11 replies to this topic

[Neilwolf]

Hey all,

Reading OOTP, a thought has been running through my mind.
Cho Chang is a selfish drama queen. A few reasons:

1. She is, as Harry describes her, a "human hosepipe". She
bursts into tears without the slightest provocation every
five minutes, making Harry feel like Jack the Ripper.


2. She keeps bringing up Cedric. "Cedric would bring me here."
"This is where Cedric and I snogged." "If you taught Cedric
he would still be alive." Read: "I'm sorry, Harry, but you are
not Cedric Diggory." I understand she grieves his loss, but
obviously she is not over him and she will not give Harry a
chance.


3. She defends Marietta even though her friend sells out the
DA to Umbridge, even to the point of attacking Hermione
for charming the list. In fact, she is bitchy when it comes
to Hermione in general. "How many other girls do you
have, Harry?" Of course, Hermione mentions that Cho is
simply testing Harry to see if he likes her, saying that girls
usually don't ask straight up. In other words, Harry has to
figure it out for himself.


So, it's obvious that JK didn't plan on Harry and Cho getting
together in the story. Harry finally gets the girl he's had a
crush on since POA, but she turns out to be a nightmare. She
cries about Cedric Diggory every chance she gets and gets all
Drama Queeny/Bitchy about Hermione and has no sympathy
for Harry's troubles. Of course, being stuck with the Dursleys,
Harry was not given any "schooling" on how to socialize with
the opposite sex in the first place. Any thoughts?

[Crystal]

I honestly think people are too hard on Cho. I think that Hermione painted a very good picture of what Cho had been going through in GoF & OotP. I think Cho genuinely liked Harry, however he took his sweet time asking her out, didn't he? I understand why, of course, but the fact is, Cedric asked first.

When Cedric died, Cho felt guilty for liking Harry. One might say, "well, if she wasn't over Cedric's death, why did she go out with Harry?" She tells Harry that she thought they could talk about Cedric. I think she wanted someone who could sympathize with her; someone who could understand what she had gone through, but Harry only wanted to deal with a happy Cho.

Harry was not very understanding, as demonstrated when he called her a human hosepipe. Really, how soon is one supposed to stop feeling the loss of someone they cared about? Plus, this wasn't the only thing stressing Cho out. Yeah, Harry also had an unbelievable amount of crap to deal with, himself, so in our eyes, Cho's issues kind of pale in comparison. To Cho, however, her problems were very real and she didn't exactly know how to handle them all.

Of course she was jealous of Hermione; Cho had to feel that she could never quite compete with her. Jealousy isn't pretty, and it doesn't even always make sense, but it's a very human emotion. The other characters have experienced jealousy, and no one labels them as selfish.

As for why she defended Marietta; she was Cho's friend, not just some random Ravenclaw chick. In fact, since they were always seen together, I'd guess that they were pretty close friends. It's not that easy to just throw asside a friendship, for any reason.

I don't think that Harry and Cho should be together, and I'm not saying that Cho was the most enjoyable person to be around, because she wasn't. I just think that she went through something that few people have, and she didn't really know how to handle it. Add to that your average pressures of being a teenager, and you have someone on an emotional roller coaster. Try to look at things from her point of view.


Just my two knutts. ^_-

[larrypotter]

I felt like the underlying main theme of OotP was that the main characters didn't COMMUNICATE! DD and Harry for sure. Harry and Cho. Even Harry and Snape at the Occlumency lessons (and you might feel even more disappointment at these to supposed "teammates" when you look at their potential for being good communicaters when Harry tells him the code for "Sirius is in trouble at the Ministry!"). The book was one communication breakdown after another.

So it's too bad that Harry and Cho couldn't have just talked. They might have even worked things out! I agree that Cho had some heavy stuff going on. As did Harry. It was disappointing to me that Harry wouldn't talk to her about the fateful night. Whenever he does communicate the events of that night (ie the interview in the Quibbler), he gets good results. The same would have been true if he had talked to Cho about Cedric. He would have discovered that she had always liked Harry, but that Cedric had beaten him to the punch.

