Angry Harry...

[Violet]

I thought Harry being angry all the time was because Voldemort was possessing his mind. I don't know . . . maybe that a bit of Voldemort's qualities were infecting Harry? Maybe it's just me . . . .

I dont think so, like poeple have suggested i think that it is because harry is responding to all the horrible things that he has had to deal with throughout his life.

Anyway, I was really afraid that Rowling is setting up the scene for Harry to become evil

i dont think so. JK loves harry, and what makes him him is his sense of good, right and wrong etc.

[Angel]

Hi, very new just joined and never posted before but just had to say something. I may be going mad but I remember somewhere around the middle of the book a scene where Harry is studying and he reads a scentence which says something like the effects of a certain herb are headaches and feelings of recklessness. And at the time i thought "so that's it!! But then nothing more was mentioned and i haven't seen anything posted on it. So did i imagine it or am i reading too much into nothing?

[Charis]

i noticed that too! but i thought of Sirius instead of Harry. I think Harry's anger and emotions were completely caused by things inside of himself. not Voldie, not plants, but him. In book four, Harry underwent the hardest and most trying encounter with Voldemort. in addition to that, he had so many other things going wrong in his life... i will not take the time to list them, it has pretty much already been done so. i can understand some of his anger, and overflowing emotions, especially since he's 15...with hormones and all. but this change was too sudden for me. in the first chapter, i was completely taken aback by his anger. but, upon reflection, i think his anger then was most warranted. he was stuck on Privet Drive, very isolated from the world, and his friends weren't helping him much either. though I didn't like it, I could also understand his anger with them and with everything in Grimmauld Place. but when he returned to Hogwarts, and his anger still hadn't abated, that troubled me. he wasn't not really angry with his friends anymore, but he still took it out on them, and doesn't stop when they point this out to him. true, there as many things wrong at school as there was on Privet Drive, but with people who care about him to talk to at school, i would expect he could excersise a little more self control. though, i must admit, i rather like watching him taking his anger out at Umbridge. but, he went too far with that, too. but at the end, with Dumbledore, i can understand that anger. he just watched his godfather die, the man that he always went to to seek advice, the man who his parents had loved greatly and who he loved greatly in turn. Dumbledore, though not as sympathetic as one might wish, did the right thing in pointing out some of Sirius' faults with Kreacher. Harry needed to remember that Sirius was not the perfect man, just as he should remember the same about his father. DD's timing could have been a bit better, though. another thing about Harry's anger: it was "righteous anger." when Harry tried to kill Bellatrix, he could not because he was angry with her for good reasons. Bellatrix's reasons to kill Harry, on the other hand, were for power and hate. all of Harry's anger was founded on reasons that have their base in love for the good, not hate for the good. i hope that makes some amount of sense... i'm having trouble saying what i mean to say, but i think i got it....

all in all, i was not bothered so much by the fact that Harry had anger, mostly just by his lack of self control. in that way, Harry very much disappointed me.

[werebane]

i liked the anger. it made me happy knowing even people like harry sometimes lose comtrol

[Mint]

Oh it looks like everyone was p***d with Harry's anger outbreaks.

Hehe, well - I need to vent about that too.

I wanted to smack him!!!!!! DD even cried! and told him that he did all that just cause he cared!!! and Harry was so..........argh!

I know that he is 15 (the teenage strange mood thing) and that he has been through alot. But that did not excuse his behavior in my eyes!!!!!!

I was like, if it hadn't been for Dumbledore, you would be long time dead.



And for some reason i felt that Harry was ......selfish! THat he only cared about letting go of his anger and blaiming other people!!! What happen to all of the sympathy he felt for Snape? He managed to upset Dumbledore, Snape, Ron, Hermoine, Hagrid, Ginny.

And everyone forgave him. What a brat.

[ElijahRain]

Having worked with teens for 8 years, I understand the behavior of Harry in this book. I've seen several kids that go through far less garbage than this act out much worse - and many of them were from much more loving homes.

However, I still wouldn't have wanted to be around him much while he was acting like this. Someone in the book (DD, McGonagel) should have told him something along the lines of "Hey, yah, your life stinks right now. You have more pressure than you deserve. People are treating you like the second coming of the plague, but that doesn't give you licence to treat those that do love you the way you have."

The end of the book does seem to foreshadow that Harry had the maturity light bulb click back on in his head though. He may not understand everything DD told him, but you see him process it. I believe that we'll see a much more subdued HP in the next book. He'll have some of the anger likely, but also return to the core of his character much more.

