SLashing the Fat Lady (was Re: Sirius and PTSD (A different view)

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 47404

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Audra1976 at a... wrote:
 
> 3.) Slashing the portrait -- This was an aggressive reaction, but I 
would like to point out that the portrait was only an object, and I 
consider it to be the equivalent of breaking down a door.  He was 
trying to get to Peter, to defend his godson, whom he believed was in 
mortal danger from Peter, which is a very apparent reason.

This ties in with something I was thinking last night.  Sirius' 
slashing of the Fat Lady's portrait is often brought up as evidence 
of his unstable, impulsive, anger-driven personality.  The portraits 
at Hogwarts have a greater ability to interact with humans than, say, 
magic photographs. But, does that make them sentient beings that can 
feel human feelings?  Or are they magical creations designed to show 
human characteristics?

If you think that these are feeling creatures, then of course Sirius' 
attack looks awful - a deranged lunatic with a knife attacking a slow-
moving, unsuspecting lady in a pink dress who is woefully unprepared 
for such an attack.  But, then, if the portraits are lving beings, 
isn't it somewhat creepy that they must live their "lives" confined 
to the world of canvas and frames?  Maybe after Hermione frees the 
house elves, she can free the portrait people.

I'm with Audra in seeing the portrait as an object. Slashing it with 
a knife, while an act of defacement, was evidence of frustration on 
Sirius' part because he couldn't get into the dorms and he knew 
Wormtail was in there with Harry.  Had there been no portrait hanging 
there, Sirius would probably attacked whatever was covering the 
entranceway - pounding on the door with his fists, or kicking it with 
his feet or jabbing the knife around the door's handle/lock.  Call me 
a Sirius Apologist, but I don't see an attack on a picture as the 
equivalent of an attack on a human being.

Marianne