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Reviews For Believing is Seeing
But your story has a serious theme which I also find really interesting. What I’m trying to understand is exactly why Harry’s accidental magic produces that kind of glamour. As I see it, accidental magic is set off by emotional instability in the magical child, mostly anger or fear, and the effect is to protect the child. This glamour of his seems counterproductive that way, as it makes everyone blind to the abuse he is subjected to. I understand that children who suffer abuse might want to conceal the evidence of it, because they are ashamed of it and somehow feel guilty about what happens to them (and sometimes are loyal to the perpetrators despite everything), but in this case, as Harry thinks that everyone can see his injuries, it does not make sense. He is not really ashamed, is he - he simply has this warped picture of the world not caring about his condition. And his accidental glamour works against him here. Then I thought that maybe the glamour was something that initially developed to be able to please people around him (and thus, in a way, protect him after all) - because people like to see what they expect, don’t they? Makes them feel safe and happy with themselves for being right. Maybe Harry’s glamour could be a metaphor for this chameleon thing, this ”false self” that Muggle psychoanalytical theory speak of? I’m sorry, I only have a vague idea of what that is about, but that was my association. I also realise how accurate your title is. ”Believing is seeing”. It actually goes both ways, doesn’t it? You believe what you see (even if it is false/a glamour, because you seldom make an effort to see beyond the surface in people), and you project what you believe on what you’re seeing (like Snape does when he restores Harry to James’ appearance). I’m sorry, this was a long review, but the subject is complicated and engaging. I want to commend you for taking it on and creating this story to illustrate it. I’m looking forward to the next chapter! Author's Response: Wow, you've clearly put a lot of thought into my story and the review. Thankyou, it makes me consider what I am saying in more depth too. In Harry's case, the trigger for his glamours was Vernon's reaction to his primary school teacher asking questions about his bruises (mentioned chapter 1). His magic wants to stop people from asking questions, but also doesn't want the Dursleys to think that he is doing anything 'freaky'; thus the expectations-based glamour. The wizarding world's perception of him as the boy-who-lived helps strengthen the disguise. Harry's own reaction to what is happening is sort of interesting. On one level he actually believes he deserves their treatment of him because of his freakishness, and is just glad that everyone else is considerate enough not to bring it up. mostly at Hogwarts he prefers to forget about it himself. That was the point with the title. It is based on the idea of the saying that 'if you know the problem you're half way to finding a solution'. |
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