Lily and James, a hpappy couple?

[koinonia02]

No: HPFGUIDX 82604

"Lady Of The Pensieve"  <chrissilein at y...> Message 82597 wrote:
> <snip>
> > Then I read the discription of the photo Moody showed Harry I
> > was perplexed when I read it was Pettigrew who sat between Lily
> > and James. Text:
> > "His mother and father were beaming up at him, sitting on either
> > side of a small, watery-eyed man ......" The Woes Of Mrs Weasley
> > page 158, UK edition.
> <snip>


"Richard" <darkmatter30 at y...> Message 82600 wrote:
> 
> I think you are reading too much into this passage.  I know a 
>number of very happy couples who aren't "arm in arm" with each 
>other ...  except in private, 
<snip>

"K":
I will say that not all couples need to be seated by each 
other, "arm in arm", in photos. Being separated in a photo doesn't 
make a couple unhappy.
 
Richard:
> This all raises an interesting point, which is one of exegesis.  
>It is all to easy for one to read things into a text, rather than 
>simply reading out of the text what is there.  I've seen a great 
>deal of the former, round these parts, often leading to theories 
>that are at odds with canon.  JKR doesn't help matters by so 
>consistently dropping little clues that cannot be fully appreciated 
>except in retrospect, but that doesn't change my belief that some 
>of us (perhaps all of us, at times, myself included) need to 
>exercise a bit more circumspection when trying to analyze Potterian 
>canon.

I will also agree that some folks (myself included) tend to look for 
hints in every little detail of the books. We can end up making a 
big deal out of nothing. Yet, JKR has dropped all these little 
hints. Should we not look for them? It is canon that Peter is 
sitting between James and Lily. It is canon that Harry could not 
understand how his parents could have ended up married. *Once or 
twice he even wondered whether James had forced her into it...* 
These could all be hints that maybe that marriage wasn't so 'lovey-
dovey' after all. Then again, one could probably go back in the 
books and find canon supporting a couple in love with each other. 

One could also look at this scene and think how horrible it is that 
this little rat, sitting between Lily and James, betrayed this 
couple. 



Richard: 
> It seems as if some readers are too tightly wound into the story, 
>and their opinions of how it should develop, rather than treating 
>it as I think it should be, which is as a very good story, to be 
>read so that it unfolds itself, rather than being in any sense 
>required to unfold according our personal expectations.

"K":
I admit I would like the story to unfold in certain ways. I want to 
see certain things happen. However, that doesn't mean I can't accept 
what the author writes. I do accept this is her story.

I want Dumbledore to live. I don't want Snape to be evil. Now if at 
the end of the series events happen that I don't like, then it could 
affect the way I look at the books. That is only natural. I don't 
expect JKR to change her story for any fan.

Richard:
>Given JKR's ability to keep us all surprised, I think it best to 
>let her write the end of this tale as she sees fit, rather than 
>entrenching ourselves in opinions that may prove at odds with the 
>tale itself.

"K":
I guess I don't see how looking for hints and asking questions keeps 
JKR from writing the tale as she sees fit. 


Richard
> So, back to the point, if James and Lily are a happy couple ... or 
> not ... let's allow JKR to tell us in the fullness of the tales 
> time ... or not.  If it matters she'll tell us, if not, she likely 
> won't.  But, it is her tale, after all.


"K"
Ah, but couldn't it be important to the tale if James and Lily were 
not the happily married couple? Could JKR not have placed hints 
about this in the books? <G>

If we can't look at this particular scene and discuss it, then how 
can we look at any other scene and pick it apart. There is some 
canon to support this question.

I do agree with you that some ideas seem to be very far from canon. 
Though I do try to only go by canon, I'm sure some folks think some 
of my theories are weird. But isn't that why were are here? 

Personally, I don't know what to think of the photo. But I am 
interested in what others think about it.

"K"