Harry is not James - from this point on, that has to be stressed again and again, and with book 6, he gets to move past that part.
And I do think that the time-turner events here are an important part of that progression. Harry has spent the past three years being told by other people that he's just like his father. Sometimes it embarrasses him, but he's begun to believe it himself.
Only by seeing his time-displaced self does he get the opportunity to see that similarity as an outside observer might. And he mistakes himself for James. And then he gets to put his feet in the other guy's shoes, when he discovers it's him. Ultimately it allows him to get over the Harry-is-James-reborn thing and get back to making the best possible job of being Harry. It allows him to find Sirius's harking on about the past and mistaking him for his father in OotP disturbing and unsettling, rather than a compliment.
Also, it gives him the confidence to finally pull off the Patronus spell properly, because he now knows he can and there's no room for self-doubt, even if the spell is supposed to be too advanced for his current level of magical proficiency. That's important for later books, because Harry is not the world's best student, so the things he's going to excel in and pursue obsessively are going to be the things that he has a proven knack for.
(I have more to say on the subject of time travel as espoused by PoA, but am somewhat sleep deprived so will try to get around to it tomorrow when I'm feeling more coherent.)
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Date: 2004-05-28 02:02 pm (UTC)And I do think that the time-turner events here are an important part of that progression. Harry has spent the past three years being told by other people that he's just like his father. Sometimes it embarrasses him, but he's begun to believe it himself.
Only by seeing his time-displaced self does he get the opportunity to see that similarity as an outside observer might. And he mistakes himself for James. And then he gets to put his feet in the other guy's shoes, when he discovers it's him. Ultimately it allows him to get over the Harry-is-James-reborn thing and get back to making the best possible job of being Harry. It allows him to find Sirius's harking on about the past and mistaking him for his father in OotP disturbing and unsettling, rather than a compliment.
Also, it gives him the confidence to finally pull off the Patronus spell properly, because he now knows he can and there's no room for self-doubt, even if the spell is supposed to be too advanced for his current level of magical proficiency. That's important for later books, because Harry is not the world's best student, so the things he's going to excel in and pursue obsessively are going to be the things that he has a proven knack for.
(I have more to say on the subject of time travel as espoused by PoA, but am somewhat sleep deprived so will try to get around to it tomorrow when I'm feeling more coherent.)