Is Lupin ambiguous? was: What's subversive? (long)

[olivier.fouquet+harry at m4x.org]

No: HPFGUIDX 101178

Pippin
which brings me to my main point. David gives me far too much
credit. I did not invent the ambiguities surrounding the character
of Remus Lupin. JKR did that. All I did was catalogue them --
and suggest a possible explanation. It seems to me that in
Lupin's case the subversive reading is to deny that the
ambiguities exist or to claim that they are accidental. <veg>

Now Olivier

At the end of my message is a collection of all the appearances of 
Lupin in OoP, just to assess if indeed Lupin is ambiguous or not. I 
urge the interested reader to skim through them.

Well, let's see now: is Lupin ambiguous? Well, maybe he is, but the 
least we can say is that the non subversive way to read him is the 
calm, quiet, intellectual guy with a certain talent for human relation 
that

He's the one that finds the words to tell Harry just enough about 
Voldemort, he seems very close to both Sirius and Molly and he is 
obviously trusted by Moody and Tonks (look down all the references of 
Moody and Lupin talking about Order business). He's courageous, saving 
Harry's life twice and Neville's life once during the battle.

Pippin has argued that Lupin might want Harry to continue Occlumency in 
order to weaken Harry (it is true that Harry is particularly weak after 
the Occumency lessons). However, Sirius is very concerned about the end 
of Occlumency too. In fact, he is the first to react, before Lupin, 
when Harry says the lessons have ended. We can suspect that Sirius and 
Lupin both know from the start about Dumbledore's plan to trap 
Voldemort in the Mom (look up the fleeting look between them during the 
diner). He has also argued that Lupin's weak points are his cowardice 
and his desire to be liked. However, in all the references above, I 
fail to discern such traits. Even in the Pensieve scene, it is Peter 
and the pair James/Sirius who seems very concerned about being liked. 
Remus is utterly absent, he reads and wants to do some homework.

Maybe Lupin will turn out to be evil, maybe he will be a traitor to the 
Order, just like Peter was the first time. However, to say that this is 
the natural way to read the character seems to me to be an incredible 
stretch.

Olivier

PS: Pippin, you left aside David quotation of Elkins: Do you personally 
recognize yourself in Elkins characterization of the subversive 
reader.? Nah, maybe that's too personal a question.

References:

A compendium on Lupin's role in OoP. Read only as a reference.

'Harry, what form does your Patronus take?'
Lupin provides a mean to recognize Harry. Then he shakes Harry hand 
"watching him closely."
Later, he answers Harry's question about their departure and introduce 
the other guards. We have a hint of his (possible) Legilimency
power 'a surprising number of people have volunteered to come and get 
you,' said Lupin, as though he had read Harry's mind; the corners of 
his mouth twitched slightly. Lupin answers some more question about 
their trip then write a letter to the Dursleys telling them Harry's 
safe. Harry asks him if he has to come back and 'Lupin smiled but made 
no answer,' a very possible hint that Lupin at least know about the 
blood protection.

There follows some exchange while they are flying.

Then Lupin answers (or rather does not answer) a question about 
Grimmauld Place. Lupin and Tonks carry Harry's trunk 'between them'. As 
a stylistic note, 'said quietly' come quite often after Lupin. It is 
Lupin that open the door of Grimmauld Place, and he is sealing it too 
afterwards.

Lupin and Mrs. Weasley 'dart forward' to shut Mrs. Black out. It is 
Lupin and Sirius who finally manage to do this.

Later on, at the beginning of the meal, Lupin makes a nice comment on 
Molly's food to ease the tension after Molly has mentioned Percy. 
During the meal, he has an 'intense discussion' about goblins with Mr. 
Weasley and Bill. He points out that the goblins may join Voldemort if 
offered freedom rather than gold.

At the end of the meal, Sirius mentions Voldemort and 'Lupin, who had 
been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking 
wary.' In the following exchange between Molly and Sirius, Lupin's eyes 
are 'fixed on Sirius.' When he finally speaks, after Arthur he says 
that
'Personally,' said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as 
Mrs Weasley turned  quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about 
to get an ally, 'I think it better that Harry  gets the facts -not all 
the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a 
garbled  version from ... others.' And there is a comment indicating 
that Harry is convinced he knows about the Extendable Ears. His 
expression is 'mild.' A few seconds later, the tension is palpable 
between Molly and Sirius. Lupin's reaction
'Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about 
Harry,' said Lupin sharply.  'Sirius, sit down.' [...]
'I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this,' Lupin continued, 
'he's old enough to decide  for himself.'

Ginny leaves, the Portrait screams again and once again it is Lupin 
that deals with it.

There follows the discussion on what Voldemort's up to.
'More than he thinks we do, anyway,' said Lupin.
'Or rather, you messed it up for him,' said Lupin, with a satisfied 
smile.
'And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he 
got back was  Dumbledore,' said Lupin. 'And you made sure Dumbledore 
knew at once.'
'Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea,' said Lupin, 'and Dumbledore's shrewd 
ideas normally turn  out to be accurate.'
Up to that point, Lupin is the main source of information, others will 
speak afterwards. For the sake of exhaustivity, I mention that Lupin 
says 'We are doing our best' in the following discussion.

