Why Peter Turned Traitor (was PoA Chap Summary 18-20)

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 21894

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., sprsun at y... wrote:
> Susan Hall wrote:
> 
> 
> Helen N wrote:
> 
> > 10. Did you feel any kind of sympathy for Pettigrew?
> >
> > Yes, definately. Some Death Eaters seem to be what they are 
because 
> they 
> > enjoy the power and the killing. Peter, to me at least, doesn't 
> seem that 
> > way. He seems to be a Death Eater because he couldn't quite work 
> out how to 
> > be anything else. I think he killed Lily and James because he saw 
> it as his 
> > only option, because he was too scared to do anything else. I 
feel 
> very 
> > sorry for someone who is that scared by his life.
> 
> Good to know I'm not the only one feeling kind of sorry for Peter.
> Somehow I can't imagine James and Sirius making friend with a total
> opportunist. There had to be something good in Peter back in their
> school days? It just doesn't seem possible to me that such a close
> friendship was formed just becaues Peter kept following them around
> seeking protection. Sometimes people makes one wrong step and
> kept sinking deeper and deeper and after a while, survival becomes
> the only concern. I feel that it's kind of tragic.
> 
I understand your points, but I still can't work up more than the 
tiniest iota of sympathy for Peter.  My take on it is that he had 
some deep resentments of the other three because he wasn't as 
powerful or as bright as they.  I'm going out on a not-quite canon 
limb here and add that Peter possibly resented James' Quidditch 
skills, Sirius' good looks, and could also have, in a perverse way, 
been jealous of the attention Remus received from his lycanthropy.  
Maybe he was always treated like a younger brother who was never 
expected to be the leader or the bravest or the smartest and this 
eventually gnawed at him.  OTOH, perhaps J/S/R were too busy being 
clever to realize that they were reinforcing Peter's feelings of 
inadequacy.  That's where my iota of pity comes from.

Marianne