Unbeknownst to me at the time, while I finished high school JK Rowling created a character that inspired millions. My mother gave me all of her books on tape several months back since I'm the only family member with a cassette deck in the car, and so I've listened to books, including Rowling's, during my work commute. Unlike most of her audience, I came to empathize and agree with Snape and Draco as I came to know the characters. You see, I was not her target audience based on my age, and I think I understand now why a slew of young people I meet in class have the attitudes that they do. They modeled their lives, their attitudes, and their schooling after her uninspired and overexaggerated character. Saint Potter, as Draco called him, could do no wrong despite his very young age. Everyone coddled and protected him, which made him feel like he was more special than he actually was. Finally, far too many students whine like Harry did when things get tough, and so some frustration with Harry has "slithered in" to this Slytherin.
I am not really sure what Harry Potter does right besides get lucky. Although widely recognized for "stopping Voldemort", the credit is unjustly ascribed to him when it belongs to his mother whose actions actually defeated the dark wizard. Since Harry survived, he gets credit, and that goes to his head too often. Indeed in his first day of potions, Snape has him dead to rights when he says, "Some of us feel confident in our abilities enough to not pay attention...clearly fame isn't everything" and yet most people put him on a pedestal as if he did something special. Well, I'm alive today, so shouldn't I get a medal or at least the elder wand? Sure, professors give him detention and demerits, but the doddering Dumbledore fauns over the little kid. What has any 11 year old actually accomplished anyway? I ask as did Tom Riddle in book 3 "How is it that a boy with no extraordinary talent managed to defeat the greatest dark wizard ever?" Truly, he gets lucky, and for that he's a hero? Bullocks. You have to be a certain type of arrogant to do what Harry does. He goes into the forest looking for giant spiders, steals things from Snape's office, ventures into the chamber of secrets alone, tackles a troll, spies on teachers, defies the ministry by rescuing Buckbeak and Black. What 13 year old boy do you know who's that arrogant that he would even attempt such feats? Who does he think he is?
Harry walks around the castle, talks to his elders, and acts without regard for any order whatsoever constantly. I suppose because everyone feels sorry for him, they make exceptions for him, letting him do things and have things and go places that others may not. From "youngest seeker in a century" to managing a petronus by age 13, this little kid is portrayed as paragon when he's really pariah. His presence at that school puts every other kid's life in danger. Many of the adults befriend and faun over him because they liked and missed his father, when his father was basically the same kind of miscreant and malcontent as the son. Aunt Marge saw Harry, not as a hero, but as a burden, and his presence and activities at the school support that conclusion. He's out of bed, out of the castle, in secret passages, disobedient to teachers, mouthy to Filch, self absorbed, self important, and with a sense of entitlement that I suppose is common to all so lavishly endowed with a vault full of gold and surrounded by fans. He's like a famous blogger, a supermodel, or an internet sensation, and worst of all none of it's real. He's not even real. He's some imaginary character in a book. At least he got my brother to read.
Far before book V when everyone knows Harry became a whiner, listening to the tapes made me realize Harry is a petulant, pesky, and pusillanimous person earlier. Several times while listening to Book III, I turned the tape off because I was frustrated. He's so upset with Black killing his parents, with Snape as the villain, with the fact that everyone thinks he's set the basilisk on them in Book II that he's constantly whining. It's a wonder he has any friends, particularly Hermione. Notice, they don't end up together. If not for loads of help in Book IV he would have probably died before the race for the Goblet of Fire. Harry constantly mopes, constantly whines, particularly about his family which is the only thing protecting him outside of school, and takes everything for granted. He lived, and he keeps on living, and so this arrogant whelp eventually comes of age and goes looking for the dark wizard who killed his parents. Then there's this fascination with quidditch which I find to be a very stupid sport, and how upset he is when matches are cancelled, games are lost, and teachers tell him to obey. Why can't he just have his way and impress everyone everywhere in every subject? Is that too much to ask? Again, what 17 year old boy is that arrogant, that entitled, that assured, to try something so foolhardy and reckless as hunt down an escaped murderer? What an idiot indeed, Hermione. Ultimately, this costs Snape his life, and even then Harry can't summon up enough empathy for anyone to subjugate his self-pity and mourn the loss of someone who actually acted like an adult. In fact, Snape seems the only teacher willing to act like a teacher instead of a friend and do what's right for Harry rather than capitulating to appease the "Boy Who Lived".
Fortunately, there are only four books on cassette to which I can listen in the car. I enjoyed the chance to read in the car while commuting and I found it interesting to see this side of Harry Potter now that he's no longer the latest craze and on everyone's lips. Even my father realized last Sunday when I mentioned this that he hadn't realized this side of Harry's character and dramatis personae. I think everyone got caught up in the hero-worship that stories like this accidentally create. I worry about young people who took Harry as an example rather than an inspiration, and I think now that explains my scathing negative review online. That woman saw herself as my Harry and me as her Snape, and she thought I was the antagonist rather than an adult. She's not alone. We have gobs of young people, more than I remember at that age, walking around thinking they are more important, more capable, and more entitled than ever before simply because they are alive. What teenager needs that degree of arrogance? What teacher can get through to students who think they don't need to pay attention because they are famous on youtube or earn more than I do stripping downtown? How is it that students of no significant chemical talent think they are smarter than I? Yes, I am their Potions Master, and I guess that's our lot- to be hated until we give the last full measure of devotion. I've looked at Harry Potter from both sides now, and I'm glad to see the Boy Who Whined move on to other things.
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