sistermagpie | Special treatment

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westmoon!!

I've been following a rather long discussion about Harry's getting special treatment in the books, and have something to say about it (pause for expressions of shock). It has gotten into a good area, I think, which is the idea of people resenting special treatment regardless of the reason for it. Think, for instance, about children with serious diseases and their siblings. I believe it's generally understood that siblings can feel jealous of the attention paid to the sick child, and that these feelings should be addressed and not just dismissed by saying the child should feel lucky he doesn't have a disease. Of course the child doesn't want to feel sick; but the jealousy speaks to an anxiety about how he's felt about by his parents or whatever.

So that led me to realize the three characters in HP canon who get the most focused on Harry's special treatment are all characters with issues about themselves not being special--or worse. It's not about Harry, really--Harry could be carried to class by Veelas every day and it wouldn't bother them as much if they were happy in themselves, but as it is they just can't not let it bother them. If you look at what happens to these characters in canon their experience seem to all speak to this same issue. We're not inside their heads hearing about how this is an issue, but JKR is constantly thinking up new things to happen to them that play on it where they're not good enough or don't triumph. I think that's as close as she can come to telling us this is an issue.

Ron, Draco and Snape

The three characters I'm thinking of are all the ones who have mocked Harry for being an attention-whore. (There is perhaps one more, Zacharias Smith, but I don't think we've seen enough of Zach to speak about whether this is his real issue with Harry or what his real issues are.)
Ron

The whole fight in GoF turns on Ron resenting Harry's once again being in the spotlight. Once he's angry at Harry it's surprising how much Ron sounds like Snape or Draco. This may actually slip by people in terms of significance because we expect people who dislike Harry sounding like those two, since they are the people who dislike Harry. But really Ron could have criticized something completely different about Harry. If Hermione was angry at Harry I doubt she'd go that route. But Ron shows that he actually, underneath, identifies with Snape and Malfoy on some level, even if he'd never agree with them on principle. Ron's, "I guess you have to get up early for a photo call," is totally something Snape would say.

And what is Ron's role in canon except to be not special himself? He's overshadowed by all of his brothers, by Hermione, by Harry, by his little sister. In the past people often hoped Ron's ability to play chess would be important, imo, in an attempt to even out the Trio in terms of special-ness, but it really isn't important. He's not a genius at chess either, he just plays pretty well. In PS Rowling makes that figure into the climax, but many things in PS I suspect are made to stand-alone. Had the series ended there it would be right to give all the students a prize-PS is the only story that gives Neville a really full arc as well.

In later books Ron feels he doesn't belong on the Quidditch team, has dress robes that suggest to him he doesn't belong at the ball, everything he owns is "rubbish." He spends a year without a working wand, making him rather unfit for school. Sometimes he mutters about the advantages Harry has that he takes for granted: "Must be nice to have so much gold you don't notice when a pocketful of galleons goes missing."
It seems pretty clear that Ron sees *himself* as being inadequate, which is partially why he deals so clumsily with times he's given attention. Harry notes how often Ron re-tells the story of Sirius' attack in PoA, or plays up his role in the Second Task, or re-lives the Quidditch game where he played well. He's insecure even about accepting attention he does get. He behaves badly all around with Lavender and seems quickly cowed into disavowing his status as Prefect (it's like Percy). Not only does Ron feel like he lacks the important talents (those like Harry and the twins and Ginny have), he has to distance himself from anything that might be like Percy. (I'm not talking about Percy the disciplinarian, here, but Percy's being a good assistant, being loyal, sometimes being uncomfortable with things the Twins see as fun or their due, etc.) He really doesn't seem to have a good sense of himself except in the negative--he's not Harry, Hermione, the twins, Ginny, Charlie or Bill. He fears being Percy, so is sensitive to anything they have in common.

Hermione says something like this to Harry in GoF, trying to get him to see where Ron is coming from. Harry never acknowledges Ron's problems and feels the fight is concluded when Ron apologizes for saying he put his own name in the Goblet and goes back to just supporting him all the time. He seems to then assume that Ron couldn't have meant any of the things he said when he was angry.

Ron's personal challenge stories are all about this. He has to succeed at Quidditch on his own, his friends and family can't hide their lack of faith in his talents. Ron even almost quits. I think that's why, as funny as it is, it's important for Ron to go over and over it when he wins a game, making the whole experience real.

