Maturity as a theme in OoP and Sirius' future plot relevance (WAS: Sirius quite

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 84158

> Kneasy wrote:
> [Sirius'] unexpected demise plus Harry's reaction would be a prime
> counterpoint to startling revelations indicating that he was not 
> what he seemed.
> 
> Tom:
> You know, I'd go for this whole idea that Sirius was not what he 
> seemed to be, if only for the fact that it's already been done 
> repeatedly. 

Laura:

Not that it's impossible-nothing is impossible in JKR's writing-but 
have we learned that any dead character is the opposite of what 
he/she seemed to be?  I exclude James here; we have more to learn 
about him, I think, and besides, just because he was a teenaged jerk 
doesn't make him Ever So Evil.

> Kneasy:
> Why knock him off in Book 5 of seven? The suggestion that this
> somehow enhances Harry's passage into emotional maturity is
> post facto rationalisation IMO. Fans were having great difficulty 
in coming up with a good plot line justifying it and so descended
> into pop psychology to find an acceptable reason.
> 
> Tom:
> But Kneasy, that's what this list is all about! Post-facto 
> rationalization is what makes HPfGU go `round, wouldn't you say? I 
> mean, it's what constitutes nearly all of the theoretical 
endeavors  that go on around here. I mean, without post-facto 
rationalization, what would we have to do, anyways? ;-)
<snip>

What Kneasy calls post facto rationalization some of us would call 
literary analysis.  *grin*  Explaining characters' actions by 
theorizing about their psychological motivations is eminently 
reasonable-otherwise the explanation is "because the author made him 
do it".

Kneasy:
> But just suppose that there is a plot line to his death and that 
his disappearance makes Harry safer....
> 
> Tom:
><snip> It seems to me that Harry is, in every way, less 
> safe after OoP. And on that note, Sirius' death concretely and 
> thematically makes Harry *less* safe, since Sirius, from PoA 
through OoP, was both one of Harry's prime guardians and one of his 
trusted confidants.

Laura:

It's hard to believe that Harry could be any safer while LV is alive 
and well.  

Kneasy, if Sirius turns out to be ESE, then I'll have to 
congratulate you and your fellow Siriophobes on your acuity.  I'm 
not going to get all exercised now-we still have lots of canon to 
go.  Nice try, though.