Harry Musings - HBP Aftermath
Hello, guys. :)
It's less than a week ago that I read HBP, and only now, when it sank oin a bit, am I going to write out a small essay-ish thing. Not about Snape, though, of course, that is largely thanks to Moiry's writing abilities, Alan's acting ones, and Jo's aptitude at keeping us all uninformed for 6 (!!) books. Not about Dumbledore. Not about all my favourite ships coming true and major squeeage for darling Remus. Just about Harry as we see him in the book 6.
You know what is strange? Through all the series, all the first 4 books, Harry wasn't my favourite character. I knew he was the main one, but he just was this boy, landed in a horrible situation, with dreadful people to bring him up, and hit with a revelation at 11 years. Yeah, sure he escaped Voldie so many times. Yeah, sure, he saved Sirius. Yeah, sure, he always catches the Snitch. Main hero much, eh? Nothing about the sappy 'little hero' title that the Witch weekly was so keen to slap on Harry in GOF went close to my heart. Yes, I liked him, but that was it. Ron outstripped the boy with his jokes. Hermione - with her know-it-all attitude. Draco - petty evilness was interesting enough. Snape - no comment on that. Lupin - he's so much alike to Faramir from LOTR (the BOOK) that this issue isn't even discussable. Harry as favourite? Nope, never. Up till OotP came along.
Now, there was something of interest. A frustrated teenage boy, kept in the dark, not able to reach his friends and relations. A boy venting his frustrations, sometimes on his friends, the people he loves most. A boy who meets the darkness of the world, doing his best to cope, but sometimes failing to fit into the rules and guidelines. A boy growing up in less than one year. Losing more than he could ever think of, but keeping his honor at all times. That is the image of the hero to become. Well, our world is strange, sometimes, we readers do not believe heroes who don't make sacrifices. It's a tale as old as time - that issue was brought up over and over in myths and legends, in the fairy tales, in literature, in comic books even. And what we see of Harry by end OotP is an almost grown-up person, in many ways, the new loss helping him (in a travesty way) to reach adulthood.
And now, barely a week ago, came HBP. Here we see a much calmer Harry, as compared to OotP. No more spiky teenager by behaviour. And not a trace of an innocent child in his decisions. Of course, the unsquichable curiosity remains, but that is in his blood. He is calculating now, but sometimes his briliant instinctive ideas backfire quite nastily - remember the disaster at the Express? He becomes more wise, and more... resourceful, shall we say. I'd never ever have expected Harry to pull off such an amazingly brilliant stunt with the fake Felix Felicis-slipping with Ron. Slytherin much? Amazing nonetheless. Hermione wouldn't have been so crafty, with all due respect to the girl's cleverness. Dumbledore, maybe, would've done something like that. And maybe Lupin.
But we see some delightful personality (and House) traits remain in Harry - just as loyal to the ones he loves. Just as allergic to anyone power-seeking. Absolutely allergic to the Ministry (aka hypocrisy). Brave to the edge of recklessness where anything can happen. And, sadly, just as inept with Occlumency, which means some innocence remains in his character. And, of course, subject to his emotions, whic, sometimes, is not a good thing (especially when you're trying to take Snape single-handedly)
By the end of HBP only one thought was swirling in my mind: "Poor Harry. Poor, poor Harry" He's left without Dumbledore's wisdom and advice. But, what utterly delighted me was that at the funeral he didn't think about Dumbledore as a source of useful information and protection. He remembered his sense of humour, instead. I'm just going to quote a bit here:
'He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him,' said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.
'My dear boy ... even Dumbledore cannot return from the-'
'I am not saying he can. You wouldn't understand. '
That characterises present Harry best. He's learned more about himself, I think, with Dumbledore's death. It gave him more reasons to hunt Voldemort down. And, I'm sure, he'll be using every opportunity to learn more in his quest.
The sixth book firmly planted Harry on the second place among my character preferences. That's all I have to say, for now.
