Oh, Harry's 'rigid' (....hee.... damn, there goes my serious tone) but I just meant no one's tried to talk to him reasonably; certainly not Snape or Draco. Most people make up their minds quickly about people-- not just Harry. There's Snape-- and Draco-- and 'most anyone in terms of his peers. I'm just saying it's not any more developed in him, except that he makes gut-level judgements rather than rational ones like Hermione or socially-based ones (i.e., more often related to other people he's close to rather his individual reactions) like Ron. Harry just reacts.
He's changed his mind about Hermione after seeing her in a situation which showed she -was- vulnerable & she became more of a 'real person' to him, with the troll. He accepted Sirius after he was presented with overwhelming new evidence (and this was a man supposedly out to kill him). He questioned his father & his previously held beliefs after the Pensieve, to an extent (not completely, but he began to budge).
I don't think someone can truly be arrogant without knowing it, because arrogance implies belief-- a belief about oneself as superior or 'above' others. I don't think Harry has that belief, if anything because he doesn't really want that power-- he's not that much of a social person.
I don't think there's any evidence Harry 'acts' a certain way to manipulate anyone's emotions (get pity, as with a 'martyr act')-- he just has a hard time understanding how he's seen from the outside; a lot of people do. He's not one for consulting people or working to convince them-- he just likes to do things as soon as he thinks of them, whether or not others follow is up to them. Emotionally solipsistic, yes; martyr-like, not really.
He had a childhood without any real friends, so he's pretty inexperienced with people, too. In his experience, people don't care what his opinion of them is, anyway. He fights the people that oppress him 'cause if he didn't, in his experience he'd be walked all over. He doesn't pick fights with people who don't provoke him, but he does defend himself-- that's how he's been able to survive, I think.
Regardless, yeah, there are different kinds of arrogance, and virtually every character in HP has it in one way or another-- Dumbledore, Snape, Draco, Hermione, the Weasley twins, Lucius, even Luna-- all more than Harry-- or say, Neville or Ron. Believing you are right and going with your gut is a sort of arrogance, but if it is, I also possess it in a large enough degree that people accuse me of it :>
I'm not saying Harry's -right- for what he does to Malfoy (hexing, etc). They just have different ways of responding to each other, but Malfoy provokes him first-- he taunts and makes fun and tries to get Harry in trouble and generally is a pain in the ass. Harry isn't the verbal sort, so he 'gets back' at Malfoy like any boy would. Harry isn't 'nice', but neither is Malfoy. They're both impulsive, angry, emotional boys-- but Harry isn't using undue force (i.e., he's not 100 times stronger -- or even twice stronger-- than Draco).
So, he's not 'right', but neither is Malfoy-- and they're both boys. Harry isn't assuming any kind of god-given right to be a stupid teenager-- he just -is-. Any approval is given to him by fans, not implied by the fact of his behavior alone.
Harry doesn't -think-, period. He doesn't -think- he's right, he just -acts-. Draco thinks he's right because his father says this-and-this-- Harry just -does- things. Harry isn't a 'goodie'-- he's just a boy.
A lot of boys bully 'cause they can-- it's a fast & easy way to feel superior & good about yourself. It's often seen as fun to dominate and manipulate and abuse those weaker than oneself, for some people, I think.
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timeasmymeasure
oh, and...
Date: 2004-07-17 04:12 am (UTC)He's changed his mind about Hermione after seeing her in a situation which showed she -was- vulnerable & she became more of a 'real person' to him, with the troll. He accepted Sirius after he was presented with overwhelming new evidence (and this was a man supposedly out to kill him). He questioned his father & his previously held beliefs after the Pensieve, to an extent (not completely, but he began to budge).
I don't think someone can truly be arrogant without knowing it, because arrogance implies belief-- a belief about oneself as superior or 'above' others. I don't think Harry has that belief, if anything because he doesn't really want that power-- he's not that much of a social person.
I don't think there's any evidence Harry 'acts' a certain way to manipulate anyone's emotions (get pity, as with a 'martyr act')-- he just has a hard time understanding how he's seen from the outside; a lot of people do. He's not one for consulting people or working to convince them-- he just likes to do things as soon as he thinks of them, whether or not others follow is up to them. Emotionally solipsistic, yes; martyr-like, not really.
He had a childhood without any real friends, so he's pretty inexperienced with people, too. In his experience, people don't care what his opinion of them is, anyway. He fights the people that oppress him 'cause if he didn't, in his experience he'd be walked all over. He doesn't pick fights with people who don't provoke him, but he does defend himself-- that's how he's been able to survive, I think.
Regardless, yeah, there are different kinds of arrogance, and virtually every character in HP has it in one way or another-- Dumbledore, Snape, Draco, Hermione, the Weasley twins, Lucius, even Luna-- all more than Harry-- or say, Neville or Ron. Believing you are right and going with your gut is a sort of arrogance, but if it is, I also possess it in a large enough degree that people accuse me of it :>
I'm not saying Harry's -right- for what he does to Malfoy (hexing, etc). They just have different ways of responding to each other, but Malfoy provokes him first-- he taunts and makes fun and tries to get Harry in trouble and generally is a pain in the ass. Harry isn't the verbal sort, so he 'gets back' at Malfoy like any boy would. Harry isn't 'nice', but neither is Malfoy. They're both impulsive, angry, emotional boys-- but Harry isn't using undue force (i.e., he's not 100 times stronger -- or even twice stronger-- than Draco).
So, he's not 'right', but neither is Malfoy-- and they're both boys. Harry isn't assuming any kind of god-given right to be a stupid teenager-- he just -is-. Any approval is given to him by fans, not implied by the fact of his behavior alone.
Harry doesn't -think-, period. He doesn't -think- he's right, he just -acts-. Draco thinks he's right because his father says this-and-this-- Harry just -does- things. Harry isn't a 'goodie'-- he's just a boy.
A lot of boys bully 'cause they can-- it's a fast & easy way to feel superior & good about yourself. It's often seen as fun to dominate and manipulate and abuse those weaker than oneself, for some people, I think.