[ SECRET POST #1755 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1755 ⌋


Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 09 pages, 206 secrets from Secret Submission Post #251.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 1 2 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeats ]
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments and concerns should go here.

Comments

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

Nope. I reject the idea that there aren't any clues for him to pick up on. HE GETS ATTACKED MY VOLDEMORT DURING HIS FIRST YEAR. He sees Voldemort pretty much come back when he's been hearing that the guy is dead and he ends up in the hospital because of it. How much more of a clue does he need?

No one said he couldn't play Quidditch and do all the normal kid stuff too. He would be fucking boring if he didn't. But he doesn't even bother to take up a book on his own and try to learn some spells so that he can be ready. For the longest time, the thought to study outside of coursework doesn't even cross his mind. And then he goes so far as to make fun of Hermione for studying when she's not even the one that the guy is out to get.

And the "he's a child" thing doesn't jive for me either because people grow up much faster in their world than in ours. You're an adult at 17 years old in their world. And he's still fucking around after the threat becomes real, worrying about who's making the Quidditch team and other unimportant stuff like that. The adults in his life have their own share of blame but that doesn't make Harry any less accountable. I'll give him a break at 11 but after you've been attacked and seen people around you being attacked, it's time to buckle down and do some research of your own. Hermione manages it just fine. He has resources. Even if he never found out a damn thing in all his searching, at least he would have tried. And that's what bothers me. That he didn't try as much as it logically followed that he should have considering the threat against his life.

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

I know he did. And I'm not holding him responsible for his actions in Book 1. I actually think that's the most initiative he takes in the whole series in proportion to the information he has. He barely knows a thing but he knows enough to know that something is wrong and that he's gonna try to help out.

The reason this story works is because the characters are very human.

Humans also have some sense of self-preservation. And the fact that he just relies on luck so much is another thing that bothers me. When I was a teenager, I slacked off and didn't do what I should. But my life and the lives of those around me were never in mortal peril. So the comparison between Harry and normal teenagers doesn't apply. He's NOT normal. That's the firs thing we ever learn about him.

[eerised-da.livejournal.com]

But that's the thing: How do you know you'd react any differently with the same exact life experiences? You can't know how you'd react if you'd lived Harry's life because you wouldn't be the same person you are.

Also, that was an important aspect of Harry himself: luck. He wasn't supposed to be super smart. He was special by circumstances, but he was supposed to be fairly average outside of that and luck is what got him through most situations, if not his best friends helping him (mostly Hermione). He was actually supposed to be very normal.

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

I don't know. That's why I'm here speculating on it and throwing in my two-cents. Because it's fun not to know and to think "what would I do/what should he do." It's most of the fun in fiction when a character doesn't do exactly what you think they should. Doesn't mean I can't still rage over it LOL.

The luck part of Harry was one thing I have a big problem with in the book. "He got lucky" doesn't make for a protagonist that I wanna spend my time on. That's why Neville and Ron were always my favorites lol

[eerised-da.livejournal.com]

Of course you can rage over it, that's really not the point. The point is that he was a kid and expecting the same things of a child--abused and neglected, no less--is kind of ridiculous.

And that's perfectly fine that you don't want to, but you did in reading the books. Harry wasn't all luck, just lots of luck. You say he didn't take initiative, but he did. Consistently he was the one running off to save the school and its inhabitants from danger. Maybe he wasn't the best student, maybe he wasn't ever going to be the most powerful wizard. Maybe he was just a lucky kid who had a bit of bad luck in being marked by Voldemort, but still made the most of his life.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I think you've missed a couple of points. The first is that Harry has spent years with the Dursleys pounding "Don't ask questions!" into his head. And the grownups beyond the Dursleys (his teachers at school, for example) don't appear to have championed him much beyond insisting that he get glasses. He hasn't been given a lot of books to read, hasn't ever been encouraged to develop his own interests, doesn't go on outings, doesn't even have any friends to stimulate his mind with conversations. Not until he gets to Hogwarts. If Harry's learned anything from his life before Hogwarts it's that when you put your head up someone tries to take it off. That sort of life doesn't make for a scholar. It makes for a kid who does what he's asked to do and hopes that no one will punish him for doing it wrong.