Draco
Draco's history in canon is a series of dramatic failures. He begins the series being rejected by Harry, told he isn't the right sort to be Harry's friend. He's a good Quidditch player, but not good enough to beat Harry. A good student, but not good enough to beat Hermione. He has some brilliant plans, but they never work even when they might have. The times he starts getting attention it's usually because of Harry--he's a moon to Harry's son (oops--as pointed out to me, that would be moon to Harry's sun I meant!), only reflecting light. He's happy when Harry is unhappy, rather than being happy because he has genuine reason to be so. He is shown favor by Snape, but Snape is more focused on Harry than Draco, even if it's negatively. Draco also uses Umbridge's vendetta against Harry to his advantage, but again Umbridge is all about Harry and Draco is just trying to use that to gain something for himself. He talks about his father as if his opinion is most important, yet the one time they're together Lucius is criticizing him and ignoring him, telling him he's not good enough. (And what's Draco prattling about but how Harry is always good enough--he's better than good enough, why?) It's interesting that Draco, like Ron, is made Prefect, though again Hermione seems to judge both of them as inferior at the job.

I like that Draco also points out all of Harry's time in the infirmary ("It's been a week without a trip there-that's a personal record for you, isn't it?") because Draco of course also spends time in the hospital wing, often without sympathy from our pov characters. He makes a big deal of his injury in PoA which partially just bugs Harry but I think also may suggest he's the kind of kid who associates injury and illness with a way to get affection (with his mother, I don't doubt it). He may see Harry's maladies the same way. He also teases Harry for being crazy pretty often when, uh, I tend to see Draco walking that special line himself. (Not that he's really mad, but let's just say there's times I think he's more at risk for brain fever than most-I think Elkins was right on with her Draco the Nutter essay.) Draco's trying to be blasé about his injury in PoA is also a play for attention, and Harry's attitude about his own injuries may come off the same way to Draco.

This comes to a head with his task in HBP. Harry, like Draco, has been targeted for death by Voldemort. But Voldemort targets Harry because Harry is a threat, he has a power he knows not, he is the one who can defeat him. There's an implied respect in Voldemort's targeting of Harry, and when Voldemort tries to pretend otherwise (by setting up the duel in GoF) naturally it's his downfall. Draco's situation is exactly the opposite. His job in HBP is to do the one thing he can be counted on to do: fail. Voldemort isn't giving him a chance to prove himself; he's setting him up and banking on his being inept.
Think of the implications of that. Not only is Draco not seen as especially capable by his Dark Lord, he's so expendable Voldemort will kill him as a message to Lucius. Voldemort has good reason to think Draco would become a DE himself when he got older, but to Voldemort he's no loss at all. Voldemort may not be intentionally giving Draco a chance to prove himself, but this is what Draco makes the task into. I think his desperation comes from that--this is a loser seeing one chance to not be a loser. There's too much at stake to depend on Snape or hide behind his mother. He *must* prove himself as having some worth, some value in the world, even if he has to prove it by being to do something bad.

Dumbledore seems to get this, which is why he keeps praising Draco's accomplishments in the Tower. He knows Draco must see his offer as being made to a place of strength, not as a lifeline to save him. He's trying to assure Draco that he has achieved victory finally; he did what he set out to do--not kill Dumbledore but prove that he could bring about circumstances where all he had to do was choose to do it and it would be done. He exceeded expectations for the one time in his life. That, I think, has become the most important thing to Draco, which is a lot better than wanting to please Voldemort.

So you can see Draco's personal test story is a variation on Ron's fitted more to his personality. Ron deals with his feelings of inferiority by making sad sack comments now and then. Draco goes on the offensive and puts other people down as being inferior. Those are both pretty common ways of dealing with this kind of insecurity, I think.

Snape
And then there's Snape. With Snape there are some big mysteries about the character, of course, that make it impossible to talk about him with the same perspective as the two boys, but still throughout canon Snape is all about the little humiliations and rejection. He's always passed over for DADA and it seems to annoy him when Umbridge brings it up (he may not know about the curse); the whole school knows about it. His team never wins, and he is often is described as forcing a smile in defeat. He's furious at not getting his Order of Merlin in PoA. Many people see this as childish and it is, but it does indicate that Snape is desperate for a medal like this--why? Many people feel this goes against the stereotype of the super cool spy they see as Snape. To me it seems like a clear sign that Snape needs some form of outside validation for himself. When the medal is snatched away almost as a joke, with Dumbledore seeming to find it amusing, it's another sign that Snape is not "good enough" to ever really be admired.