But it is him who tells Harry
'Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is a much 
more powerful  wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was 
forever asking Dumbledore for help and  advice,' said Lupin. 'But it 
seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He  loves 
being Minister for Magic and he's managed to convince himself that he's 
the clever one  and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the 
sake of it.'
'You see the problem,' said Lupin. 'While the Ministry insists there is 
nothing to fear from  Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, 
especially as they really don't want to believe  it in the first place. 
What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to 
  report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumour-mongering, so 
most of the wizarding  community are completely unaware any things 
happened, and that makes them easy targets for  the Death Eaters if 
they're using the Imperius Curse.'

Of course this just precedes the 'And I'm not a very popular dinner 
guest with most of the community,' said Lupin. 'It's an  occupational 
hazard of being a werewolf.'
The he resumes his information feeding role
They're trying to discredit him,' said Lupin. 'Didn't you see the Daily 
Prophet last week? They  reported that he'd been voted out of the 
Chairmanship of the International Confederation of  Wizards because 
he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true; he was voted 
out by  Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemorts 
return. They've demoted him  from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot - 
that's the Wizard High Court - and they're talking  about taking away 
his Order of Merlin, First Class, too.'

Lupin's next mention is in the following sentence. 'What's he after 
apart from followers?' Harry asked swiftly. He thought he saw Sirius 
and Lupin  exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered. 
And just after that
'No.' It was not Mrs Weasley who spoke this time, but Lupin. The Order 
is comprised only of overage wizards,' he said. 'Wizards who have left 
school,' he  added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. There are 
dangers involved of which you can  have no idea, any of you ... I think 
Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough.'

That's the end of the discussion. Lupin appears next during Grimmauld 
Place house-keeping.
'Tonks joined them for a  memorable afternoon in which they found a 
murderous old ghoul lurking in an upstairs  toilet, and Lupin, who was 
staying in the house with Sirius but who left it for long periods  to 
do mysterious work for the Order, helped them repair a grandfather 
clock that had  developed the unpleasant habit of shooting heavy bolts 
at passers-by.'

On the day of the hearing, Lupin is in the kitchen 'as if waiting for 
Harry' alongside Tonks, Sirius and the Weasleys. Lupin asks question to 
Tonks about someone at work. He later addresses Harry
The law's on your side,' said Lupin quietly. 'Even underage wizards are 
allowed to use magic in life-threatening situations.'
'Good luck,' said Lupin. Tm sure it will be fine.'

Next time we see Lupin, he's at the party for Ron and Hermione. Harry 
spends some times with him and Sirius but first time he speaks he says
'I think Dumbledore might have hoped I would be able to exercise some  
control over my best friends,' said Lupin. 'I need scarcely say that 1 
failed  dismally.' Afterwards, he discusses elf-rights with Hermione.

The Harry surprises Lupin and Kingsley discussing prefects appointment. 
Lupin states that Dumbledore has he's reasons.
Lupin then banishes Molly's boggart.
'Molly,' said Lupin bleakly, walking over to her. 'Molly don't ..." 
Next second, she was sobbing her heart out on Lupin's shoulder. 'Molly, 
it was just a Boggart,' he said soothingly, patting her on the head, 
'just a stupid Boggart ...'
'D-d - don't tell Arthur,' Mrs Weasley was gulping now, mopping her 
eyes frantically with her cuffs. 'I d - d - don't want him to know ... 
being silly ...' Lupin handed her a handkerchief and she blew her nose.
'Molly that's enough; said Lupin firmly. 'This isn't like last time. 
The Order are better prepared, we've got a head start, we know what 
Voldemorts up to -' Mrs Weasley gave a little squeak of fright at the 
sound of the name. 'Oh, Molly, come on, it's about time you got used to 
hearing his name -look, I  can't promise no one's going to get hurt, 
nobody can promise that, but we're much better off than we were last 
time. You weren't in the Order then, you don't  understand. Last time 
we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were 
picking us off one by one ...'
'And as for who's going to look after Ron and Ginny if you and Arthur 
died,' said Lupin, smiling slightly, 'what do you think we'd do, let 
them starve?'


Lupin is later to be seen at King's Cross, where he was guarding Fred, 
George and Ginny.
'Well, look after yourselves,' said Lupin, shaking hands all round. He 
reached Harry last and gave him a clap on the shoulder. 'You too. 
Harry. Be careful.'

