deadcatwithaflamethrower:

lylilunapotter:

delladilly:

shrapnelcascade:

I’m not even sure where I wrote that line (maybe in my about?) but here I am to talk about it get ready:

Harry’s anger in OotP is important because it’s a response to a violation of his boundaries, a breach of trust—and in many ways, a response to boundary violations that began during his abusive childhood.

the way the Dursleys treated Harry early in the series? massive boundary violation. they didn’t respect him as a person, didn’t acknowledge his needs, didn’t allow him belongings, restricted his access to food, took away correspondence that belonged to him, denied him important information not just about his family but also about his personal safety.

the way they’re treating him in OotP? still a massive boundary violation. again, denying him access to information (he has to lie under the window to hear the news), restricting his access to food, and also physically abusing him on at least one occasion (Vernon grabs him around the throat, and Harry doesn’t even seem surprised).

Harry has had a right to anger for a long time. but the only time he really expressed that, even inadvertently, (the incident with Marge in PoA), he was punished for it by the people he trusted. overall, it’s made very clear to Harry that he’s not supposed to express anger at the Dursleys.

at the end of GoF and the beginning of OotP, however, Harry experiences some massive boundary violations within the wizarding world: the discovery that a teacher he trusts is actually a Death Eater working to kill him, the loss of meaningful contact with his friends over the summer as he deals with what’s probably PTSD, and the threat of losing all access to Hogwarts because he defended himself and Dudley. the wizarding world, despite its physical dangers, has been Harry’s emotional haven. he has so far been safer there than with his abusers, because he receives validation, is allowed to have human needs, and can trust others to have some concern for his well-being. however, with these three violations, things begin to change. Barty Crouch pretend to care about Harry, then leads him to Voldemort. Dumbledore forbids anyone to give him information over the summer, which sends the message that the struggle he’s experiencing isn’t important. and the Ministry tries to expel him from Hogwarts for self-defense, which is a clear indication that his needs (even in life-or-death situations) aren’t important to them.

by this point, Harry is already really angry. it’s a valid reaction. in fact, it’s a warning sign. he’s being told his safety and happiness don’t matter, and that’s a dangerous position to be in.

and then Umbridge comes into the picture. 

Umbridge doesn’t just deny him access to information; she imposes her will over the information he already has. she displays open favoritism. she’s physically abusive, and in fact forces Harry to enact that harm on himself. she punishes the students for learning how to defend themselves, despite the fact that this is supposed to be part of their curriculum. everything she does sends the same message to Harry that the Dursleys have been sending him since he was a kid: what he has to say doesn’t matter, his safety isn’t important, and he should never stand up for himself. the difference is, she’s communicating all these things in the very place Harry has come to associate with safety, so it’s an even greater violation.

(in addition, Harry’s trust is betrayed by Dumbledore, who consistently denies him information and is absent when Harry needs him, such that Harry gets the impression he needs to handle everything alone, and isn’t willing to tell Dumbledore about Umbridge’s abuse. and then there’s Snape, with the Occlumency lessons, literally forcing his way into Harry’s mind and mocking him for being unable to stop it, and I could write another whole post on that.)

basically, Harry’s anger in OotP is important to me because it validates that emotional response to abusive boundary violations. does he always use that anger wisely? no. but he tries, and he grows, and he’s a person and he’s been massively betrayed and that matters, it matters to me because I’ve been abused and it matters just in general because the world needs to know anger doesn’t necessarily mean people are evil or dark. sometimes, it just means they need to be listened to.

#and i think above and beyond all of this also is the consideration that harry’s being patronized by the adults about battles that he has fought#the information is being withheld from him under the presumption that he’s just another child#when he isn’t#when he has never been#he’s prepared himself to go and die in battle#in gof he literally is returned to the field crying over cedric’s body#he has seen the costs and wounds of the war just as the adults have#all the while internalizing all of everyone’s shit that he is the only one who can Save it bc he is the only person to have survived#everyone knows he needs to be the one to fight at the end of the day and he’s still not being given any information#bc he’s a child and he doesn’t deserve the seat at the war room table yet#which is untrue and unfair and which he finds untrue and unfair#and this is the book when the threat of war and voldemort’s resurgence is really heavy#and still here the adults are saying just sit still harry#just wait another minute harry#just go to school harry#we’ll take care of it everything’s fine#and this is the first time when instead of agreeing to it harry fights for his place#he fights for his voice and he fights specifically for his voice to be heard as equally as the adults are

@deadcatwithaflamethrower more salt

OoftP is when I started to get viscerally angry while reading the HP books. I was gettin’ there, but that book cinched it.