he does know and say that he was wrong and gets on with his punishment.
He has no choice but to get on with his punishment, though. It's a detention, he can't just not turn up. It's not like he's submitting to it willingly because he feels bad - Snape asks him if he agrees that he deserves detention, Harry says he doesn't, and protests about Quidditch. He worries about Slughorn finding out he's been cheating, hides the book and lies about it. When Hermione criticises the Prince, he says that she's wrong, and the narrator notes he's having a bad enough time without 'lectures' - not because of the guilt, of course, but because he's let down the Quidditch team. I mean, if all of this is supposed to signify that Harry's accepted responsibility for his actions and is maturely facing the consequences, it's not working, for me at least.
I love how JKR piles it all on so that separate events become connected and it's hard to be certain where right ends and wrong starts... Snape punishes him, because he has the opportunity as much as because it's deserved.
It's interesting, isn't it? It seems like it could be down to a few reasons - either putting off any belated reactions Harry's going to have to this eventually (no-one ever confronts him face-to-face about hurting someone: Hermione's concern is proving she was right about the Prince and worrying about Harry's being in trouble; Ginny's is defending Harry blindly; Snape's is about the book and punishing Harry.) or else, worryingly, minimising his culpability by focusing on how those criticising them have their own agendas (which is a trick JKR uses fairly often - for instant, in OotP, when McGonagall is reprimanding the Twins and Harry for their attack on the Quidditch Pitch, Umbridge walks in, so the focus is shifted from their ganging up to how their punishment is unjust.) It could also be a lack of imagination, of course - JKR doesn't see the Sectumsempra as objectional, so she can't see why her characters would, although Pansy 'vilifying' Harry for it, and the usually reasonable McGonagall's anger would indicate perhaps not.
Harry kisses Ginny, ditto! Really he should have pushed her away, saying, "No, Ginny, this cannot be. I must away and ponder my general unworthiness and recurrent failures.
I think a big problem is that H/G is so connected with the Sectumsempra - it's Ginny winning the big game that Harry missed due to detention that prompts their kiss. It's Ginny saying that the Sectumsempra was 'good' (WTF?) that makes Harry feel 'unbelievably cheerful' and solidifies her position as his ideal girl - it's not that she loves him even when he screw up, it's that she denies he's screwed up at all. So of course, while there's no reason that Harry and Ginny should forego dating because of an event outside of their relationship (and of course, Pansy's visiting Draco, who nearly cast a Crucio, so there's a parallel) it does seem like Harry's being rewarded (Gryffindor even win the cup.) There's no reason that H/G have to get together in the same chapter as the Sectumsempra, so I've got to presume that the dissonance is purposeful on JKR's part.
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Date: 2006-11-17 10:40 am (UTC)He has no choice but to get on with his punishment, though. It's a detention, he can't just not turn up.
It's not like he's submitting to it willingly because he feels bad - Snape asks him if he agrees that he deserves detention, Harry says he doesn't, and protests about Quidditch.
He worries about Slughorn finding out he's been cheating, hides the book and lies about it.
When Hermione criticises the Prince, he says that she's wrong, and the narrator notes he's having a bad enough time without 'lectures' - not because of the guilt, of course, but because he's let down the Quidditch team.
I mean, if all of this is supposed to signify that Harry's accepted responsibility for his actions and is maturely facing the consequences, it's not working, for me at least.
I love how JKR piles it all on so that separate events become connected and it's hard to be certain where right ends and wrong starts... Snape punishes him, because he has the opportunity as much as because it's deserved.
It's interesting, isn't it?
It seems like it could be down to a few reasons - either putting off any belated reactions Harry's going to have to this eventually (no-one ever confronts him face-to-face about hurting someone: Hermione's concern is proving she was right about the Prince and worrying about Harry's being in trouble; Ginny's is defending Harry blindly; Snape's is about the book and punishing Harry.) or else, worryingly, minimising his culpability by focusing on how those criticising them have their own agendas (which is a trick JKR uses fairly often - for instant, in OotP, when McGonagall is reprimanding the Twins and Harry for their attack on the Quidditch Pitch, Umbridge walks in, so the focus is shifted from their ganging up to how their punishment is unjust.)
It could also be a lack of imagination, of course - JKR doesn't see the Sectumsempra as objectional, so she can't see why her characters would, although Pansy 'vilifying' Harry for it, and the usually reasonable McGonagall's anger would indicate perhaps not.
Harry kisses Ginny, ditto! Really he should have pushed her away, saying, "No, Ginny, this cannot be. I must away and ponder my general unworthiness and recurrent failures.
I think a big problem is that H/G is so connected with the Sectumsempra - it's Ginny winning the big game that Harry missed due to detention that prompts their kiss. It's Ginny saying that the Sectumsempra was 'good' (WTF?) that makes Harry feel 'unbelievably cheerful' and solidifies her position as his ideal girl - it's not that she loves him even when he screw up, it's that she denies he's screwed up at all.
So of course, while there's no reason that Harry and Ginny should forego dating because of an event outside of their relationship (and of course, Pansy's visiting Draco, who nearly cast a Crucio, so there's a parallel) it does seem like Harry's being rewarded (Gryffindor even win the cup.)
There's no reason that H/G have to get together in the same chapter as the Sectumsempra, so I've got to presume that the dissonance is purposeful on JKR's part.