[HPforGrownups] Re: Sirius revisited. Character discussions

[Jocelyn Grunow]

No: HPFGUIDX 104325

on 4/7/2004 10:39 PM, arrowsmithbt at arrowsmithbt at btconnect.com wrote:

> Was that a slip, or  a deliberate phrasing? - "see themselves as evil"
> Who sees themselves as evil in canon? Sirius? Snape? Fudge? Malfoy?

It was deliberate.  I tend to think that very few people actually see
themselves as evil.  I think Robert Heinlein said something about 'inside
our heads we are all wearing the White hat' - we are all the heroes of our
own story, and we rearrange our memories if necessary to preserve this
illusion.

Obviously some people do deliberately don the black hat, but most people
excuse themselves of bad acts by saying 'what was there to be gained by
refusing him?', 'I was under orders', 'if it wasn't me it would have been
someone else' - you know what I am talking about.  They see their own
behaviour as that of a good - or at least average - person who was in a jam,
or doing their best.  This leads to some very interesting shades of grey.
Where do these people cross the line to become evil?  When are they past
redemption?  A topic for another time, maybe.

> It's down to us, I think, to draw our own conclusions - at least until
> all  is revealed. Do our life experiences matter when considering the
> books?

I was actually meaning to respond to the part of the question about why so
many HP fans see things in 'black and white'.  I think that whilst character
determines a lot of this, so does life experience, and naturally that is
also linked to age.  In other words I am saying that if there seems to be a
greater than expected predominance of b&w views of the books it may be
because there are a greater number of younger people on the site.

And OF COURSE life experience matters when we consider the books!  I am sure
you are playing devil's advocate with this one!  We all interpret what we
see through our own thoughts and experiences.  And we are here to share
those interpretations.  As you say:
>There have been a couple of posts recently that seem to dismiss
>this [speculation] as pointless and/or boring. I find this puzzling. What else
>is the site for? 

To pick a simple example, I have a 17month old baby.  My idea of how a
parent of a baby that age behaves is based a lot on my own experience - I
relate to Lily & James as the good parents I also see myself as.  Hence one
of my first posts about parents choosing a guardian for their baby.  I
cannot guarantee the validity of my insight, but my opinion is firmly rooted
in this experience.

Jocelyn