[HPforGrownups] Re: Sirius' Prank & Lupin (WAS Dehumanizing Language--Sir...

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 34377

In a message dated 31/01/02 04:06:21 GMT Standard Time, cindysphynx at home.com 
writes:


> Part of my reaction to that scene is that Lupin is generally quite 
> mild-mannered throughout the book.  He takes some rather nasty 
> treatment from Snape throughout PoA without standing up for himself 
> at all.  JKR was right on the edge of causing me to rise up and 
> demand that Lupin assert himself, but she didn't cross the line.  Had 
> Lupin shown mercy toward Peter on top of all of that, that would have 
> been just way too much for me to take.  Lupin would have been well on 
> the way to Doormat Status in my mind.  I think I actually respect 
> Lupin more for being willing to do something rather repugnant and get 
> his hands dirty out of loyalty to Sirius and Harry.  (Dang, did I 
> just write that?)
> 
But to me, Lupin's silence in the face of Snapes nastiness is a sign of his 
maturity. He doesn't need to get involved in slanging matches. He has had a 
lot more than than other people's nasty comments to cope with in life: he has 
had to come to terms with *what he is*. He's not on the verge of being a 
doormat, he's just too big to get involved in such pettiness. Although of 
course, he is quite capable of getting his own back when he wants to 
(Snape-boggart).

> 
> Elkins again (about Sirius):
> 
> > On the other hand, I don't feel much sympathy when the grown-up
> > incarnation of the popular, good-looking *and* academically 
> brilliant
> > teenager's take on the affair is still: "Well, he was this oily,
> > greasy, slimy kid, see, and we didn't like him, and he was always
> > trying to get us in trouble, and besides, his hair was always 
> dirty, 
> > and so it served him right."  That doesn't win any affection points 
> > from me.  I expect a man in his thirties to at the very least be 
> able 
> > to admit that it was an incredibly stupid thing to do, that it 
> really 
> > could have got Snape *killed,* and that if nothing else, that would 
> > have been absolutely disastrous for poor Remus.  
> > 
> 
> Let me start off by saying that you are completely, 100% right, and I 
> can make what Sirius did sound even worse.  What Sirius did was 
> awful, and the fact that he set up a situation in which he almost 
> used his best friend Lupin as the means to murder someone is pretty 
> awful.  Horrid.  Had Lupin attacked Snape, Lupin would have never 
> recovered and would probably have been expelled, and God only knows 
> what MoM does to werewolves who bite people.  Sirius endangered 
> Lupin, Snape, James and Dumbledore's career, all with one idiotic 
> decision.
> 
> Was it unforgivable?  Well, Lupin seems to have forgiven Sirius, 
> hasn't he?  I figure if anyone has a right to be ticked at Sirius, it 
> is Lupin.  Lupin seems to have moved on, so I guess I can swallow 
> hard and let it go myself.  That Lupin can forgive Sirius and 
> maintain their friendship suggests to me that Sirius must have a lot 
> of very special qualities indeed.  It was a dumb mistake that a dumb 
> kid made, it's long since over, and that's that.

Exactly, Lupin can forgive, but does that speak about Sirius' special 
qualities, or Lupin's?
Lupin feels guilty about  MMWP's other escapades and I think, by implication, 
about this one. He struggles with his conscience throughout GoF and is 
gracious enough to admit that in one respect, Snape was right about him all 
along. My impression is that Lupin alone of these three recognises the need 
to forgive himself for his past errors, whereas the other two haven't 
accepted and taken resposibility for their past mistakes, ard cannot get past 
the need for revenge on the one hand and the need to make reparation on the 
other ( by which I don't mean reparation to each other, I mean balancing the 
scales by doing something *they* regard as worthy).  Until they do come to 
terms with themselves they will be, as you say, 'frozen in time'.
I still think Dumbledore needs a therapist on his side!

Eloise


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]