It's less than a week ago that I read HBP, and only now, when it sank oin a bit, am I going to write out a small essay-ish thing. Not about Snape, though, of course, that is largely thanks to Moiry's writing abilities, Alan's acting ones, and Jo's aptitude at keeping us all uninformed for 6 (!!) books. Not about Dumbledore. Not about all my favourite ships coming true and major squeeage for darling Remus. Just about Harry as we see him in the book 6.
You know what is strange? Through all the series, all the first 4 books, Harry wasn't my favourite character. I knew he was the main one, but he just was this boy, landed in a horrible situation, with dreadful people to bring him up, and hit with a revelation at 11 years. Yeah, sure he escaped Voldie so many times. Yeah, sure, he saved Sirius. Yeah, sure, he always catches the Snitch. Main hero much, eh? Nothing about the sappy 'little hero' title that the Witch weekly was so keen to slap on Harry in GOF went close to my heart. Yes, I liked him, but that was it. Ron outstripped the boy with his jokes. Hermione - with her know-it-all attitude. Draco - petty evilness was interesting enough. Snape - no comment on that. Lupin - he's so much alike to Faramir from LOTR (the BOOK) that this issue isn't even discussable. Harry as favourite? Nope, never. Up till OotP came along.
Now, there was something of interest. A frustrated teenage boy, kept in the dark, not able to reach his friends and relations. A boy venting his frustrations, sometimes on his friends, the people he loves most. A boy who meets the darkness of the world, doing his best to cope, but sometimes failing to fit into the rules and guidelines. A boy growing up in less than one year. Losing more than he could ever think of, but keeping his honor at all times. That is the image of the hero to become. Well, our world is strange, sometimes, we readers do not believe heroes who don't make sacrifices. It's a tale as old as time - that issue was brought up over and over in myths and legends, in the fairy tales, in literature, in comic books even. And what we see of Harry by end OotP is an almost grown-up person, in many ways, the new loss helping him (in a travesty way) to reach adulthood.
And now, barely a week ago, came HBP. Here we see a much calmer Harry, as compared to OotP. No more spiky teenager by behaviour. And not a trace of an innocent child in his decisions. Of course, the unsquichable curiosity remains, but that is in his blood. He is calculating now, but sometimes his briliant instinctive ideas backfire quite nastily - remember the disaster at the Express? He becomes more wise, and more... resourceful, shall we say. I'd never ever have expected Harry to pull off such an amazingly brilliant stunt with the fake Felix Felicis-slipping with Ron. Slytherin much? Amazing nonetheless. Hermione wouldn't have been so crafty, with all due respect to the girl's cleverness. Dumbledore, maybe, would've done something like that. And maybe Lupin.
But we see some delightful personality (and House) traits remain in Harry - just as loyal to the ones he loves. Just as allergic to anyone power-seeking. Absolutely allergic to the Ministry (aka hypocrisy). Brave to the edge of recklessness where anything can happen. And, sadly, just as inept with Occlumency, which means some innocence remains in his character. And, of course, subject to his emotions, whic, sometimes, is not a good thing (especially when you're trying to take Snape single-handedly)
By the end of HBP only one thought was swirling in my mind: "Poor Harry. Poor, poor Harry" He's left without Dumbledore's wisdom and advice. But, what utterly delighted me was that at the funeral he didn't think about Dumbledore as a source of useful information and protection. He remembered his sense of humour, instead. I'm just going to quote a bit here:
'He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him,' said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.
'My dear boy ... even Dumbledore cannot return from the-'
'I am not saying he can. You wouldn't understand. '
That characterises present Harry best. He's learned more about himself, I think, with Dumbledore's death. It gave him more reasons to hunt Voldemort down. And, I'm sure, he'll be using every opportunity to learn more in his quest.
The sixth book firmly planted Harry on the second place among my character preferences. That's all I have to say, for now.