The Problem with Lupin (long) was Re: How Close Are Harry and Lupin?

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 96889

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" <R.Vink2 at c...> wrote:
> Renee: 
> I'm not among the Lupin fans who say his guilt is needless, or that 
> he has an overly tender conscience. I don't think he has; as I said 
> above, his self-criticism strikes me as a habit, and this would 
also 
> explain why he doesn't change his ways - why do so if you can take 
> the sting out of other people's fury by acting remorseful? It's the 
> way of the least resistance, and very tempting. 
> 
> Yet none of this means Lupin is "up to something", as in being 
> Voldemort's secret agent in Dumbledore's secret Order: that's a non 
> sequitur. It just means he's got a serious flaw, like so many 
others 
> in the HP books. There are plenty of people who are aware of their 
> faults but don't take the responsibility for them and don't change 
> their ways. That doesn't make all these people evil, or enemies of 
> the state, or agents of darkness.        
> 
> <snipping the long list of Lupin's very real transgressions, and 
> also snipping the questions whethert Lupin realised the 
consequences 
> of his (in)actions>
>

Renee, thank you for your post. This is actually the angle of Lupin 
which I never considered. It may make me actually like him more 
without considering the possibility of him being ESE!, which I don' 
really want to do, because I don't want Harry to hurt even more. :o)


See, I never considered Lupin's desire "to be liked" to be really 
serious flaw, as JKR hinted, so I continued to look at him as 
boring "goody-two shoes" .

What you suggest that Lupin acts remorseful to make people around him 
less angry actually makes Lupin more flawed character for me and 
maybe more liked. I have to think about it. :o)



> 
> Poor Snape, unjustly blamed by Lupin for making him lose his job!
> But Lupin doesn't actually blame Snape (who of course acted solely 
> in the best interest of the students, and not at all out of spite), 
> he just explains to Harry what has happened and why he's going 
away. 
> He doesn't have to blame Snape in so many words, because he knows 
> Harry will. For someone who is supposed to be endlessly remorseful, 
> Lupin is refreshingly remorseless here. No wonder: the "it's all my 
> fault" routine isn't necessary, because Lupin knows Harry won't get 
> angry at him. But he doesn't excuse himself either, and he does 
> resign. 
> 
> In short, Lupin isn't only nice and helpful, he's also a clever 
> manipulator who uses remorse as a shield and never loses sight of 
> his own best interest - because few people in the Wizarding World 
> have the best interest of a werewolf in mind. Poor Lupin? Well, I 
> wouldn't want to be in the shoes of someone who, through no fault 
of 
> his own, has to be grateful for what most wizards and witches take 
> for granted: an education, friends, a job, the basic goodwill of 
> others.
> 
> Renee

Oh, don't get me started on Poor!Snape routine. :o) Especially in 
PoA. I suppose even if I have some suspicions about Lupin, I should 
always be grateful to him for Boggart!Snape scene.


Alla