Modulator

Themes of Harry Potter 2

The other day I noted various Harry Potter themes that were being discussed. Today, courtesy of NZ Bear's Blogosphere Daily News and Kevin Holtsbury I found this interesting discussion of The Politics and Personalities of Harry Potter 5. Greg, the author, in turn points to a Tony Adragna post in which Tony compares Harry to bush. Tony updates with a note that Glenn Reynolds and Betsy both make similar connections.

Reynolds, in the above linked post, takes Chris Suellentrop to task for this hammering of Harry:

Of course, Suellentrop is wrong......

What he brings to the table are personal qualities rather than talents. He's loyal, and more importantly he inspires loyalty. And he has a clear vision of what matters. Everyone else is able to forget, or to convince themselves to ignore, the threat posed by Voldemort. Harry, on the other hand, never forgets.

Reynolds attributes these same traits to bush. And a strict reading probably supports this. In making his bush as Harry argument I wonder why he leaves out so many of the other points Suellentrop uses to bash Harry, for example:

...skates through school by taking advantage of his inherited wealth and his establishment connections.

What Harry has achieved on his own, ..., stems mostly from luck and, more often, inheritance.

Harry's other achievements can generally be chalked up to the fact that he regularly plays the role of someone's patsy.

In fact, Harry rarely puts hard work or effort into anything.

Well, in the case of Harry Suellentrop is wrong. Harry is an actor (not in the theatrical sense) rather then an intellectual. Instead of hammering on Harry as does Suellentorp, who apparently thinks Harry's development is at an end, I am eagerly looking ahead to see if Harry will build on his strengths, learn to work with his advisors and actually grow to a level where he might achieve his potential greatness. Oh, and we should note that Harry is never awol when the time comes to enter the fray.

This is one of the wonderful things about books: the story unfolds through the eyes of each individuals world. In contrast with the perspective presented by Tony, Glenn and Betsy how many of you also thought of the bushies as you read the book but as Voldemort and the Death Eaters?

And, since my last writing on this, Kevin Drum comments that he considers Snape the most interesting character in the book. There is interesting Snape discussion in the post's comment thread.

Posted by Steve on July 20, 2003