of a—a—saving-people thing!” she said.
He glared at her.
“And what’s that supposed to mean, a ‘saving-people thing?”

Hermione hits a nerve here. But Harry ignores her warning and charges ahead to try to save Sirius. But, consciously or not, at this moment, Harry is also trying to save his own famous heroic persona. He gets his wish. After Sirius dies and Voldemort flees from a battle with Dumbledore, the truth is revealed, and Harry is once more the apple of the magical world’s eye—but it does not make him happy, after all.

This is partly because of his grief at losing Sirius, but also because that part of Harry that secretly prized acclamation dies along with his Godfather. It is no coincidence that this book is called The Order of the Phoenix because Harry emerges from the ashes of this tragedy a better man. Sirius had to die so that Harry could sacrifice himself for the right reason and finally defeat Voldemort.

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

By the end, it seems more like he can't cope with any more new information and has just given up and gone along in a lot of ways. It doesn't even occur to him to ask Kings Cross Dumbledore whether he'd looked for alternate solutions to Harry dying. (If Dumbledore had tried and failed, that would help a bit. It would mean "oh, dead kid, win!" wasn't his first and only thought.) He just accepts it.

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

Yes, he seems to have just internalised that he’s following Dumbledore and that’s the way it is. Even as far back as OOTP, Harry really doesn’t question Dumbledore’s inherent goodness. By DH he has a “Was Dumbledore really the saintly person I imagined him?” moment following Skeeter’s article, but as soon as Dumbledore leaves him those clues he just snaps right back to follower mode.

I think it was oneandthetruth who pointed out, in their DH spork/commentary, that Harry drifts along pretty much the entire series looking for a parent figure, someone to pass responsibility to. He even brings it up in DH. And no wonder, if he’s never received the tailored magical training or guidance necessary to actually defeat Voldemort. Not to mention that he would’ve needed to catch up on six years of basically every subject except DADA.

I think that’s why a lot of people gravitate towards mentor fics, because it makes so much more sense for Chosen One tropes than going on adventures, doing some blasting with elementary spells and then dying because his mentor’s dead and he’s just following orders. I wonder if that’s why he is so passive, because the alternative‘s to think for himself. Or, as I’ve read in a number of fics and people have pointed out in this comm, he’s been told that his destiny is to finish Voldie off and so he doesn’t care how he does it — he just sees himself as a tool.

I do wonder what happened to his much-vaunted DADA talent. I can kind of forgive it up until POA, but Harry’s arc from GOF feels like such a con job and a ripoff. It is lazy writing to take the easy way out and just send your hero on an extended camping trip (DH) a completely unnecessary wizarding competition (GOF), an adventure that ends up fruitless because the entire reason he was lured there is by a trick of the enemy and which he doesn’t learn anything from (OOTP) and a treasure hunt in which he is, at best, a passive onlooker (HBP).

This is the main frustration I have with Rowling. She sets up these beautiful little stage sets, like the whole contraption at the end of PS, the entire DA or the fascinating Horntail in GOF, but she never does anything with them. She never returns to them and she never has Harry (or Voldemort) learn from them.

The nearest thing to a fully formed plan Voldie had was the diary in COS.

I’m not saying I wanted OP!Harry, necessarily, but I think this is why there are so many OP!Harry fics because canon gives us... a Harry who gets top marks in DADA but also never bothers to learn Occlumency. She wants to keep him passive but also have him be the one who defeats Voldemort. How does that work?
It all feels very pastede-on-yay.

Yeah, the King’s Cross scene is meant to be his final confrontation with Dumbledore, but he just acts really normal and laps up Dumbledore’s every word.

[sunnyskywalker]

Given the standards in DADA classes for the past 30 years, all Harry has to do to look exceptional is achieve basic competence. Which, given the circumstances, probably does indicate some underlying potential, and he's certainly more interested in it than he is in most of his subjects, which probably helps.

But it doesn't mean that he performs brilliantly by any objective standard, just that he is good enough to compensate for the bad teaching and be not entirely terrible.

But why did he give up the DA? His flimsy excuse is that it's because Umbridge is gone and they don't have exams this year or some such. Wasn't he the one who said they had to learn this stuff because Voldemort was back? Do they not still need to practice defense for the same reason? He must have a lot of confidence in Snape's ability to teach DADA... Sheesh, couldn't he even think of a petty reason to keep the club going, like wanting to secretly prove himself a better DADA teacher than Snape?

Passivity and heroism really do seem to correlate strongly for the characters: the less you try to actively accomplish anything, the better you are. Sit back, trust some random person, and do nothing. It's just so weird.

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

Very true re: competence.

I think we are meant to read his giving up the DA because Umbridge has left as logical, but yeah, you’d think Harry of all people would have good reason to keep it going. Another example of Rowling’s episodic (and ‘out of sight, out of mind’) approach to her work.

Absolutely! Harry starts passive (a baby) and continues that way more or less from GOF to DH. I’m fascinated by what was going through Rowling’s head. The closest I can get is ‘Christ figure’, but Christ actively promoted a new religion and died in agony, having been abandoned by Heaven/God. There’s not really any emotion in Harry’s death. He feels like he’s going through the motions.

[sunnyskywalker]

Very good points. Harry makes me wonder whether a character can be a proper Christ figure without being a people-person (in actions, not necessarily inclination). Because you're right, Jesus did a lot of recruiting and heavily emphasized having personal relationships with a lot of people. He didn't go, "Well, Apostles, I haven't seen Satan around today, and the Romans were really nice to build this new road, so let's not worry about preparing for the immanent end times. Why don't you go back to fishing for fish instead of people?"

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

She sets up these beautiful little stage sets,

I read somewhere (don't remember exactly who it was) some one wrote that part of the reason JKR & HP were so popular was because of the weaknesses in her world building. It not that she is a great world builder, rather she created a great stage and set up which allows for the fan to fill in themselves.

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

When I say stage sets, I mean that she has all these great magical devices and technologies, like Devil’s Snare, but then never does anything with them. They just dangle there, unfired Chekhov’s guns. A lot of the best children’s books will be very tightly plotted. I’m thinking of Rodda here - a lot of her plot points in her Rowan of Rin books come back around, full circle. She’ll have things come up in Book 1 that are then given a completely different perspective in Book 2 or 3 - or little clues throughout the text that indicate people aren’t really who they say they are.

JKR comes really close to doing this with the excellent obstacle course in PS: she takes Ron’s chess ability and uses it to help him get past the game, and Harry’s Quidditch talent to help him catch the keys. What I meant by sets is that she could’ve brought Norberta back to help Harry kill LV (just an example). She could’ve had Harry bond with Fawkes to help him kill Voldie; hell, what happened to the Mandrakes? Instead each book seems very self-contained and episodic.

Hmm... interesting. I can see that. Harry himself starts off as an everyman character - a calm, quiet, politely curious kid who seems genuinely invested in attending Hogwarts. The idea is for everyone (every kid) to wish they were Harry and lived at Hogwarts.