Harry's Kind Of A Wimp Huh?

Very well put KPR. I agree with you.

thank you for your comment it is inspireing

Yes what you say is indeed true. But I've always felt that literary heroes should have either superpowers or extremely great talent. Beowulf ripped off a dragon's arm with his bare hands, Hercules killed a hydra and a lion, and held up the whole world for a spell, and King Arthur created Camelot, and I won't even go into the modern comic book superheroes.

But when I read about fictional heroism, I want to read about larger than life characters. I once heard about a black man who saved a whole bunch of people from a hotel fire way back in the thirties. I heard a news report once about the actor Mark Harmon resuing a couple of young men from a burning car, I once heard about a toddler who saved her mother's life by dialing 911. These are all examples of real life heroism, and surely these individuals are a blessing to the Earth unto themselves. And naturally, occasionally you meet a larger than life hero in reality; a man who uses his bare hands to roll a flaming car off of a young woman pinned benath it is a great example. But these latter kinds of real life heroes are exceptionally rare. And if I wanted to read about real life heroes then I'd read the news papers looking for the former kind of hero I described.

Now Mr. Ollivander said that' "I think we must expect great things from you Mr. Potter." That kind of lead me to believe he was going to be a wizard on the same level, talent wise, as Voldemort, and yet he isn't. I feel as if I've been hornswoggled.

I guess these stories are more in line with the Lord of the Rings books with the hero being very physically ordinary. I loved Frodo (and Harry) because the characters imply that the same sort of greatness is in each one of us - I like to believe that about myself and strive toward it.

Don't think that because Harry cannot 'leap a tall building in a single bound' that he is not great. Sports shows us over and over that the most physically gifted are not the greatest - the most driven, passionate and caring are (Michael Vick may be talented, but Tom Brady wins). I know this is more of a social message than the books intend, but it is an important one. We all have the potential to have a positive impact on the people and community around us - but are we willing to make the sacrificies necessary to do it? I like reading these types of stories (To Kill a Mockingbird is another I just finished, a truly wonderful story).

My point is that this is not a book about a super hero. Just an ordinary wizard put in a very difficult situation - can he prevail? Enjoy the book for what is it.

Yes! That is right James! Not many people come here to hear Harry getting dissed! We come hee to talk about the books and are ssuggestions and the like!

I agree!

Plus, Harry WAS trying to use the Half-Blood Prince's curses on Snape (he even tried an unforgivable curse), but remember, Snape is VERY skilled at occlumency and knew what Harry was about to do and could countercurse him before he even said or finished thinking the spell.

yes thinkyou you dont have to do good things like all that stuff you listed i still think harry is a hero so back off we dont need your rude comements about harry :P :P

Shh..Hush my babys (that's what Conan O' Brien always says to his audience), Harry wins a lot of his battles, but that doesn't mean he's the greatest wizard, he may never be a great wizard like Dumby, but he might be better, we just have to wait until JK is done with HP.

Fist, if your sooo tired , STOP reading the books . Second ,its his ability to love that will or willnot defeat Voldemort. And thired he defeat you- know- who 7 times , 6 times w/ skill and a bunch of death eaters .

Sorry to be so mean , i know where ur coming from , but im on harrys side!

And it would also get kinda boring if Harry won all the time! It's not fair to the bad guys to always lose! Bad guys do win once in a while! It makes the story more intresting!