JKR characterizations--oversimplification?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 114984


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "doctor_fangeek" 
<doctor_fangeek at y...> wrote:
> I know I'm not the only one who was disappointed by this (hi, 
> Jen!).  But I find myself unable to *not* comment on why.  I 
*know* 
> Sirius is flawed.  I accept that.  I think most/all of the 
> characters in these books are flawed, and that is a good thing.  I 
> accept that JKR thinks he's flawed as well.  

Jen: (waves back!) I'm with you here--Sirius is definitely flawed. 
But prior to OOTP I found him an engaging character *because* he 
appeared to be a man of his word and someone who backs up personal 
philosopy with action. He told Peter "he should die rather than 
betray his friends" and Sirius appeared to be following that dictum 
when he agreed to be Secret Keeper and Harry's Godparent. Both acts 
made him a target should Voldemort find out about them. Even 
switching with Peter as Secret Keeper appeared to follow his 
personal philosophy because he believed Voldemort would still target 
him as the logical choice for Secret Keeper. 

In GOF, Sirius came back to Hogsmeade to help Harry, and according 
to the words *JKR herself* wrote, this was personally very risky. 
Again, this follows Sirius' philospphy that personal risk is less 
important than helping your friends.

Lisa:
> For example, the whole thing about how one treats one's inferiors 
as 
> it relates to Sirius' attitude toward Kreacher.  Frankly, I just 
> don't see it.  Yes, Sirius loathes Kreacher (as JKR confirms, if 
it 
> wasn't already obvious).  But JKR's own depiction of Kreacher as a 
> character (who is horrid, btw, even to the one person who is kind 
to 
> him) and her description of Sirius' background (and Kreacher's 
place 
> in it) suggests that Sirius loathes Kreacher for who he is and 
what 
> he represents of Sirius' past, not because he is an "inferior."  
> Dumbledore even points out that Sirius didn't have this attitude 
> toward house elves in general.  Yet JKR then goes on to 
use "Sirius 
> loathes Kreacher" as evidence that he doesn't live up to his own 
> pronouncement.  Right.

Jen: I was amazed by this comment, too. I completely believed, 
because of the way JKR wrote the story, that we were intended to see 
Sirius' hatred of Kreacher as a very personal hatred stemming from 
his bizarre family, their love of the Dark Arts and even Grimmauld 
Place. It never occured to me in reading OOTP that Sirius was 
treating Kreacher the way he did *because* he was a House Elf and 
Sirius looked down on him for it. From what we knew up to that 
point, Sirius had befriended a werewolf, his best friend married a 
person considered by some to be inferior because of her heritage, 
and Sirius was a long-time member of the Order, whose philosophy is 
inclusive rather than exclusive. None of those instances prepared me 
to believe he was classist or prejudiced.

Lisa: 
> Then again, I find her reduction of Sirius' good points/virtue to 
> his loyalty and affection for James frustratingly simplistic as 
> well.  Why bother to tell us so much about his family and 
childhood, 
> about how he left home because of his beliefs and his opinion of 
his 
> family's beliefs, if none of that means anything with regard to 
> Sirius' character????

Jen: My short answer, "I don't know." I thought Sirius, for all his 
faults, was a man of conviction. Reckless, rash, harsh, immature but 
a loyal man who was true to his word. If JKR was leaving clues along 
the way to prepare me otherwise, I failed to grasp them.

The only logical explanation I can come up with is JKR changed her 
mind about the story arc for Sirius after GOF. It makes sense she 
might. As she often says, it takes alot to keep all these characters 
moving across the page. I don't think this negates her emphatic 
claim that she's writing the same story she always intended because 
I *firmly believe* that the story of Harry and Voldemort has always 
been, and always will be, the same story she conceived of during 
those years of collecting notes, etc. But, like Dumbledore, JKR does 
omit certain facts and abstain when it serves her and her story, and 
I don't consider that to be lying. 

I just can't help but wonder what the difference would be if she had 
written the seven books more quickly. No creative person can sit on 
a story for what, 15 YEARS, and not make changes. No one can allow 
so many life-changing events to occur in RL and not incorporate some 
of these into a fictional piece. I'm convinced now that the 
intricacies of each character and their story arc is ever-changing, 
even as the overall story is the same.

Jen Reese