Lupin's personality (WAS Re: Lupin as next Headmaster)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 78567

Okay, this is going to be tricky, keeping everyone's attributions 
straight.  I'll do my best, but I apologize in advance if I screw 
up.  

Ev vy wrote:

> Frankly, I disagree with the opinion that anything that Lupin did 
> was done out of cowardice. I think that what motivated him (and 
> still does) is his self-preservation and  also a very strong sense 
of  pragmatism. 

Maria

<snip>there is a definite element of cowardice in Lupin's inability 
to stand up to his friends in Pensieve Scene II...let's look at this:

"Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?" he said. "Did I ever have the 
guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?" (Careers Advice, 
OOP)

Marina:
> > I suspect that his [Lupin's]current ability to keep the people 
around him in line comes not so much from increased moral 
authority as from increased facility for judging how far he can 
afford to go, and which buttons he needs to push. I think the adult 
Remus is a rather  manipulative man, actually. 

Maria:
> Oh, yes. Definitely. And the best phrase to illustrate Marina's 
words would be Lupin's "Your parents gave their lives to keep you 
alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them – gambling their sacrifice for 
a bag of magic tricks." (Snape's Grudge, POA)

> Elkins:

> Even Lupin's compassion could, viewed in a certain light, make him 
> seem a little suspicious, because it's a compassion born of 
> sensitivity and insight, of the ability to "read" others, to deduce 
> other people's personal vulnerabilities and motives. <snip> On a 
certain level, an emotionally astute individual *is* a spy -- he 
knows your secrets...or at least he makes you feel as if he does -- 
and I don't think that it did much for the others' sense of security 
around Lupin. I think that his very sensitivity probably made him 
seem suspect.  

<snip> [W]hile wisely used that sort of sensitivity can lead to  
compassion, used with ill-intent it turns to sadism. If you can tell 
where somebody's vulnerabilities lie, then you may know how to help 
them, but you also really know how to *hurt* them. And while Lupin 
rarely uses his sensitivity cruelly, he certainly does know *how* to 
do it. His rebuke to Harry at the end of Chapter 14...is 
devestatingly effective.  It's also slightly...one might even be 
tempted to call it "vicious." Lupin really does know how to target 
the jugular, and there are times when I get the definite sense that 
he's got a bit of a taste for it as well. He's not a sadist...but he 
could be, and  if he ever did go bad, I think that's exactly how he'd 
do it.

> 

Now me (Laura)

Wow.  Remus just can't win here, can he?  When he doesn't speak up, 
he's a coward, or coldly pragmatic, and when he does, he's 
manipulative and potentially vicious.  

It's interesting to compare Sirius, Remus and Severus as kids and as 
adults.  Each of them had significant personal prlblems in their pre-
Hogwarts lives, difficulties they bring with them to school.  They 
carry their emotional baggage in very different ways.  Remus becomes 
docile and avoids confrontation in order tomaintain his secret and 
keep his friendships at the same time.  Sirius acts cocky and 
arrogant in order to hide the rejection he has experienced from his 
parents.  Snape adopts a stance of constant defensiveness, treating 
everyone as a potential enemy and then acting resentful and bitter 
when they respond in kind.  It seems to me that Remus has learned the 
most from his mistakes in adolescent strategy.  He's seen the results 
of failing to act to prevent harm being done to someone else.  He's 
also learned a lot about human behavior-what motivates people, what's 
important to them.  Adult!Remus puts those lessons together and 
becomes a force for good.  He teaches, both literally and by example, 
how to handle darkness, whether it takes the form of a creature, a 
spell or a moral weakness. So when he scolds Harry for sneaking into 
Hogsmeade, it's from the point of view of someone who knows that 
seemingly harmless acts can have dreadful consequences.  Not only is 
he trying to correct his past failures, he's trying to help Harry 
avoid the same ones.  He has to speak forcefully so Harry will think 
about what the consequences of his acts could be.  I wouldn't call 
that manipulation-I'd call that caring.  Sure, he knows what to say 
to get to Harry.  That's not because he's cruel, but because he has 
learned to look inside people (to see others as "thou" rather 
than "it", in the terminology of Martin Buber).  He responds to each 
person so as to acknowledge their uniqueness-Harry's headstrong 
impulsiveness, Hermione's earnest scholarliness, Neville's sadness 
and fear, Sirius's frustration and emotionality.  He's always careful 
to speak to Snape with calm and respect, understanding Snape's 
bitterness need for control and knowing what part he played in 
creating them. (His decision not to fight for his job after Snape 
outs him seems like penance to me.)  I never get any feeling at all 
from Remus that he has a nasty streak, either as a child or as an 
adult. And goodness knows, with James and Sirius around, he could 
have picked up all the instruction he needed. If people respond to 
Remus's empathy with suspicion, maybe that's because we so rarely 
encounter the real thing in our lives, sad to say.