Harry and Sirius (was: Please pass the tissues )

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 69941

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "susanbones2003" <rdas at f...> 
wrote:
> I said in my earlier post that I thought Sirius' change in 
character 
> in OOP was abrupt. I never said he deserved to die because of the 
> changes he exhibited. 

I know you never said so, Jennifer.  I think all your posts on 
Sirius have been quite fair and balanced.

I agree that his personality change between GoF and OOP seemed quite 
abrupt, but for me it was made believable by the information we 
learned about his family history, and the depiction of his life at 
12 Grimmauld Place.  I think that for Sirius, being in that house 
was almost as bad as being in Azkaban again.  Once again, he was 
trapped in a dark and gloomy place that he hated, and forced to 
relieve painful memories.  He was caged, idle, made to feel useless, 
surrounded by people who yelled at him for being a reckless fool 
every time he tried to leave the house and sneered at him for being 
a coward every time he didn't leave.  For a man already quite 
damaged to begin with, this was an engraved invitation to a nervous 
breakdown.

I think the important thing is to view Sirius' OOP characterization 
in context of the whole story.  It's an addition to his 
characterization in GoF and PoA, not a replacement.  The half-crazed 
fugitive in PoA, the caring godfather in GoF and the bitter prisoner 
in OOP are all aspects of the same man, and all need to be taken 
into account when evaluating his character.


It's very complicated and subtle, the link 
> between the changes in him and his death. How he changed made it 
much 
> easier to imagine him taking deadly risks. But some of this is red 
> herring material planted not just by JKR's narration but also by 
> Dumbledore's retelling of events. Harry responds(rightly)in anger 
at 
> the thought that something Sirius did/didn't do made his death 
> possible or even inevitable. I certainly don't have all the 
answers 
> but I know it's possible to find things that Sirius did troubling 
and 
> still love and mourn him.
> Jennifer

I know.  I have no problem with discussing Sirius' character flaws.  
Nor do I have a problem with people disliking Sirius because of his 
flaws.  But do have a problem with the recent spate of posts that 
seem to claim that Sirius' flaws are all that there is to him, that 
he never really cared for Harry, that all of Harry's problems in OOP 
were caused by Sirius' pernicious influence, and that JKR just *had* 
to kill him off because there was absolutely nothing else to be done 
with him.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com