[HPforGrownups] Re: Lupin the brave, Sirius the terrorist?

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 41895

Pippin gamely wrote:

> Harry *did* fetch a Professor. He and
> Ron took 
> Lockhart with them. It seems they weren't  able to
> let go of their 
> belief that he must be a powerful Dark Arts fighter,
> even after he 
> had confessed his deceptions.  People do cling to
> their 
> illusions,<g>
> 
> The Trio also tried to convince McGonagall that
> someone was 
> after the Stone. In both cases, Dumbledore himself
> was off 
> campus. 

OK, weak example, but we do sometimes wring our hands
about Harry's tendency to take on risks alone.  In any
case, I think my point stands:  a failure to summon
backup doesn't imply a lack of bravery.  If anything,
it's evidence of a bravery that borders on
overconfidence.

> Actually, at that point, Sirius is racing *away*
> from Harry and 
> Hermione and has already entered the Willow. Unless
> Lupin 
> thinks that Harry knows a way in, there's no need to
> rush off and 
> rescue him. If Ron has been taken as a hostage, he's
> not in 
> immediate danger either. 

Correction noted (I still don't have access to my
book--it's on the far side of a sleeping dragon <g>). 
However, I don't think "not in immediate danger" would
be my reaction to someone's being taken hostage--it is
an absolutely terrifying situation, one that has to be
treated as imminent murder.  Nor does Lupin have any
way of knowing whether that's the scenario.  He just
knows two people appear to be in Sirius's control and
two more are yards away.

> Lupin doesn't give  *any*  reason for his actions.
> His account 
> stops short of his decision to pursue the Trio.
> 
> He says, " I watched as he pulled two of you into
> the Whomping 
> Willow--"
> and then Ron interrupts him. When Lupin speaks
> again, it's to 
> ask for a look at the rat.
> 
> Lupin's motives for going to the Shack alone are
> therefore open 
> to conjecture.

Sure, slightly.  But not much.  There's an obvious
explanation:  the Trio's and Peter's lives are in
danger and he needs to get to them ASAP.  (I like Hei
Lun's thought that he might be beginning to wonder
whether Sirius is innocent.  I agree, but I also think
he's in a complete whirl and far from sorting out what
must have happened.  All he knows is that Peter is
inexplicably alive but in the clutches of the man who
is supposed to have killed him.)

> But even Dumbledore, when he has only
> moments 
> to rescue Harry from a dangerous Dark Wizard, takes
> along 
> some backup.  He went alone to rescue Harry from
> Quirrell, but 
> he had no choice there, because of  all the barriers
> .

And he went alone with Harry to find Mr. Crouch in GF.
 Very risky.  Snape was right there--if he *must*
bring Harry into such danger in order to know where to
find Crouch, why the heck didn't he bring Snape along?
 Plot necessity.
 
> Lupin says he didn't reveal   that Sirius was an 
> Animagus because he didn't want Dumbledore to know
> that he, 
> Lupin, had disobeyed him. If this was Lupin's reason
> for trying to 
> deal with Sirius and Pettigrew on his own, if it was
> fear that kept 
> him from getting help, then I don't see him as
> brave. 

But I don't see any reason to think this.  The reason
he went on his own was because the matter was so
terribly urgent.  Dumbledore isn't in the castle; he's
still at Hagrid's.  Lupin, who holds himself partially
responsible for James and Lily's deaths and has a
lurking guilt about withholding information and
therefore, he knows in his heart of hearts,
endangering Harry, is seeing his worst nightmare come
true:  Harry too is about to be killed by Sirius. 
Lupin is probably close to panic.  He just *goes,* not
thinking terribly clearly along the way.  I can see a
lack of wisdom there (and an authorial need for the
direct confrontation and unfolding of the tale <g>),
but again, not a lack of courage.

>  Imagine that you knew one of your old friends had
> joined a 
> terrorist group that murdered innocent people
> without warning or 
> compunction, that the authorities were hunting him,
> and that you 
> had information that might help to capture him.  
> 
> I can understand why you'd want to keep the
> information to 
> yourself, if it might ruin you too--say, if you and
> your old pal had 
> been smuggling drugs together and you didn't want
> that to come 
> out.  But I wouldn't call it  brave  if you were
> still bent on keeping 
> your secret  even after you knew the terrorist had
> targeted an 
> innocent child.

This is all relevant to the year's events (though see
my objection to the terrorism parallel, to follow),
but not to this particular incident.  Sirius is after
Harry--no kidding.  Lupin has believed this all year,
and has rationalized away his obligation to tell
Dumbledore everything he knows about Sirius.  I'm not
trying to defend that.  Nor does Lupin; he admits that
he was rationalizing when he told himself that
Sirius's Animagus form was irrelevant.

> JKR, as others have pointed out, lived in England
> when it was 
> beset by attacks from the IRA. She was, I think,
> sensible of the
> full weight of Lupin's actions at the time of
> writing.

Oh dear.  I had better tread carefully here.  Please
keep in mind that I have only a rough idea of IRA
methods.  However:

I get the IRA parallel with the blowing up of the
street, but I think it's weak, and I certainly don't
think the parallel carries to the rest of Sirius's
actions.  Sirius has been free for ten months without
a smidgen of terrorist activity.  Almost everything he
has done is consistent instead with the behavior of a
singleminded assassin:  he wants to kill Harry Potter,
not wreak terror on anyone else.  (Harry and Ron even
wonder why he didn't kill Ron and move on to Harry. 
We know after the fact that it's because he didn't
want to kill anyone but Pettigrew; even at the time,
the most sensible explanation is that he didn't want
to kill anyone but Harry.  Not exactly the modus
operandi of a terrorist.)  The one exception is the
slashing of the Fat Lady, best explained as a fit of
temper at being kept from his quarry (whether Harry or
Peter, it makes no difference).

Amy Z

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The car, however, had reached the end of its tether.
		-HP and the Chamber of Secrets
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