Harry's Heroism and Villainy

Harry Potter is well known to be the hero of his story, and the villains are also well known.  Even those who have not read the books or watched the movies know that Harry is the star, and Voldemort is the villain.  But, while reading the books for myself, I often thought that Harry was a bit of a jerk.  He, ultimately, makes the right decision every time, but in some moments between his heroism, his attitude, for some reason, makes me cringe.  I cannot point to specific times (except for the moment at the end of The Sorcerer’s Stone when he is thinking of the fun he will have intimidating his cousin) when he behaves badly, but something about the way he behaves in general throws me off.  Don’t get me wrong – he is still the hero and I rooted for him the entire way.  But it seems to me that – in general – unless the day needs saving, if he did not have his friends and mentors to keep him on track, he could become a brat. 

Why, I wonder?  Later in the series, when Harry and I discovered that part of Voldemort’s soul resides within Harry, I could not help but reevaluate everything that Harry had ever done.  Every action of his became suspect because he might not have been performing the act entirely on his own.  But it got me to thinking.  What if all this is all credit to Harry’s agency and heroism?  When the situation is rather inconsequential (when the trio is merely making their way around Hogwarts after curfew, for example) no life or death situations need be made.  Therefore, Harry may not to have complete control of himself and Voldemort may be gaining ground.  But when something immensely important is going down (such as the conflict with Voldemort over the Sorcerer’s Stone) Harry asserts himself and makes the right decision.  All of this would be unconscious on Harry’s part, of course.

Even more notable – even though not told in the first installment – is how Harry destroys the horcrux inside of him.  Every other horcrux the trio had destroyed put up a fight.  The locket hurt Ron where it could best, and it also tried to choke Harry.  The notebook produced the thoughts of Tom Riddle to lead Harry and Ginny astray.  The snake obviously tried to kill its attackers.  So, why did the horcrux inside of Harry not fight back or do something when he was simply standing and waiting for Voldemort to kill him?  Why did it not overcome Harry’s mind and fight back? I think that – though Harry was not aware of the battle inside his mind, or rather, soul – this is instance of Harry’s agency.  He was able to push the part of him that was Voldemort out of his consciousness and make a sacrifice. 

What if, despite the fact that Harry had no contribution to his circumstances – his parent’s death, Voldemort’s curse, growing up with the Dursley’s – his heroism is actually him making decisions – unconscious decisions that deny Voldemort’s authority within?  And whenever he is behaving less than heroically, such as after his first year at Hogwarts, it is him unaware that Voldemort resides in him?  I think it gives a new thought to agency within Harry Potter, in light of the appearance of Harry having none, or little, in his life.