[HPforGrownups] Re: Evil!lupin: a rebuttal

[Erika Lachapelle]

No: HPFGUIDX 53495

Hi
     The issue of prejudice in relation to Evil!Lupin was touched on
somewhat earlier in this thread, but I wanted to add my two cents on it in
the broader context of the novels. Here goes...


Nobody's Rib wrote:

I adore Lupin, and every time I reread PoA I fall a little more in
love with him - but I think that's part of the genius of having him
be a, uh, wolf in sheep's clothing. I do not think I am alone in my
Lupin-love; in fact, I think he is purposefully set up to be a
sympathetic character for readers to like. And if a reader does not
specifically like him, they are at least set up (with the anti-
werewolf sentiments of the WW fully discussed) to sympathize with his
ostracization. *No one* (ahem, except for us investigative listees)
would suspect him. Which makes him the perfect mole.



Me:
     While I agree that in a mystery novel Lupin would indeed be an ideal
candidate for a mole, I like to think that Rowling's writing is more than a
simple whodunit story in which we must suspect the least suspected. I have
always enjoyed stories in which the werewolf is the good guy and would be
rather disappointed to find out that Lupin was in fact evil. However, I
would also be disappointed because it seems to me that it would undermine an
important theme in Rowling's novels: that of prejudice.

     We see prejudice based upon wealth and bloodlines in the novels(the
Malfoys' attitudes towards the Weasleys and Muggle-borns in particular). The
stigma associated with Lupin's lycanthropy is just another form of
prejudice; he is discriminated against for having a disease essentially.
Would it not, then, confirm those prejudices if he turned out to be evil?
Would it not allow those who believe that people afflicted with this
condition are inherently dangerous or evil to say 'I told you so'? It seems
to me that the Evil!Lupin theory only works to confirm such prejudices, and
thus would undermine one of the series' major themes.


Nobody's Rib wrote:

Just as the WW automatically dislikes Lupin
for his werewolf status, the readers tend to like him for the same
reason. (Isn't it always easy to take sides with the person who is
the target of bigotry and prejudice?) But to trust someone because
they are the victim of prejudice is just as dangerous as not trusting
someone for the same reason - because the evidence forming both these
stances comes from the *prejudice* rather than the *person*, the *rumors*
rather than the *facts*, and completely discounts the
*choices* the person has made.


Me:
     I'm not suggesting that we trust characters solely because they are
targets of discrimination. I think, though, that the fact that people are
willing to argue against the Evil!Lupin theory as they have during this
thread, and that they are able to use canon evidence to support their
arguments, suggests that our trust Lupin is not solely based on his being
the underdog (underwolf?), just as our fondness of Ron is not based on his
being poor. Yes, choice is also an important theme (as Dumbledore points out
at the end of CoS), but so is prejudice, and I would just hate to see one
emphasised at the expense of the other.

Just 2 cents from a newbie
Wolfraven AKA Erika