OoP: I'll do it: In defense of James

[rane_ab]

No: HPFGUIDX 62774

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, pjuel13 at a... wrote:
> Were James and Sirius complete berks (and the UK folks will tell 
you this 
> epithet is, well, well beyond git and prat) at the age of 15? Yes! 
and Sirius 
> says just that and says he regrets it. I'd like to believe him, 
others, for 
> various reasons would not like to.   
> But from the bulk of the other information we have they grew out of 
it. I've already said this somewhere else, and chances are somebody 
else did, too, but I would just like to add this to the discussion:
It wasn't just the way they treated Snape that was reprehensible - 
they treated Wormtail pretty badly, too. 
Quoting:
"I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail," 
[Peter] said anxiously, "but I couldn't think what else - "
"How thick are you, Wormtail?" said James impatiently. "You run round 
with a werewolf once a month - " (p. 567, UK version)

However justified his remark may have been, it was also very 
denigrating. Wormtail was anxious, Wormtail was his friend, and he 
just put him down. I know Hermione can get pretty exasperated at 
times, too, with the other two's ignorance, but
 "How thick are you?" 
With his friend apparently worried about his answer? Nah, that wasn't 
very nice. And then his showing off in front of Wormtail. Well, he 
really felt better than the rest, didn't he?
And then, while James is playing with the Snitch:
"Put that away, will you," said Sirius finally, as James made a fine 
catch and Wormtail let out a cheer, "before Wormtail wets himself 
with excitement."
Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned. (p. 568, UK version)

That was downright cruel. I'm certainly not saying James got what he 
deserved with Wormtail betraying him in the end, but if this is the 
way they continuously treat Wormtail (and I got the impression it 
is), then Wormtail has certainly gained some understanding from me. 
Not that running off to LV was such a brilliant idea - since LV is 
certainly a lot worse than young James/Sirius - and besides, he could 
have broken off his "friendship" with James after school, if it 
bothered him so much. But still.

That said, I'm all with those saying that James was, after all, just 
15, and that he probably changed later on - and that Snape probably 
wasn't exactly innocent on the whole. I'm very happy, though, that we 
found out James Potter was less than perfect. 
I agree with those saying that JKR showed us all the 'greyness' of 
her characters. Nobody's perfect, nobody's completely evil. Comparing 
Snape to James - well, I suppose, objectively, Snape's probably worse 
than James. Especially as he is still as horrible many years later. 
I think what really disgusts us is that we don't expect any better 
from a Slytherin like Snape, because he is, after all, a Slytherin. 
But James and Sirius? They were Gryffindors, for goodness sake! And 
in our minds, Gryffindor stands for good. I think most people feel 
that, as Gryffindors, James and Sirius were *supposed* to know 
better, they were *supposed* to be good people. But then we find out 
they were just brats as many of the Slytherins are. Not to mention 
that James and Sirius are really considered to be the good guys by 
the teachers (well, I suppose not Sirius after he got sent to 
Azkaban, but everybody seemed pretty exasperated by that fact in 
PoA), while Snape is and remains - well, at least much less than 
that. That just doesn't feel fair.

It isn't fair of us (well, of me, at least, because that's how I 
felt) to expect Gryffs to be better than Slyths. Kids are kids, and 
they'll act like brats, no matter what house they're in. I've always 
been a big Snape-fan, but I've never believed the Mr. Nice Guy 
theory, I always did think he was a pretty horrible person. Now, I'm 
not sure if I think he's more horrible than James. As I said, 
objectively, he probably is. But, apparently, he does have his 
reasons for becoming the way he is, and he did have a tough time in 
the past. James' and Snape's backgrounds seem to be so completely 
different that it's a little hard to compare them. I'm sure we could 
throw stones at the both of them for all the bad things they've done. 
And I'm sure we could find, for both of them, a good explanation for 
their motivations for every single one of those things - not 
necessarily explanations that would absolve them, but at least make 
us understand. To me, they're just two complicated, grey characters, 
and I can't really bring myself to really hate or even dislike either 
of them.


Cheerful greetings,
Rane.