I think the clearest example is in his attitude towards death-eaters and bullies. He hears Draco talk about raping people, and decides to befriend him. He sees people being bullies at school, and is ready to seriously injure them. He hears about his own parents being bullies, and decides they must have been terrible. He says that death-eaters have made their lives forfeit (I think Amycus Carrow or somebody has threatened Hermione’s life or something, and Harry is telling Dumbledore how he wants to go and murder him). He pals around with Quirrell even though he is OBVIOUSLY EVIL (okay, this really isn’t about Harry’s ethics, but it’s clearly an issue of the story). He’s talks a big game about scouring evil people from the earth, but is revolted to his very core by Azkaban (and releases a murderer who had been found guilty; despite the tenuous reasoning he’s given for why she wasn’t truly guilty, from a man who is OBVIOUSLY EVIL, it still seems like a low-marginal-value thing to spend his time on, especially considering he simultaneously ignores the plight of every other prisoner). He threatens the wizengamot over their verdict, even though the evidence is pretty damning against Hermione, honestly.
Essentially, what I’m trying to say is that Harry is in one second ready to kill anyone who is moderately indecent to the point of bullying another, or not immediately respecting that he is the most ingenious-and-capable 11-yo in the world, and in the next second is the most generous, rehabilitation-focused humanist possible, and in the next will rationalize pretty sketchyl bargains with Quirrel or Lucius Malfoy.
Well, HPJEV’s ethics are wildly inconsistent moment-to-moment, so...
Examples?
I think the clearest example is in his attitude towards death-eaters and bullies. He hears Draco talk about raping people, and decides to befriend him. He sees people being bullies at school, and is ready to seriously injure them. He hears about his own parents being bullies, and decides they must have been terrible. He says that death-eaters have made their lives forfeit (I think Amycus Carrow or somebody has threatened Hermione’s life or something, and Harry is telling Dumbledore how he wants to go and murder him). He pals around with Quirrell even though he is OBVIOUSLY EVIL (okay, this really isn’t about Harry’s ethics, but it’s clearly an issue of the story). He’s talks a big game about scouring evil people from the earth, but is revolted to his very core by Azkaban (and releases a murderer who had been found guilty; despite the tenuous reasoning he’s given for why she wasn’t truly guilty, from a man who is OBVIOUSLY EVIL, it still seems like a low-marginal-value thing to spend his time on, especially considering he simultaneously ignores the plight of every other prisoner). He threatens the wizengamot over their verdict, even though the evidence is pretty damning against Hermione, honestly.
Essentially, what I’m trying to say is that Harry is in one second ready to kill anyone who is moderately indecent to the point of bullying another, or not immediately respecting that he is the most ingenious-and-capable 11-yo in the world, and in the next second is the most generous, rehabilitation-focused humanist possible, and in the next will rationalize pretty sketchyl bargains with Quirrel or Lucius Malfoy.