[HPforGrownups] OOP: Who can blame Peter Pettigrew?

[Carol Bainbridge]

No: HPFGUIDX 65767

Varana wrote:

>After reading about how Peter was treated by his supposed friends
>James and Sirius, not to mention how they, and Lupin treated Snape, I
>fully understand why Peter joined the dark side.
>
>No excuse for what he did, but when you witness that sort of
>treatment from your friends, you learn to be ruthless and never to
>show mercy.

But no matter what Peter had a choice to make and he chose evil.  It's one 
thing to be angry with your friends and upset with them, it's another to 
knowingly betray them to the ultimate evil, leading them to their deaths 
and to join forces with an evil force that wants to take over the 
world.  Nothing James or Serius or Lupin did could, for me, explain his 
behavior.  In addition, I think this fits in well with JKR's theme of 
choice.  Human beings are not fully controlled by fate; they are able to 
choose behavior that affects their fate, and the fate of others.  Peter 
made some very bad choices.

>Lupin comes across as the worst of the lot. That he is only 15 is no
>excuse. He was a prefect, and if you are old enough to have that sort
>of responsability, you are old enough to know right from wrong, and
>to stop your friends from treating others in such a horrible way.

That's funny that you said that because I had been thinking that Lupin was 
the best of the lot.  They all made poor choices, but Lupin's choice did 
not involve cruelty to someone else, at least not direct cruelty.

>I'd say James was the one who drove Peter to join what Peter must
>have seen as the stronger side, the side that could offer better
>protection. Becase James showed Peter how supposedly good people
>treat the weaker.

It's still choice, though.  Peter could have chosen to handle it in a 
different way.  Do we know if he ever expressed his feelings about the way 
he felt he was treated?  Peter also worshipped James and Sirius.  I don't 
think they asked to be worshipped like that.  Peter's character plays a 
role in these events just as the characters of James, Sirius and Lupin 
played a role.  Peter chose to deal with his feelings and what was going on 
around him one way -- by turning to the dark side -- while the other three 
chose the side of good.  Look how Harry is treated.  One could certainly 
understand how he might slip over to the dark side, not necessarily on the 
side of Voldemort, but as a rival.  I could also understand how he might 
have chosen to hate all muggles after having lived with the Dursleys and 
then learned he could have some power over them.  And what about 
Neville?  Yes, Voldemort destroyed his parents, but Neville could turn to 
the dark side in order to have some kind of power.  He is certainly the 
weakest of the group, at least he had been.  Neville, however, chooses good 
over evil too.  He is not the coward that Peter is.


Carol Bainbridge
(kaityf at jorsm.com)

http://www.lcag.org