Not so ESE:Lupin

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 98722

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Justine 
<sweetface531 at y...> wrote:
> So many Lupin supporters have used the JKR quote about 
wishing she had someone like him as a teacher to dispute the 
ESE theory.  Now, I still think it's valid, of course.  Why would she 
want someone who's ever so evil as a professor?  But there's 
more to the quote that, I believe, we've been missing:
>  
> "I was also playing with that [intolerance] when I created 
Professor Lupin, who has a condition which is contagious, of 
course, and so people are very frightened of him; and I really like 
Professor Lupin as a character because he's someone that also 
has a failing, because although he is a wonderful teacher (one I 
myself would have liked to have had as a teacher) and a 
WONDERFUL MAN, he does like to be liked and that's where he 
slips up. He's been disliked so often that he's always so 
pleased to have friends, so he cuts them an awful lot of slack." 
>      -- J.K. Rowling (RAH) 
>  
> And there it is.  Emphasis mine.  We all know she picks and 
chooses her words with great care, and she does not say he is a 
wonderful ACTOR, nor does she say he is a NICE man ("nice is 
different than good"), nor a TALENTED man, and she certainly 
makes no intimation that we should be watching him, as she 
does for Snape...

Pippin:
Erm, your version of the quote seems to have been edited a tiny 
bit. It goes like this:
****
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/2003/060
3-AlbertHall-FryRowling.htm

 I was also playing with that when I created Professor
Lupin who has a condition that is contagious of course and so 
people arevery frightened of him and I really like Professor Lupin, 
the character,because he's somebody who also has his failing 
he's such a great man and he's a wonderful teacher in fact I 
would say that Lupin is the one time I've written a teacher I loved 
really liked to have had because ProfessorMcGonnagol is a very 
good teacher but she can be quite scary at times, very
strict. So Lupin's a wonderful teacher and a very nice man but he 
has a failing and his failing is that he does like to be liked and 
that's where he slips up because he has been disliked so often 
that he's always so pleased to have friends so he cuts them and 
awful lot of slack.
**

 I'm afraid she did say he was a nice man. Sorry. <veg> 

The lovable wolfy,  driven by his need to please others, 
displaying saintly forbearance toward his oppressors, slipping 
up only  in  harmless or comical ways, is all too similar to   the  
"Uncle Tom" (not to mention "Uncle Remus") stereotype.   I'm 
afraid that JKR may have a nasty surprise in store for those who 
find it appealing.

http://faculty.uwb.edu/mgoldberg/courses/definitions/stereotype.
htm

Pippin