Anyway...

[Misya]

Hmm...I don't think she is a selfish girl...yeah maybe Crystalline was right that people are too hard on her..including me But honestly..she's stuck! Oh I dunno what happen in HBP (I hate this when I'm around here...felt behind!!!) but I'm sure they are ok now...and I agree that she 'liked' Harry but she just made it 'difficult'....plus Harry made it even more 'difficult'. If they could just.....oh, it's nothing!

[gryffindor_teacher]

I see what you mean, I think that Cho has gone through a lot, and my first impression of her was that she seemed like a nice girl. I don't think that she was a good frame of mind for much of book 5. She overlooked her friend Marietta's flaws. She does cry a lot, but honestly, it's understandable. She lost someone that she cared about, and very suddenly.

Cho wants and needs to talk about Cedric, but Harry doesn't - it is too painful for him to relive what went on. Cho wants to be consoled, but Harry is unable to do this - not because he is not a sympathetic person, but because he does not want to relive the moment once again by talking about it. It was tragic for him because he witnessed Cedric's death and feels guilty for what happened because he told Cedric to take the cup with him.

I thought that Harry was a bit too hard on Cho, but he was also going through more than his share of bad times at the moment.

[Misya]

"She lost someone she cared about" that's was I heard and saw everytime we discuss about Cho...OK, what about..."Harry Potter also lost someone he cared and love like Sirius and very sudden" He didn't even want to talk about it...this is the very thing that I can't except about Cho. Cry. Girls are very synonym with tears, that's exceptable...*sigh* dunno...

[Crystal]

Right, but Harry didn't lose Sirius until the end, but it's true that he wasn't exactly having the best year of his life. Like Larry said, they didn't really communicate their feelings well. I think they just both had too many things to deal with - to many issues to work through in their own lives - so they weren't really in a position to help each other.

[Sunny]

I agree completely with Crystall, Cho was going through a very rough time and was very confused about the fact that she felt for Harry and Cedric. It is normal to be sad because the death of a person you loved and Cedric was only dead for one summer so she was bound to be still thinking of him and also crying because of him.

And I thought Harry was being rather unsensitive with her, he merely patted her on the back when she burst into tears round Christmas at the end of a DA meeting. Why didn't he hug her and tell her how sorry he is, how much he liked Cedric, ... ?

I, too, think everybody is being too hard with Cho. It isn't easy to endure what she was feeling in OotP. And envying Hermione should have shown Harry how much she actually likes him and cares about him.

[h_a_r_r_y_p_o_t_t_e_r]

[im not sure wether to agree

[gracy]

Well let's see Harry has had well...a crappy life ever since he was dropped of with his aunt, his parents died, didn't know any real facts about them, and has lost important people to him. And we don't see him crying all over the place like Cho I sympatize with her but just a bit. I mean Harry's life has been very hurtfull and well he doesn't go crying every five minutes to Ron and Hermione about it. Everyone has a different way of dealing with pain and losses. But Cho is just driving me nuts. If Harry doesn't want to talk about it go to one of your friends. Maybe Hogwarts needs school counselors or something for people. Cho should just have realized that she needs to live in the moment and that with Voldemort now around she needs to value the time that she has with her friends and loved ones not go crying her head off all the time because she can't deal with pain. May sound mean but you know its true.

[*Flutterby*]

Well let's see Harry has had well...a crappy life ever since he was dropped of with his aunt, his parents died, didn't know any real facts about them, and has lost important people to him. And we don't see him crying all over the place like Cho.

Yes, that is true but Cho is a girl and Harry is a boy and boys and girls have different ways of getting over certain losses. Boys don't like to cry in front of other people whilst many girls don't mind or simply don't care. Nothing excuses Cho's rather selfish and peculiar behaviour but that is what I say now, not having felt for two boys at once, one living and the other dead. Until we have been in such a situation we shouldn't critisize Cho.