# Harry Potter fans, a question please... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462 "2005-02-10T21:18:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/21 "2005-02-11T22:59:01Z")
I’ve wondered if Harry’s scar is not a lighning bolt at all, but a stylized snake… ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/22 "2005-02-12T02:12:10Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > [ul] > [li]He’s a wizard[/li][li]He has magic powers too.[/li][li]His parents were murdered by the aboveforementioned stalker.[/li][li]His Mean Aunt and Uncle have lied to him all these years and give him their fat and useless son’s handme downs to him.[/li][li]There is, apparently, in the Wizarding World, no kind of councelling for kids who’s parents that have been vaporized by Evil Dark Lords. ( I mean, look at Neville.)[/li][li]In the Muggle World, he gets even less support and he is a friendless freak.[/li][li]He’s got a scar on his head that is possibly less noticeable than a swastika.[/li][li]Everyone knew all about him and his parents before he did.[/li][li]His parents were both great wizards in their own right. So, no pressure there.[/li][li]And to top it off, his testicles are dropping![/li][/ul] > > If he were anyone of us, he’d be doing mainline drugs. Not to mention he has a horrible home life, a professor who is out to get him, people who seem to think he’s something special because he’s The Boy Who Lived, and his girlfriend dumped him. I’m glad JK didn’t write him as a sterile Wonder bread Wesley Crusher. Harry has issues, and it’s not unrealistic to explore them. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/23 "2005-02-12T02:26:51Z")
See, I’m glad she started to make Harry act like “a real git” as Ron might say. People were starting to think he was too perfect-now we see that despite being a wizard, Harry’s human. He too can be a real prick at times and screw up. (His smashing things in Dumbledore’s office reminds me of the many hormone-induced tantrums I threw at the age of thirteen-once intentionally breaking my vanity mirror because I was so upset at my hair and my pimples!) ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/24 "2005-02-12T04:11:51Z")
I think JKR captured Harry’s mood perfectly. He’s teenage angst filled, just like people my age. I can’t believe all that crap he puts up with. I doubt I’d be able to handle all he does. He has this brilliant dark lord after him who won’t stop till he kills Harry, all his followers are after him, just about all his family is dead, he isn’t very good with the ladies, and he has lots of school work. JKR can’t really aviod Harry getting it on with some girl. I mean, he is a teenage boy. It’s only a matter of time till Harry gets a boner during Transfiguration or something. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/25 "2005-02-12T07:06:34Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > If he were anyone of us, he’d be doing mainline drugs. I notice that’s one thing Rowling has kept out of her accounts of wizardly adolescence, so far. Maybe it would be interesting if she invented some kind of magical indulgence that were the functional equivalent of hard drugs. (Like Willow’s magic-addiction in _Buffy.)_ Also, there’s no mention yet of the young wizards actually having sex, or worrying about pregnancy or STDs. (Though I’m sure Madame Pomfrey would have contraceptive and disease-protection potions in her pharmacopeia that would be far more foolproof than anything you can buy at your local drug store.) Nor homosexuality. That would be a nice twist, if Neville or Draco or somebody were to come out of the closet; and then we could find out something about the wizard culture’s views on “family values.” ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/26 "2005-02-12T16:49:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Also, there’s no mention yet of the young wizards actually having sex, or worrying about pregnancy or STDs. Rowling has said that things aren’t going to get too gritty, so I’m guessing there won’t be. (Besides, they are at a fairly strict boarding school with almost no truly _private_ spaces, so there would be a certain lack of opportunity.) Hmm, do Fleur Delacour’s “private English lessons” with Bill count as a mention of sex? I think that’s about as close as we’re gonna get. > [@](#): > > That would be a nice twist, if Neville or Draco or somebody were to come out of the closet; and then we could find out something about the wizard culture’s views on “family values.” Neville kind of has enough on his plate, what with being the Boy-Who-Almost-Lived and the insane parents and the highly demanding grandmother and everything, and if _Draco_, the single most negatively characterized teenager in the series, turned out to be gay, surely that would be sending a message JKR probably doesn’t want to send. I don’t really think we’ll see any gay wizards, but if we do, it’ll probably be something very minor, like a passing mention of Charlie Weasley coming to visit with his Romanian boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/27 "2005-02-12T17:13:40Z")
And OoTP is a major criticism of and protest against political interference in the British education system. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/28 "2005-02-12T20:31:44Z")
> [@Fretful Porpentine](#): > > (Besides, they are at a fairly strict boarding school with almost no truly _private_ spaces, so there would be a certain lack of opportunity.) But there’s somewhat more privacy than in the sleeping-barracks I’ve seen in movies about British boarding schools – there are only four students to a bedroom, and each student has his or her own curtained four-poster bed. I’m sure each tetrad of roommates could work out a time-sharing arrangement. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/29 "2005-02-12T20:42:14Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Harry’s dealing with three types of rejection in the book: his foster parents (who have now removed any doubts he ever had about whether they had any feelings for him) I disagree that they have distanced themselves from him anymore than they already were. We know that they at least care whether he lives or dies. It has occurred to me that if Petunia, knowing what she knows, cast out Harry and Voldemort apparated next to the hydrangea bush and killed him, it would be entirely within her Dursleyish powers of denial to tell herself that it wasn’t _really_ her fault, and she can hardly be responsible for the actions of a deluded wand-wielding maniac. Also, when Petunia revealed what she knew about Dementors, the relationship between Harry and the Dursleys shifted, but I don’t know that it was for the worst. Probably not for the better, either, but definitely not for the worst. I don’t think that Vernon’s attempt at chucking Harry out was a surprise; it is neither a surprise nor a spoiler that if faced between choosing the safety of Harry or the safety of Dudley, the Dursleys would protect Dudley first. Vernon likely didn’t realize the consequence of chucking out Harry would be so dire; he probably assumed that “his kind” would care for him. Rowling has said that there is more to Petunia that we know; I think part of it is that she has never shared what she knows about Lily’s gift with Vernon; he probably wouldn’t want to hear it anyway. I think she’s been in contact with Dumbledore more than has been shown in the books. I don’t think they write letters to each other, but I think that when Dumbledore speaks, Petunia knows to listen up, for her own reasons. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/30 "2005-02-12T23:27:30Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I actually see Snape as tragic at this point. I think he’ll have to die at Voldemort’s hands before the series is over. I predict he’ll die, to no one’s great grief (except Dumbledore,) and the rest of his story (and motivation) will only be revealed after that. I’m very much in agreement there. I feel like there will be some sort of redemption for him; based on his nature, however, I’m afraid it will come after his death. I’ve gotten the feeling that Rowling really doesn’t care for Snape; even so, I can’t see her making him out to be entirely evil by the end of the series. I don’t doubt that he did some especially nasty things as a Death Eater, but I don’t believe that’s all there is to his character. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/31 "2005-02-13T01:35:23Z")
I don’t see Rowling getting into Teen-Wizard Pregnancy and Wizard-drugs because she already has to deal with the fact that there are too many people out there that think she is introducing kids to the devil. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/32 "2005-02-13T02:28:03Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > I don’t see Rowling getting into Teen-Wizard Pregnancy and Wizard-drugs because she already has to deal with the fact that there are too many people out there that think she is introducing kids to the devil. > > :rolleyes: So? “If you must sin, sin **boldly!** ” – Martin Luther 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462/33 "2005-02-13T02:45:07Z")
I don’t think I’d WANT to see Harry and company get into sex, drugs and rock and roll. I like the stories as they are-no need to get into MORE controversial stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-fans-a-question-please/289462.md?page=1)