Stepping even further into the Quagmire...

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 94936

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Silverthorne" 
<silverthorne.dragon at v...> wrote:
>Remember, please that these are *opinions*. More importantly, they
are 
opinions about fictional characters, so although some of the
characters I (like 
the rest of you) would not tolerate (or at least not tolerate certain
actions from 
them) should I meet them, as literary characters, I can appreaciate
them from 
a slightly different angle and in a different light then I would from
real people. I 
suppose that I should make that clear...they aren't real, so although
I enjoy 
the books, laugh and cry and curse and cheer just like other
readers....I don't 
expect a fully 'real world' experince, so I make allowances that
would not be 
very cool otherwise in my eyes if this were all real.
> 
> 
> 
> *ALL* of these characters have both good points and bad. Some are 
obvious, some not so much. All of them have done good things
(individual 
motives set aside--they all really *have* done good things), all of
them have 
done questionable things, and all of them have done truly abominable
things. 
Just as we'll each pick a few characters to defend (often at the
exspence of 
another), even if we happen to like *all* of them...
> 
> Well...at least for a few exceptions...most of which are the likes
of 
Umbridge, Crouch, DE, Voldy himself, ect...^^;
> 

What a fascinating post! I haven't been following this thread, so
excuse me. 
I've just snipped a couple of bits here, because it's rather long,
but anyway ... 
I definitely agree that there are people we love in fiction we
wouldn't much like 
in real life. As I may have mentioned before, I used to watch a
British SF 
show called Blake's 7, in which the most popular character was very 
Snape-like, except he was good-looking (he wore black, too, for the
second 
half of the series). We all drooled over Avon and wrote Mary Sue
tales for him 
and wept for his agony ... but quite honestly, I wouldn't have wanted
him for a 
boyfriend in real life and certainly not for a boss! And characters
who are 
merely amusingly nasty in HP, such as Umbridge, can be truly horrible
in real 
life and not at all amusing. I am currently working with a real-life
Umbridge 
and dearly wish for some handy centaurs. 

I'd rather look at the Marauders and Snape as students rather than as
adults, 
because I work in the school system. I think if they went to my
school, I would 
dislike all of them. I have no doubt Sirius, James and Remus (well,
maybe I'd 
like Remus, but I wouldn't care for the company he kept) would be
just as 
popular as they are at Hogwarts, but I don't like bullies, I don't
care what their 
reasons. And at my school, certainly, they would have been given a
good 
talking-to, and saying, "Severus started it!" wouldn't be considered
an 
acceptable excuse. He, too, would be taken aside for a discussion.
Parents 
would be called in.

And speaking of parents, I agree with you there, too. Don't they have 
parent-teacher nights at Hogwarts? If they did, Neville's Gran would
have had 
some serious discussions, yes, and Umbridge would never have got away 
with what she did.