Or, god help us, maybe JKR thinks she is really showing these things already by having Harry love Hermione despite her bossiness and Ron despite his envy and insecurities.
LOL--Yeah, that's the fear. It's just so sadly ironic the way Harry's personality seems so unsuited to his power of "great love." Part of it is sometimes a joke in the way JKR chooses to write about Harry showing affection, but it adds up to Harry being a character who somehow seems the last person to have the power of love. For instance, I remember there's a scene in OotP where Sirius says, I think, that Harry should be told about the "weapon." Harry feels a surge of affection for Sirius.
It's sort of a joke, but the thing is, that's a pretty accurate description. Harry really does seem to feel surges of affection for people when they help him, and that's not love. One doesn't imagine Ron feeling surges of affection for Molly because she sticks up for him, the affection is always there. Unfortunately Harry's relationships so often work like that because everybody works for him. Meanwhile it's other characters who seem to act out of love, even when it hurts them.
When Dumbledore says it's amazing that Harry's retained the ability to love he's correct in that it's amazing Harry has basically no social problems after years of abuse (ironically under DD's orders--wtf?) but take that away and Harry's actually remarkably UNtested when it comes to love. His friends spend far more time focused on his problems than most peoples' friends do, while he takes very little interest in their lives and problems. His parental figures, as you said, are kept at a comfortable idealized distance. He gets the good part of the Weasley family while skipping the bad part. His girlfriend literally always gives him exactly what he needs when he needs it.
Compare that to other boys in his class: Ron's the Weasley who resists attacking Percy. Neville cherishes his mother's meaningless attempts at gifts because he recognizes the attempt. Draco's branded a coward throughout canon yet seems to find courage in his love for his family--not to mention humanity. Are these hints that the book's going for something more subtle? Hopefully.
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Date: 2006-06-20 06:18 pm (UTC)LOL--Yeah, that's the fear. It's just so sadly ironic the way Harry's personality seems so unsuited to his power of "great love." Part of it is sometimes a joke in the way JKR chooses to write about Harry showing affection, but it adds up to Harry being a character who somehow seems the last person to have the power of love. For instance, I remember there's a scene in OotP where Sirius says, I think, that Harry should be told about the "weapon." Harry feels a surge of affection for Sirius.
It's sort of a joke, but the thing is, that's a pretty accurate description. Harry really does seem to feel surges of affection for people when they help him, and that's not love. One doesn't imagine Ron feeling surges of affection for Molly because she sticks up for him, the affection is always there. Unfortunately Harry's relationships so often work like that because everybody works for him. Meanwhile it's other characters who seem to act out of love, even when it hurts them.
When Dumbledore says it's amazing that Harry's retained the ability to love he's correct in that it's amazing Harry has basically no social problems after years of abuse (ironically under DD's orders--wtf?) but take that away and Harry's actually remarkably UNtested when it comes to love. His friends spend far more time focused on his problems than most peoples' friends do, while he takes very little interest in their lives and problems. His parental figures, as you said, are kept at a comfortable idealized distance. He gets the good part of the Weasley family while skipping the bad part. His girlfriend literally always gives him exactly what he needs when he needs it.
Compare that to other boys in his class: Ron's the Weasley who resists attacking Percy. Neville cherishes his mother's meaningless attempts at gifts because he recognizes the attempt. Draco's branded a coward throughout canon yet seems to find courage in his love for his family--not to mention humanity. Are these hints that the book's going for something more subtle? Hopefully.