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thistlechaserI'm reading the next couple chapters in one of the stories I rec'ed a while back, Summon the Lambs to Slaughter. I want to recommend it again, but it's on my page once already. It's always an amazing, humbling thing when an author puts your own thoughts into words better than you yourself can.
I don't like Harry Potter (the character, not the books). I've never really tried to work out why, it was just something I felt, something I knew. Chapter 11 of Summon the Lambs put it into the words that I didn't or couldn't.
(Quote starts.)
Her reaction to Potter was intriguing to say the least. As the father had been, so was the son. He was the Golden Child, revered by his schoolmates for his unmatched talent on the Quidditch pitch, his bravery in the face of the encroaching Voldemort menace and adored by most of his instructors for his politeness and good manners. To this day, Colin Creevey followed him around like an orphaned gosling, despite the fact that Potter had made it clear that he was not going to be accepted into the Holy Triumvirate. McGonagall, much vaunted by legions of former students as the no-nonsense, laissez-faire lioness who refused to play favorites, had bestowed upon the boy a new, state-of-the-art racing broom paid for from her personal account. Such clandestine gifts were expressly forbidden, as stated in the Hogwarts employment contract, but when he had pointed this out to the Headmaster, Albus had done little more than smile at him. The normal rules did not apply to Harry Potter.
He drew everyone to him with his light. Everyone who loved the Light, that was. The children of darker things fled from him, shied away from his luminescent aura, fled into the gloom to nurse their sordid hatreds. Draco shunned him because he had achieved all that the Malfoy fortune could not buy. He, Snape, turned away from him because he could not face the recollections he inspired. Now Stanhope, sent into the bosom of the Light without any other passport than Dumbledore's trust, was turning her face from him. He wondered what that said about her.
It could be nothing more than simple jealousy and resentment. It was not an uncommon thing. He suspected that many of the students here held a bit of contempt for Potter, though none would confess to such a thing, not even under threat of death. To speak against Potter was a form of blasphemy. Be that as it may, Potter was wizarding royalty, a rags-to-riches story of the first order, and it was only natural to resent someone who went from nothing to everything in the blink of an eye while you struggled for every scrap of recognition. Even Weasley, Potter's stalwart best mate, had succumbed to bitterness for a time during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The only true fans of fairy tales were those lucky enough to have lived them.
(End quote.)
The Golden Boy. It fits. It makes him a good book-hero, but for me personally, there are many reasons to dislike and resent him. No matter that he had a hard childhood, look at him now. He gets everything handed to him on a plate. Most everyone loves him most of the time, teachers and adults included. At best/worst, he's worshiped. Even before he did anything (when he was just arriving to school) he was a hero. Why? Because of a sacrifice his mother made. None of his own doing at all. And yet he's crowned a hero. (Rereading this, it makes him sound rather Mary Sue-ish, huh?)
His rule-breaking is overlooked time and time again. He gets so much inside "help" (for lack of a better word -- the Map, for example, and the cloak). He gets /everything/ and people still love him to death. It's a wonder more people don't dislike him, but again I think this writer hit it on the head: To speak ill of Harry Potter would be akin to blasphemy.
Ah, time to leave work. Guess this pondering ends here. Hope it all makes sense.
I don't like Harry Potter (the character, not the books). I've never really tried to work out why, it was just something I felt, something I knew. Chapter 11 of Summon the Lambs put it into the words that I didn't or couldn't.
(Quote starts.)
Her reaction to Potter was intriguing to say the least. As the father had been, so was the son. He was the Golden Child, revered by his schoolmates for his unmatched talent on the Quidditch pitch, his bravery in the face of the encroaching Voldemort menace and adored by most of his instructors for his politeness and good manners. To this day, Colin Creevey followed him around like an orphaned gosling, despite the fact that Potter had made it clear that he was not going to be accepted into the Holy Triumvirate. McGonagall, much vaunted by legions of former students as the no-nonsense, laissez-faire lioness who refused to play favorites, had bestowed upon the boy a new, state-of-the-art racing broom paid for from her personal account. Such clandestine gifts were expressly forbidden, as stated in the Hogwarts employment contract, but when he had pointed this out to the Headmaster, Albus had done little more than smile at him. The normal rules did not apply to Harry Potter.
