OOP: Sirius thoughts ...

[minetourjunkie]

No: HPFGUIDX 67386

The space for the spoilers ...


Pippin said (with some snipping):
> > Sirius never had a sense of purpose beyond catching up with Peter 
> > and fighting Voldemort. 

Marianne replied: 
> That may very well be true, but I think you could cut the man maybe 
> an inch of slack in that he's spent most of the past 14 years in 
> isolation from other humans. He hasn't had much of a chance to 
> reconnect to wizard life outside of the narrow focus of 
> concentrating on Voldemort and Peter.  But, we'll never know as 
> that story arc has been cut.

And I say:
First off, I think Sirius did have other senses of purpose (can you 
pluralize that?): protecting Harry for starters.  Heck, that purpose 
is what led Voldemort to figure out how to set up the end of this 
book.  Catching up with Peter is a byproduct of protecting Harry.  He 
didn't try until he knew Peter was where Harry was.  Also, remember 
the christmas scene?  Harry points out to us that Sirius came alive 
then, not because he was allowed to fight, but because he had company 
and a family of sorts.  He got off on decorating.  Plus, as Marianne 
points out, he's been in prison or on the run for 14 years.  It's not 
like he's had a reason to figure out some career plans.  We aren't 
told what either he or the Potters did after Hogwarts, so who knows 
what his original plans were?
 
Marianne:
<snip discussion of Sirius' issues like Harry/James>
> You seem to be saying that since these issues had 
> not been laid to rest already, thus making Sirius a more useful, 
> functional member of the team, that his character was set in stone, 
> there was nothing else JKR could have done with him without  
> spending too much time on Sirius and not enough time on Harry, so 
> what else is there to do but kill him off?

For me, the potential to find out all that was going on in that 
Sirius little head was part of what was interesting about the 
character.  I think JKR was doing a good job of revealing things 
about Sirius character while keeping the focus on Harry and I don't 
see why that couldn't have continued.  I don't think he was killed 
for convienence.  Plus, his issues aren't keeping him from being 
useful - he can't go out or he'll be executed.  That can hardly be 
called a character flaw.  Perhaps if Dumbledore needed him to Giles-
it-up and do some research at home, he'd have helped (sorry random 
Buffy reference ...)

Pippin said:
> > 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.

Marianne replied:
> Sirius' death also says that the combined actions of lots of people 
> sometimes cause messes in which people get hurt or die.  I know 
> from reading some of your other posts that you blame Sirius for his 
> own death because of his particular character flaws. That puts a 
> nice, neat framwork about things, but none of us, even wizards, 
> live and act in a vaccuum.  Our flaws and strengths influence us 
> for good and bad, but sometimes circumstances are bigger than we 
> are.

Again, I'm not sure his life was organized around the fight against 
evil.  A good deal of his motivation seems to come from guilt over 
James' death and a need to protect Harry at all costs to make up for 
his earlier mistakes.  And he seems to genuinely like the boy.  I 
wouldn't blame Sirius for his death either - I mean, if your 
kid/surrogate kid was in mortal peril, are you gonna sit around and 
hope for the best?  Especially if you were a good fighter?  I don't 
think wanting to protect Harry is a flaw.  If anything, I think it's 
an interesting parallel between Sirius and Harry - they exhibit a 
very similar quality of wanting to protect the other no matter what 
the personal cost.  Did it work out for them here?  Nope.  I don't 
think for a moment that Sirius didn't know what he was getting into.  
What I think it says about him is that his life was less important to 
him than Harry's.   As Marianne says, sometimes it's the combination 
of things and I don't think we can find one single reason Sirius 
died.  None of the things leading up to it would have mattered if 
that shot hadn't gotten through.  Everyone else in the room was in 
just as much danger of death.  Sirius just got the short end of the 
stick.  (yes yes, there are a great many narrative reasons it makes 
sense too ...)

Or so I read it.  But I will freely admit my Sirius bias.  I do think 
he has his flaws ... but they've been pointed out by others.

Cheers,
Sarah