[Charis]

The end of the book does seem to foreshadow that Harry had the maturity light bulb click back on in his head though. He may not understand everything DD told him, but you see him process it. I believe that we'll see a much more subdued HP in the next book. He'll have some of the anger likely, but also return to the core of his character much more.

i think you defintely have a point! i just think harry's too nice to keep going on like he did in this book for too long...or, well, i hope he's too nice

[Meg Boyd]

I agree with Elijah Rain...

Going along with that, perhaps its like what Hermione said about occulmency (sp) that maybe its like a fever and it has to get worse before it gets better...meaning Harry has been the lovable boy we've always known, but as the plot progesses he has gotten more and more angrified (cool word huh?) and he finally popped and well now get better and will perhaps become progresively nicer and more mature so that in the end he will only feel strong emotions that are good for him, like Love which will ultimately help him fight LV

[Eol]

I think that with Sirius' death, Harry is going to be a lot more subdued and in control of his temper. The burden has been laid upon him and he will act more like an adult. If you noticed that after the shock of Sirius' death had passed, he wasn't snapping at everyone, he just didn't seem to care anymore, in as Blaise Zabini called "Holden Caulfied-esque" fashion.

I just hope he just doesn't get too much like that.
"Harry, what happened when you faced You Know Who?"
"I could tell you what happened, but i don't much feel like it"
Boy would that blow.

[Mint]

It just hit me that probably for book 6 and 7 there will be a New Harry! New meaning that he will react towards things a bit different and have a different attitude towards the world.... .......i can't wait for the book 6!!!!

[Meg Boyd]

A new harry would be neat to see, and how he reacts to everything...I am sure he'll be less angry, and perhaps things will start dawning on him because he'll see things in a new light...little things will probably bother him less (ie Snape and Draco) now that he can see the big picture!

[Charis]

i hope that will happen. actually, maybe it'll be less like a new harry and more like the old harry. of course he can't just return to the way he was in the first books, but... book 5 was sort of a transitioning period. before he was young and naive (more or less) but with all the stuff he's gone through he's maturing into the real harry. learning to cope with his anger, becoming more accepting of things. he's had to mature earlier than most kids his age, and so it was harder i guess. he'll be more like the harry we know, i think, just older.

[highsorcerer]

Oh yes, Harry is also unloved by his relatives. It's another contrast. In the magic world, Harry is rich and famous. The Weasley's are poor and kind of outcasts. But Harry befriended a poor outcast like Ron than the rich and smug Malfoy's.

Harry cared nothing that Ron was poor. He bought treats and shared them with him. Plus the Weasley's don't love Harry because he's blood or rich or famous; only because he's been like a brother to Ron. The fight between Sirius and Molly showed it clearly (as did the one between Arthur and Molly). Molly is as protective and loving of Harry as a mother. Arthur and Sirius insist on treating him like and adult - even if the pain hurts.

The ultimate voice - Dumbledore, who took Molly's side, then the others later. And admitted he was wrong to conceal the truth. Arthur and Sirius argued Harry wasn't as child (though he still is by a few years). Molly didn't understand Harry has gone through what 5 wizards had in their life.

Dumbledore and Snape also made misktakes. Snape treated Harry like his father (who Harry was ashamed of after seeing the events of the pensive). Dumbledore admitted Snape was the wrong professor to teach him.

In the books; nobody is perfect. No mattter what the right reasons are, sometimes it's better to give the truth than a lie.

Consider this - Harry is in great pain for losing Sirius.... but how much pain is Dumbledore in for it as well?

[Mint]

Hmmm thats true, if DD would tell Harry the truth he would react to Hermoine's words totally different. (even though the "set up"was too perfect and I think he would still fall for it.

Also, speaking of Harry being ashamed of his dad......do you think now....that he (for some unknown reasons) hates Snape more then ever, he won't be ashamed of his dad anymore?

[Colin]

Also, speaking of Harry being ashamed of his dad......do you think now....that he (for some unknown reasons) hates Snape more then ever, he won't be ashamed of his dad anymore?

I think we saw some of Harrys reevaluation of his father already. Sirius told him flat out that his father Grew Up. I believe Harry will come to terms with this and look at his father is a more convention light in the next book. I can only hope:)

I cannot see Harry changing his view of Snape at all. Snape still thinks Harry is his father. Unless DD steps in, Snape will not change his views