CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 23: Christmas On The Closed Ward

[drliss at comcast.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 107034

Huntergreen:


Harry is not the type who feels comfortable seeking people out 
himself. He sort of fell into his friendship with Ron and Hermione, 
and all the adults I mentioned would probably be willing to help 
Harry with his problems, he just doesn't feel comfortable going to 
them, even though they all know him better than Sirius. But Sirius is 
quite different, in the fact that HE made the effort to keep in touch 
with Harry, and said *specifically* to call on him with any problems. 
Not only that, its noted in the beginning of GoF, that Sirius has 
already sent Harry two letters since the summer began (added with the 
letter at the end of PoA, that's 3 letters), and we don't know if 
Harry has written a response to any of them. 


Lissa:

You make a good point about Sirius being the only one to really reach out to Harry.  (BTW,I do think Harry's written responses to those letters, just because of the casual way he wrote to Sirius when his scar was hurting.)

I do still think Sirius thinks of Harry as a James hybrid.  Not consistantly, and not like "this IS James."  I think it's more subtle than that.  Every time Harry doesn't behave like Sirius thinks James would have behaved, that's when Sirius gets disappointed.  (An interesting question would be would James really react like Sirius percieves?  Or is Sirius just believing what he wants to believe?)  I think his perception changes with other circumstances, too.

I mentioned that he seems to be more cognizant of who Harry REALLY is when Lupin's around.  I don't think it's because Lupin knows Harry better, but because I think Lupin's presence tends to stabilize Sirius.

When we actually meet Sirius in PoA, it's really hard to make a lot of assessments about his character because that scene is so short timewise, and it's so emotionally charged.  There's definitely some insanity, but he's just escaped from Azkaban.  When we see him in GoF, he's probably the most together that he is through the series.  I would definitely attribute this to his freedom.  In GoF, I'd say he thinks of Harry as Harry, and we aren't seeing that James/Harry dichotomy.

In OotP though, Sirius wobbles on his treatment of Harry.  He goes from encouraging him to do things that are truly good for him to trying to lure him into thinks that would get him in trouble.  ("The risk is what would have made it fun for James.")  I think Sirius's sanity starts to slip when he's virtually imprisoned in his family home.

Molly and Arthur can't help him.  They don't know him well enough, and they're too detached.  The rest of the order is even more so.  Lupin, however, gives Sirius some freedom, because he IS a reminder of the glory days, and more than that, I think Lupin needs Sirius and Sirius knows it- Sirius is the only one that Lupin is emotionally close to, and after being so closed off for 12 years, I think Lupin clings as hard to Sirius as Sirius does to him.  And I think Sirius desperately needs to feel like he's needed, and doing something important.  When Lupin is around, he does feel like his life has some meaning to somebody, and that's a stabilizing influence on him.  When Lupin is around also tends to been when Sirius councils caution, and keeping low.  When Lupin is not around, that's when Sirius wants Harry to be more reckless and risk-taking, like his father.  

Anyway, I don't think it's something that Sirius is conscious of.  But just by his disappointment in some of Harry's reactions/actions, I'd say that yes, he does subconsciously expect Harry to be James.
  
Huntergreen:
Since you mentioned Molly...her attitude toward Sirius at the 
beginning of OotP really got under my skin. I normally like her, in 
many ways she reminds me of my own mother, but here its almost like 
she's jealous of Sirius. She certainly doesn't respect his authority 
when it comes to Harry (and he does have authority, James and Lily 
appointed him Harry's guardian, as far as Harry's *parents* are 
concerned, Sirius is allowed to make decisions on Harry's behalf), 
and then she jumps to accusing him of equating Harry with James, and 
says the exteremly mean-spirited "the thing is, it's been rather 
difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked UP in 
Azkaban, hasn't it?", which seemed pointlessly hurtful. 

Lissa:

Molly and Sirius do have an interesting relationship, don't they?  

The jealousy is interesting.  I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense.  I had interpreted it as Molly knowing in her head that Sirius is innocent, but not being able to overcome the fact that for 12 years, she believed he was a mass murderer.  That's got to be a hard thing to overcome, especially since she didn't appear to know Sirius before he was convicted.  Molly tries to overcome prejudices.  She knows they're not right.  But I think it's not always that easy for her, and in this case I can understand why!  Especially since she's thinking of her kids.  I wonder how she really copes with Lupin, deep down.

It's kind of interesting, because I think Bill is in some ways what Sirius might have been if he hadn't been sent to Azkaban.  Good looking, highly intelligent, adventerous, etc.  He even dresses the way Sirius might have dressed as a teenager (if they'd lived in the same decade anyway).  

Hmmm.  Guess I should do some work ;)
Lissa

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