dudley demented

[merrymelody]

I wasn't sure as to the posting guidelines, really. Is it okay to post our own interpretations, or should we stick to comments? I put this up by itself, since it looked too long to fit elsewhere.

Comments

[fyrdrakken]

Two things I must argue -- above, when you referred to:

Harry merely glanced at the front page before throwing it aside these days; when the idiots who ran the paper finally realised that Voldemort was back it would be headline news, and that was the only kind Harry cared about.

With the following comment:

And of course, Harry Potter must be mentioned on the front page. If he isn't, why he can't be in the paper at all!

I didn't get that from the above passage, that Harry was looking for news about himself specifically, so much as he simply wanted acknowledgement of the fact that Voldemort was back and the wizarding world needed to get its head out of the sand regarding that fact.

The other thing:

And what were Ron and Hermione busy with? Why wasn't he, Harry, busy? Hadn't he proved himself capable of handling much more than them? Had they all forgotten what he had done? Hadn't it been he who had entered that graveyard and watched Cedric being murdered, and been tied to that tombstone and nearly killed?I think the problem I have

[merrymelody]

He simply wanted acknowledgement of the fact that Voldemort was back and the wizarding world needed to get its head out of the sand regarding that fact.

And if it includes a interview with Harry that can be blown up on the wall, and Harry can be a 'hero in the Gryffindor common room' and flattered in lots of letters, so much the better?

He's being treated like a child and an innocent when (to his way of thinking, at least) he should have proved to their satisfaction that he's past needing or deserving that sort of treatment.Different strokes and all that. I've no doubt your intepretation is exactly what the author intended

[fyrdrakken]

I certainly agree that Harry is reacting to not being "treated like an adult" (or a hero, for that matter) by becoming the spoiled brat he wasn't as a child, but I'm still not seeing his desperate hunt for Voldemort news as being even in part due to a desire for personal attention as of the first three chapters. Egocentricity will be cropping up in various ways as the book progresses and later chapters might have incidents related to the news that I'm forgetting (aside from the wholly understandable outrage at learning he's been the target of a deliberate smear job in the press while he was out of touch). He's being a spoiled brat and brooding over his heroic qualifications, but I'm still reading that as being the result of a month of having repeated requests for information receiving answers that boil down to, "Shut up kid and let the grownups handle the grownup business."

[fyrdrakken]

but I'm still not seeing his desperate hunt for Voldemort news as being even in part due to a desire for personal attention

Need to clarify here -- by "desire for personal attention" I'm referring shorthandedly to the wish to be hero-worshiped and fussed over. He is in fact wanting personal attention -- from his best friends and godfather, and simply that they stop ignoring his questions and tell him what's going on. Being shunted aside by the last three people he would expect to do such a thing has led to a certain brooding on wrongs and "How dare they ignore ME of all people?!" and the whole attitude problem he shows in the first three chapters.

But I still don't think he's wanting to see articles about Voldemort's return in the papers because he wants to be lionized in print (again).