[HPforGrownups] Re: Sirius's Future

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 118010

--- annegirl11 at juno.com wrote:
 
> 2. Sirius' character arc wasn't finished. When Sirius was young, he
> was a brilliant wizard, an important order member, devoted friend, 
> and,if you will, imperfect boyfriend. As a man, post-Azkaban, he's 
> emotionally immature and depressed. And then he dies. His character

> arc was cut off in mid-swing. Sirius was presented as a troubled 
> character, except his troubles were never resolved. (Note: 
> resolution doesn't mean fixing the problems; but it also doesn't 
> mean sticking him in stasis in his family home and never letting 
> him grow beyond who he was when we first met him.)
> 
> Aura


Well, I'm afraid I'm going to disagree with this point.  Sirius
didn't HAVE a story arc to leave unfinished - he existed to be a
catalyst in outing Pettigrew's villainy in POA; he was the helpful
but necessarily distant supporter and back-story hint provider in
GOF; and he was the downward-spiralling-at-an-alarming-rate character
in OOTP.  His purpose post-POA was to represent to Harry an
alternative family to the Dursleys and then have it cruelly yanked
away.  Sirius - as Sirius - didn't really have a place in the story
beyond this.

All through OOTP I had the impression that JKR was fastforwarding
Sirius from the background to the foreground for some unknown purpose
(I really didn't think he'd be the one to die; I thought it was going
to be DUmbledore) and to make him a major character.  Then when he
died, I thought it was at least partly because she couldn't fit him
into Harry's future development, that his refusal to get "past the
past" and learn from his own and others' mistakes would only hinder
Harry.  Throughout GOF and OOTP Harry would hold in emotions or views
that he knew would upset Sirius and cause him to do something
reckless or put himself in danger of being caught.  And Harry blamed
himself a few times for Sirius doing just that, which struck me as a
bad sign for their supposed closeness and intimacy.

The reality is that Harry felt closest to Sirius when Sirius was
farthest away or - more importantly - when Sirius was inaccessible. 
He never wanted to talk to Sirius more than when he couldn't, and his
thought as Remus held him back from the veil that Sirius always came
when Harry needed him is already a kind of amnesia about how stressed
Harry often was by that very willingness of Sirius' to respond.

Magda


		
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