robkelk,
I think that the level of summary you are using conceals some distinctions that
define spaces where my possible choices have more meaning than you describe.
Space one is in first year. Cast your mind back to that part of the story.
Next, remove from the working part of your mind the knowledge that we have as those who
have read the book, that Riddle is going to come back, and will try to kill Harry.
Also remove the perspective that we have as readers, that tells us essentially the same
thing from hints. (We've read some number of books, and know that few published
writers outside of the mystery genre are likely to fail to follow up on some of these
hints.)
It may be that I am misremembering things, but Harry, prior to Hogwarts seems
to have been closely supervised, and motivated in his activities mainly by threats. On
coming to Hogwarts, it seems to me that that it requires some time and effort for him
to collect the information making it clear that there is a problem, and that it cannot
be safely left to other people to solve. A kid that keeps their head down, discounts
the more bizarre things out of adults as being crazy talk, does the bare minimum and
thinks 'not my problem' whenever something comes up that is not explicitly required of
them might be reasonable for a background like Harry's. Given that Harry is not like
this, I am forced to consider that, despite Rowling's intentions, the Dursleys were a
positive environment for him in canon, if they somehow managed to instill in him the
values that caused him to make the choices that got him to the point in the first book
where failing to act seemed stupid. It is probably going too far to say that in Canon,
Vernon was a positive role model for Harry, but I certainly see a lot of actual choices
in book one, even if they are the hidden sort of choices.
The other space relates to fight or flight reaction decisions. I'm not talking
strictly about flight or flight, but about decisions made and acted on in response to
threats in particularly difficult trying or circumstances. Freezing up, refusing to
believe, or simply being unable to process things in a timely manner counts as a
decision. Realistically, many of these decisions end up being made poorly in the real
world, at least according to my criteria.
I have firm opinions on what constitutes a good decision in such circumstances,
but there is ample room for philosophical differences on the specifics. Myself, I do
not have any great certainty of making the correct decision if I ended up in a position
where I would need to. Whatever I may decide I should do while here in my comfortable
seat, if it comes down to it, the flesh is weak.
Some definitions of hero involve classification of these sorts of decisions.
Regulus and Horatio One-Eye, The Birkenhead, some incidents from that Hienlein
Survival/Morality essay...
The point is that even with preparation, people regularly screw up this sort of
decision and make a choice that they would know was stupid, if they had time without
pressure to think. Without preparation and foresight, the error rate grows much worse.
(Think about the the reduction in accidents and injuries caused by following safe
procedure for powered equipment like table saws. Also remember that a person can
operate a table saw for decades, being an expert woodworker, and still accidentally maim
themselves when neglecting safe practice. This sort of equipment is predictable enough
to allow easily teachable safety practices to be developed.) The most generic example
of this type of error that I can give is panic, or paralysis caused by emotional
response to the situation.
In Harry Potter, while errors occur when this sort of decision is made, they do
not happen at the rate I would expect given the levels of preparation shown. Given the
relative rates of both, I tend to chalk the errors made to the humanity of Rowling's
characters, and look at the successes for evaluating for certain measures of heroism.
For me, the only really irritating aspect of Harry Potter is that I am
sometimes left with a strong urge to pound Navier-Stokes into Mr. Weasley's head.
I think that the level of summary you are using conceals some distinctions that
define spaces where my possible choices have more meaning than you describe.
Space one is in first year. Cast your mind back to that part of the story.
Next, remove from the working part of your mind the knowledge that we have as those who
have read the book, that Riddle is going to come back, and will try to kill Harry.
Also remove the perspective that we have as readers, that tells us essentially the same
thing from hints. (We've read some number of books, and know that few published
writers outside of the mystery genre are likely to fail to follow up on some of these
hints.)
It may be that I am misremembering things, but Harry, prior to Hogwarts seems
to have been closely supervised, and motivated in his activities mainly by threats. On
coming to Hogwarts, it seems to me that that it requires some time and effort for him
to collect the information making it clear that there is a problem, and that it cannot
be safely left to other people to solve. A kid that keeps their head down, discounts
the more bizarre things out of adults as being crazy talk, does the bare minimum and
thinks 'not my problem' whenever something comes up that is not explicitly required of
them might be reasonable for a background like Harry's. Given that Harry is not like
this, I am forced to consider that, despite Rowling's intentions, the Dursleys were a
positive environment for him in canon, if they somehow managed to instill in him the
values that caused him to make the choices that got him to the point in the first book
where failing to act seemed stupid. It is probably going too far to say that in Canon,
Vernon was a positive role model for Harry, but I certainly see a lot of actual choices
in book one, even if they are the hidden sort of choices.
The other space relates to fight or flight reaction decisions. I'm not talking
strictly about flight or flight, but about decisions made and acted on in response to
threats in particularly difficult trying or circumstances. Freezing up, refusing to
believe, or simply being unable to process things in a timely manner counts as a
decision. Realistically, many of these decisions end up being made poorly in the real
world, at least according to my criteria.
I have firm opinions on what constitutes a good decision in such circumstances,
but there is ample room for philosophical differences on the specifics. Myself, I do
not have any great certainty of making the correct decision if I ended up in a position
where I would need to. Whatever I may decide I should do while here in my comfortable
seat, if it comes down to it, the flesh is weak.
Some definitions of hero involve classification of these sorts of decisions.
Regulus and Horatio One-Eye, The Birkenhead, some incidents from that Hienlein
Survival/Morality essay...
The point is that even with preparation, people regularly screw up this sort of
decision and make a choice that they would know was stupid, if they had time without
pressure to think. Without preparation and foresight, the error rate grows much worse.
(Think about the the reduction in accidents and injuries caused by following safe
procedure for powered equipment like table saws. Also remember that a person can
operate a table saw for decades, being an expert woodworker, and still accidentally maim
themselves when neglecting safe practice. This sort of equipment is predictable enough
to allow easily teachable safety practices to be developed.) The most generic example
of this type of error that I can give is panic, or paralysis caused by emotional
response to the situation.
In Harry Potter, while errors occur when this sort of decision is made, they do
not happen at the rate I would expect given the levels of preparation shown. Given the
relative rates of both, I tend to chalk the errors made to the humanity of Rowling's
characters, and look at the successes for evaluating for certain measures of heroism.
For me, the only really irritating aspect of Harry Potter is that I am
sometimes left with a strong urge to pound Navier-Stokes into Mr. Weasley's head.