OOP: Sirius thoughts ...

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 67348

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "minetourjunkie" 
<sarah_wendling at h...> wrote:

> The narrative repurcussions: well, it does provide Harry with a 
> really tangible motivation for going gung ho at Voldemort.  Ya 
sure,  Voldemort killed his parents, but that was years ago.  And 
he didn't  know them.  Sirius, he was close to in life.  That's gotta 
ratchet up a revenge desire.  However, I must agree with the 
many people who are  upset at the loss of a potentially 
interesting arc.  I was all excited to see how his life played out - 
could he be cleared?  If he  was, what would he do?  He's been 
in prison or in hiding for most of  his adult life.  Can he now turn 
around and function in normal society?  Will people trust him, 
hire him etc. or will he never lose  the stigma of his conviction?  
The list, as others have demonstrated,  is endless.  And it's all 
been snuffed out. (pardon the slight pun 
> there ...)
>

Isn't there a theory that the reason Mercutio got killed off  in 
Romeo and Juliet was that he was more interesting than 
Romeo? It's Harry's problems we're supposed to be interested 
in. The books aren't called  "Sirius Black and..."  Harry couldn't 
have solved all of Sirius's problems, and if Sirius solved them 
the book would be about him, not Harry. What Harry has to do is 
avoid the mistakes that Sirius made.

 We've all noticed that Hogwarts, though as magical as ever, 
wasn't very much fun in Book 5.  What we and Harry discovered 
is that what he loves about Hogwarts is  acceptance,  having 
friends and a sense of purpose. Without those, the magical 
world is just Privet Drive with broomsticks.   Sirius never had a 
sense of purpose beyond catching up with Peter and fighting 
Voldemort.  Just as he couldn't settle between being a human 
being or a dog, he couldn't settle on his role with Harry or figure 
out what to do with himself if he couldn't fight Voldemort directly.  

Sirius's death says that organizing your life around the fight 
against evil isn't enough, or at least it won't be if you're only 
willing to fight it with wands. Even in the magical world, some 
evils are better met with   kindness--and elbow grease.

Pippin