In HBP Harry uses Snape's old textbook to become a Potions star and yet Slughorn keeps going on and on about Lily with barely a mention of Snape. I think once he says, "Even Severus..." and is cut off. That, to me, is significant. Obviously Snape was a fantastic Potions student, yet his teacher remembers Lily as being the star and now Harry. Snape's own accomplishments never come up or seem to pale in comparison, even though we know that's not true. Slughorn quite possibly is more impressed by Snape's genius when it's attributed to Harry, perhaps because of Harry's other attributes.

In CoS Snape "can't hide his smile" when ickle!Draco says he'd make a great headmaster--I always felt affection for Snape there, because I took that moment as exactly what it looks like, that he *likes* having this little kid earnestly tell him he's the best teacher and should be headmaster. Snape feels violated when Harry rifles through his most embarrassing memory, sees it as Harry thinking he has the right to do that and assuming Harry laughed at him just like his father did. Snape also gets very defensive when Fake!Moody suggests Dumbledore doesn't trust him; Snape seems to see that trust as a mark of distinction as well.
And then, of course, there's that Prank. We don't know enough about it to know what really happened, but we do know that Snape seems furious at hearing it described as the time James heroically saved his life. We know he calls it attempted murder and Remus calls it a stupid joke. So from Snape's pov, especially taken in conjunction with his "worst memory" involving his being humiliated at the hands of the same people, plus the way he talks about Harry, it seems like he does to harbor the impression that the Marauders thought they were "better" than he was and everyone agreed. Snape really does seem to have this sense that other people get to get away with stuff because they're so great. That Snape turns around and favors his own kids is a lot like Draco grabbing a place for himself with Umbridge. It's about saying, "Ha ha, Potter. I'll bet it must kill you to not be special now! I'll cut you down to size!"

I mean, Snape seems to arrive at his first class with a very clear idea of what Harry's attitude is, like he knows how celebrities behave and how they think they're better than everyone. That's based on James, yes, but I think more importantly it's based on how he felt just seeing James walk around being loved and having one triumph after another-and he's seen that with Harry being the center of attention. If Snape was in love with Lily he probably would have good reason to think that whatever we'll hear about Saint Lily only seeing the beauty of people on the inside, she wasn't attracted to Snape because he was physically repulsive while James was cute and charismatic.

Snape also seems to go more the Draco route in building himself up as better than others-he gave himself a ridiculous nickname in school that's all about grandiosity: the Half-Blood Prince, as opposed to the jokier MWPP nicknames. He bought into Pureblood ideology, which assures Purebloods of always having a group of people who are inferior. This is something that seems to continue to baffle a lot of fans, who still insist that Snape must have been an outcast in Slytherin and hates all the kids who are in the house now, and never was a real DE, because they think being a half-blood means you can't have blood-prejudice.
So yeah, these three characters--they're very different in exactly where they get their insecurity and what form it takes, but I do think that each one of them is clearly shown having to struggle for something like basic personal worth and this is why they see Harry as just walking around being not *that* special with everyone throwing themselves at him. To a certain extent they're right, of course. He did just get famous for lying in a cradle and not dying. But still I don't think it's a coincidence that these three characters who seem to struggle with resentment are so constantly shown also having to struggle with failure and being ignored and not being good enough.

To throw in one more contrast, look at Neville who seems to be the exact opposite. One can take the view that Neville is a healthier person who doesn't hold Harry's fame against him and to an extent I think that's true. But Neville has also embraced his alleged inadequacy as part of himself in a different way, I think. I mean, perhaps he's a bit like Harry in that Harry was raised by people who always told him he was awful. He was so awful he was special, and Harry defined himself against that and doesn't have too many problems with himself as not being adequate as a human being. He's bothered by Draco most when he's in a position where he does feel he doesn't belong--in the robe shop, when he's first put in the Tournament. But he seems comfortable with himself as a person. Neville maybe went through his own form of that, though I can't quite say how he views himself. One could probably do a healthy and an unhealthy reading on Neville's view of Harry.

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Date: 2006-01-08 12:31 am (UTC)

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