An ironic Sirius quote

[mad_maxime]

No: HPFGUIDX 96000

> JoAnna wrote:
> I ran across the following earlier today -
>
> "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he
> treats his inferiors, not his equals." -Sirius Black, Chapter 27,
> "Padfoot Returns," page 525 (American Edition).
>
> It's interesting that Sirius Black says the above regarding Barty
> Crouch Sr.'s treatment of Winky the house-elf, given how Sirius
> treats Kreacher the house-elf in "Order of the Phoenix."  
> <snip>
> If we look at Sirius' treatment of Kreacher in OotP and judge him by
> Sirius' own standard, Sirius would not seem to be a very nice person
> at all.  No doubt that's why Dumbledore had told him that Kreacher
> must be treated with respect (and it also shows that Dumbledore,
> unlike Sirius, practices what he preaches).

Max responds:

Sirius may or may not be a very nice person, but I don't think we can
make an accurate judgment from his treatment of one, individual House
Elf. Dumbledore, himself, stated that Sirius treated House Elves, in
general, kindly. I think this speaks quite well of his character
actually. He simply had a bad relationship with Kreacher. And the
strong dislike seemed to be mutual. Kreacher was a constant reminder
of Sirius' horrible upbringing, and Sirius was a constant reminder of
the betrayal of Kreacher's Master and Mistress.

So in order to judge someone's character based on how they treat their
inferiors, I think one needs to look at how they treat inferiors in
general and not focus on one particular case. 

Max (who thinks Sirius is a nice person. . . just damaged, impulsive,
and developmentally stunted.)