We see again Lupin months later, although characters often discuss him 
There are some ten references to him in the period (Harry suggesting he 
could teach the DA, Sirius mentioning that Umbridge's laws have made 
life hard for him, Dean saying he was the best DADA teacher they ever 
had...). Lupin is seen at Christmas, where he offerd Harry a joined 
present with Sirius: a book DADA. Lupin spends long moments with Molly 
cheering her up. Lupin is then part of the escort when they visit 
Arthur. He visits his fellow werewolf. And he's once again in the 
escort when they all go back to Hogwarts.
'Look after yourselves,' said Lupin, shaking hands all round and 
reaching Harry last. 'And  listen..." he lowered his voice while the 
rest of them exchanged last-minute goodbyes with  Tonks, 'Harry, I know 
you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all - Sirius  
included - want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all 
right?'

Then comes the Pensieve event. Remus is of course very different her, 
but let's see anyway.
'Loved it,' said Lupin briskly. 'Give five signs that identify the 
werewolf. Excellent question.'
'Think I did,' said Lupin seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging 
around the front doors  eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. 'One: 
he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my  clothes. Three: his 
name's Remus Lupin.'
'Keep your voice down,' implored Lupin.

By the lakes, James plays with the Snitch, Sirius looks handsome and 
haughty and Remus reads a book. Peter watches James play.
'You might,' said Lupin darkly from behind his book. 'We've still got 
Transfiguration, if you're  bored you could test me. Here..." and he 
held out his book.
And then when James notices Snape
Lupin and Wormtail remained sitting: Lupin was still staring down at 
his book, though his  eyes were not moving and a faint frown line had 
appeared between his eyebrows.

During the Snivellus incident, Lupin barely stops reading. He does not 
stop and does not laugh when James mocks Snape.
Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Wormtail included, 
but Lupin, still  apparently intent on his book, didn't, and nor did 
Lily.

Harry then tries to contact Sirius and fins Lupin.
'Harry!' he said, looking thoroughly shocked. 'What are you -what's 
happened, is everything  all right?'
'I'll call him,' said Lupin, getting to his feet, still looking 
perplexed, 'he went upstairs to look  for Kreacher, he seems to be 
hiding in the attic again...'

And there follows the discussion about James
Then Lupin said quietly,  'I wouldn't like you to judge your father on 
what you saw there, Harry. He was only fifteen -'
Lupin looked sideways at Sirius, then said, 'Look, Harry, what you've 
got to understand is  that your father and Sirius were the best in the 
school at whatever they did - everyone  thought they were the height of 
cool - if they sometimes got a bit carried away -'
'If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean,' said Sirius. 
Lupin smiled.
'Was he playing with the Snitch?' said Lupin eagerly.
But Lupin shook his head. 'Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?' he 
said. 'Did I ever have the  guts to tell you I thought you were out of 
order?'
'She started going out with him in seventh year,' said Lupin.
'And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,' said Lupin. 'Even 
Snape?' said Harry. Well,' said Lupin slowly, 'Snape was a special 
case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to  curse James so you 
couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?'
'Now you mention it,' said Lupin, a faint crease between his eyebrows, 
'how did Snape react  when he found you'd seen all this?'

Harry tells and
'Are you serious, Harry?' said Lupin quickly. 'He's stopped giving you 
lessons?'
'If anyone's going to tell Snape it will be me!' he said firmly. 'But 
Harry, first of all, you're to  go back to Snape and tell him that on 
no account is he to stop giving you lessons — when  Dumbledore hears -'
'Harry there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency!' said 
Lupin sternly. 'Do you  understand me? Nothing!'

Next time we see Lupin, it's at the battle in the MoM.
It is worth mentioning  that he defends Harry and Neville by jumping 
between them and Malfoy.
Next thing we see, Lupin grabs Harry and prevents him to jump through 
the veil.
'We can still reach him -' Harry struggled hard and viciously, but 
Lupin would not let go... There's nothing you can do, Harry... 
nothing... he's gone.'
`He can't come back, Harry,' said Lupin, his voice breaking as he 
struggled to contain Harry.  `He can't come back, because he's d-'

Lupin holds him for a few minutes
Harry  was no longer struggling against Lupin, who maintained a 
precautionary grip on his arm nevertheless.
`Here,' said Lupin quietly, and pointing his wand at Neville's legs he 
said, `Finite.' The spell  was lifted: Neville's legs fell back to the 
floor and remained still. Lupin's face was pale. `Let's -  let's find 
the others. Where are they all, Neville?'
Lupin turned away from the archway as he spoke. It sounded as though 
every word was  causing him pain.
`Harry - no!' cried Lupin, but Harry had already ripped his arm from 
Lupin's slackened grip.

Finally, Lupin is part of the delegation that speak to the Dursleys.
`Hello, Harry' said Lupin, as Mrs Weasley let go of Harry and turned to 
greet Hermione. `Hi,' said Harry `I didn't expect ... what are you all 
doing here? 'Well,' said Lupin with a slight smile, `we thought we 
might have a little chat with your aunt  and uncle before letting them 
take you home.'
`- And make no mistake, we'll hear about it,' added Lupin pleasantly.
`Take care, Harry,' said Lupin quietly. `Keep in touch.'


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