Pensieve scene - Lily revealed?

[janetb]

No: HPFGUIDX 104457

Andromeda wrote:
>>  <snip> does anyone else think that the Pensieve scene of 
  James tormenting Snape was as much to reveal Lily's character as 
  anything?  As much as we've ever been given, anyway.  I think she 
  came out looking rather impressive.  <snip>  Lily stepped right in
  between, even to defend a racist jerk.  
  Having never actually seen an example of a teen peer willing to get 
  between an armed bully and his (also armed) victim, I find this a 
  mark of a truly strong and brave person.  <snip>

  Harry, of course, was focused on the shock of his father's behavior..
  after all his idolizing of his father throughout the other books, not 
  too surprising, even though it was his mother that saved his life.  
  She's gotten suspiciously short shrift.  Saving up some bombshells for 
  the end, I hope. <<



I think that pensieve scene reveals all sorts of things....I certainly agree with you that it shines a favorable light on Lily. It also shines a rather heartwrenching light on Snape too, but James's obnoxious behavior bothered me for a long time. I couldn't figure out why JKR portrayed James in such a disagreeable light just to create sympathy for Snape or to illustrate Lily's good heart. There had to be something else....

Granted, it's nothing but my opinion but perhaps JKR also created that scene as a means (among other things) of illustrating Harry's normal adolescent growth. Prior to that, Harry obviously idolized his parents. Pretty typical behavior for children to believe their parents can do wrong...but when they hit their teens and start forming their own belief systems, those ideas and opinions are usually not exact replicas of their parents. They start to rebel, to question, to see their parents as PEOPLE instead of some sort of idolized creation....and for Harry to see his parents, most particularly, his father (which, if I'm not forgetting my Psych 101 classes, is normal for boys to "break away" from their dads first) acting like a moron is just another device for Harry to grow up. 

Of course, I could be dead wrong and yes, I know not every person goes through those stages and yes, I realize lots of other things are going on in that scene that go beyond my theory but nevertheless, I'm just throwing my idea out there on the floor.  

Janet (who knew that one scene could create so many ideas?)