Real Wizards Aren't Squeamish (Pettigrew, Wizarding Culture)

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 34427

Elkins wrote:

> Pettigrew, on the other hand...well, every time we see the poor
> wretch, he's in some state of utter abjection.  If he isn't 
grovelling
> for his life, then he's weeping in helpless terror at his impending
> death at the hands of his old classmates, or he's cringing in fear
> and revulsion from his Evil Undead Baby Master, or he's screaming or
> sobbing or moaning in physical agony.  He's a broken man; his life 
is 
> just one long unending misery; I don't believe that he's enjoyed 
> a single moment of happiness or pleasure or even real contentment 
> since the first day he joined Voldemort's cause.  Even as a rat, he 
> seemed profoundly depressed. ("Sleep...eat...sleep...eat...")

Oh, gee.  What was that weird fluttering sensation?  It felt 
suspiciously like a pang of sympathy in my heart for Peter.

Well, we can't have that, now can we?  

I've never been entirely sure what to make of Peter.  I think he is 
JKR's most compelling villian in the series.  What the heck made him 
betray the Marauders?  Were James and Sirius kind of mean and 
dismissive with Peter?  Does he *really* want Voldemort restored, or 
is he just doing that because he has no where else to go?  Couldn't 
he have turned himself in when Voldemort fell and cut a deal like 
Karkaroff, claiming . . . he was under the Imperius Curse?  Why was 
he so reluctant to proceed with the plan in the beginning of GoF?

There really is a complex parallel going on with Peter, Karkaroff and 
Snape.  Each flirted with the Dark Side, and only the latter two came 
back to the forces of Good.  Peter and Karkaroff betrayed their 
friends, and Snape probably betrayed his old Slytherin buddies as 
well.  The real story of evil, I suspect, isn't Draco, Lucius or 
Voldemort, but Peter, Karkaroff and Snape.

Elkins again:

> But then, given that Cindy's admitted that she values toughness
> highly and identifies with it, while feeling little but contempt 
for 
> vulnerability and frailty, I strongly suspect that this is 
> *precisely* what makes Pettigrew her candidate for Least 
Sympathetic 
> Character.


Ya know, the Toughness meter, while useful, doesn't work in all 
circumstances.  Peter is a perfect example where it just doesn't get 
me anywhere at all.  Is Peter Tough?  Yes, because he cut off his own 
hand and considering that this probably hurt a bit, he handled it as 
well as could be expected.  No, because he does a fair amount of 
sniveling in the Shrieking Shack.  Yes, because he cut off his own 
finger.  No, because he does a fair amount of sniveling in the 
graveyard.  Yes, because he outsmarted Sirius.  The dial on the 
Toughmeter is whipping around because it can't get a reading on Peter 
at all.  I have to think of some other way to size up Peter.

And now that Elkins has made such an impassioned case for pitying 
Peter, I even have a hard time sticking by my assessment that Peter 
is the Least Sympathetic Character.  Oh, I'm so confused!

Elkins again (on Wormtail's squeamishness):
 
>He doesn't balk for so much as a second before offing 
> Cedric Diggory in the graveyard, and he couldn't have pulled off
> his snookering of poor Sirius if he'd messed up the timing on the
> muggle-blasting stunt.  <snip>
> 
> But I would agree that he doesn't like it very much.  And again, I 
> suspect that this probably acts as a black mark in Cindy's books, 
> while it's rather a sympathy point in mine.  

My goodness!  Where did I get the reputation that I prefer characters 
to kill with pleasure and glee?  Uh, maybe my remarks about Lupin?  
:-)  Well, that's completely different.  Lupin is willing to kill a 
traitor and murderer because he has to because justice requires it.  
Wormtail is killing innocent people (Bertha, Cedric) solely out of 
fear of Voldemort.  I guess his reluctance is a sign that he isn't 
pure evil really deep down, but he shows no remorse for anything he 
has done, so he's pretty darn close to pure evil.  Maybe he figures 
each murder places him that much farther from being able to return to 
proper wizarding society?  I dunno.

I wonder why Peter didn't just kill slimy baby Voldemort?  How hard 
could that have been?  Maybe that proves Peter is exactly where he 
wants to be.

Cindy (noting that no one has ever even proposed any kind of support 
group for Pettigrew)