He drew everyone to him with his light. Everyone who loved the Light, that was. The children of darker things fled from him, shied away from his luminescent aura, fled into the gloom to nurse their sordid hatreds. Draco shunned him because he had achieved all that the Malfoy fortune could not buy. He, Snape, turned away from him because he could not face the recollections he inspired. Now Stanhope, sent into the bosom of the Light without any other passport than Dumbledore's trust, was turning her face from him. He wondered what that said about her.
It could be nothing more than simple jealousy and resentment. It was not an uncommon thing. He suspected that many of the students here held a bit of contempt for Potter, though none would confess to such a thing, not even under threat of death. To speak against Potter was a form of blasphemy. Be that as it may, Potter was wizarding royalty, a rags-to-riches story of the first order, and it was only natural to resent someone who went from nothing to everything in the blink of an eye while you struggled for every scrap of recognition. Even Weasley, Potter's stalwart best mate, had succumbed to bitterness for a time during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The only true fans of fairy tales were those lucky enough to have lived them.
(End quote.)
The Golden Boy. It fits. It makes him a good book-hero, but for me personally, there are many reasons to dislike and resent him. No matter that he had a hard childhood, look at him now. He gets everything handed to him on a plate. Most everyone loves him most of the time, teachers and adults included. At best/worst, he's worshiped. Even before he did anything (when he was just arriving to school) he was a hero. Why? Because of a sacrifice his mother made. None of his own doing at all. And yet he's crowned a hero. (Rereading this, it makes him sound rather Mary Sue-ish, huh?)
His rule-breaking is overlooked time and time again. He gets so much inside "help" (for lack of a better word -- the Map, for example, and the cloak). He gets /everything/ and people still love him to death. It's a wonder more people don't dislike him, but again I think this writer hit it on the head: To speak ill of Harry Potter would be akin to blasphemy.
Ah, time to leave work. Guess this pondering ends here. Hope it all makes sense.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-10 05:09 pm (UTC)One of the essays in this collection of scholarly papers is exactly about how Harry is not a hero on his own, about how he would not succeed without the copious help he gets for no other reason than that he is Harry Potter. This essay is quite critical of JKR's mixed messages (it's what you make of yourself that's more important? really?) and is worth a read. As is much of the rest of the book.
Available at amazon if you want to pay, or at fine University libraries everywhere if you can use them. I was able to get a copy via our interlibrary loan system, since I live in the boondocks.
(Not available in Australia, as I found out recently.)
no subject
Date: 2003-04-10 05:53 pm (UTC)I just hit Amazon. Man, there are lots of good-sounding books on the same subject. Ah. One of them, Harry Potter's World: Multidisciplinary Critical Perspectives, goes for $90. Probably why I was going to check out the library. Man, and another one, just a paperback one, for $20.
Rrr. So many good-sounding books. Okay, it's settled. I'll never get to the library and I like owning my own books. Ivory Tower and Multidisciplinary Critical Perspectives are now on their way to me (or at least ordered). Woo! Thank you for the reminder!
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 08:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 07:18 am (UTC)Actually, I don't really see him being looked at as a "hero" so much as a famous person. Because, as you say, hero implies that he actively *did* something to gain the title.
The primary feeling I get from people is that he's famous because he's the only person to have survived Voldemort's attention, someone who 13 years later *still* invokes the "You Know Who" reaction. I can imagine how alien that would be to the wizarding world. I think most people who have a reaction interpreted as 'hero-worship' (with the exception of Colin, who probably doesn't know better) is more awe and disbelief. And that it's so widespread is because *everyone* knows his story.
I also don't think McGonagall plays favorites with him. Dumbledore, yes...but I get this sense that Dumbledore may know something about Harry that he has yet to reveal to the reading audience. He's allowed Tillorney (sp?) to stay on, even knowing she's only made two true predictions in her life. Maybe *he* really has the foretelling knack...
Anyway, just an alternate opinion, unadultered by fanfic. :)