Not to mention that he doesn't value himself all that much. Year after year he takes stupid chances with his own life whenever he's convinced that if he dies he will have saved others. :/

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

When I read the books, I saw a whole world being opened up to Harry of new things that he was allowed to try and learn about. Sure, not everything was allowed (and for good reason) but he wasn't nearly as confined as at the Dursley's. Brand new world, brand new things. And he dives right into it in some cases but IMO doesn't really embrace a very important part until much later than I thought made sense. IDK, something about his attitude in the books just seemed weird and off to me. Like, why aren't you studying boy?! HE'S TRYING TO KILL YOU!

LOL yea...

[(Anonymous)]

You have no grasp of human psychology. None whatsoever.

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

In the real world, sure I do. But that's completely different from what I wanna see in my fiction. And I acknowledge that. In my fiction, I wanna see "Someone murdered my parents and tried to kill me? Time for me to become kick ass and start name-taking" LOL

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, so you don't care about characters being psychologically realistic? OK. Each to their own. Seems a dumbass thing to be complaining about but whatever.

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

Complaining about a lot of things to do with fiction is dumb because the story isn't going to change anyway. But it's still fun LOL. Being beaten daily, often not fed, and locked in the dark for most of your life does not a well-adjusted and healthy 11-year-old make. And yet Harry is one is HP1. So arguments about what the character do will almost always be based on what a reader wants to see and not always what's realist.

And they're fantasy books. Fantasy implying that the person reading them doesn't have to be looking for realistic depictions of human interactions. Fantasy is a means of escape and it can be as as unrealistic as possible as long as it fulfills a reader/writer's desires.

[eerised-da.livejournal.com]

Discussion fiction is never dumb. If it were there wouldn't be classes devoted to the study of literature (and Harry Potter does have its own classes devoted to the study of it.)

You're entitled to your opinions, but regardless of what you want to see in literature, most good stories make it because they are relateable and believable. The psychology of characters is important to maintaining that relateablitiy and believability. Just because it's fantasy doesn't mean it shouldn't be believable.

[pet-lunatic.livejournal.com]

Sorry for picking up on a specific point, but do they really grow up 'much faster' in the wizarding world? 17 instead of 18 isn't much of a difference, and the age of majority is so generic as to be meaningless anyway.

I think expecting an abused kid being offered a decent life for the first time to grow up instantly and reject all that's enjoyable in that new life is a bit unreasonable. As Churchill is supposed to have said, if cut funding to the arts to fund a war, what are we fighting for? What meaning would Harry find in working to save his life if that life had no joy in it? Soldiers don't stop caring about football. They even played a game in No Man's Land during the first world war.

Besides, Harry has a deal-with-it-when-it-comes personality; he seldom prepares unless promoted by others, and he likes to put off unpleasant tasks as long as possible. It's his nature. Not everybody is like Hermione.

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

People seem to think I think Harry shouldn't have any fun LOL. I really don't. If he was all workworkwork he would be boring. I just think he didn't focus as much as he should had. It's not in his nature and he likes to put off unpleasant things but I'm just saying that this is one of those unpleasant things that you really shouldn't put off LOL. This isn't just homework you don't wanna do. It's your life haha

[eerised-da.livejournal.com]

And we're countering with "he's a kid", "he's an abused child", "this is how he copes with shit". Serious things like this shouldn't be put off, but that doesn't mean people don't put them off.

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. Hence my rage LOL. I really enjoyed the HP books, mostly because the characters make me rage so much.

[eerised-da.livejournal.com]

This.

[wrestlingdog.livejournal.com]

I agree with you.

+1

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. This is a good comment.