JKR characterizations--oversimplification?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 115304


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" 
<stevejjen at e...> wrote:
> 
> > Pippin:
> > That's just the issue, really. Sirius makes a huge point of 
saying  that *he* would have been willing to die for his friends 
rather  than betray them, and I believe he spoke out of personal 
conviction, but when push came to shove, he tried to jigger 
 things so he wouldn't have to make the choice. 
> 
> Jen: Purely out of curiosity, did you believe Sirius was trying 
to 'jigger things' to get out of making that choice when you first 
read his story in POA? My first reaction after reading POA, was 
along these lines: "Man, that guy got a raw deal. First one of his 
friends framed him as a traitor, then he was thrown into this 
bizarre Wizard prison with no trial, no hope of survival *and* he 
wants to take care of Harry now. This dude sounds OK." <

Pippin:
When I first read the story, I thought the SK switch was just 
"being carried away with our own cleverness." It reminded me of 
the elaborate plans that Tom Sawyer made for Jim's escape in 
*Huckleberry Finn*  and seemed on the same boyish level  as 
"AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" which rang of The 
Three Musketeers. I felt there was a lot of bravado in both.

At the end of the book, I was still a little worried about Sirius, 
because he seemed so quick to violence and anger. But I was 
glad that there was finally an adult who was willing to offer Harry 
a home and unconditional love. If there's a main point to Sirius, I 
think that's it. Even though Sirius was never able to follow 
through on his promise to give Harry a home, he was able to 
give him love, and it's because of that love that Harry found the 
power to resist Voldemort. I never expected Harry to find a real 
home with him--IMO, Harry's quest is not to remedy his orphan 
status but to reach maturity in spite of it. 

Jen:
> 
> But NOW, in retrospect, and with the addition of JKR's 
 summation....well all I can say is her summary wasn't the 
*main*  thing I read into the character. I didn't see that the 
*main* 
 motivation on Sirius' part was to merely be a spouter of 
philosophy  with no follow-through. <

Pippin:
The question JKR was answering was, "Do you like Sirius" -- not 
"What is the main motivation of the character." She told us that 
she does like him, though he's not wholly wonderful.  It doesn't 
mean we're not supposed to like Siirus, or that Harry is better off 
without him or anything like that. 

> > Pippin:
> > Murder is against Sirius's personal philosophy, but he's 
willing  to murder Pettigrew (he calls it that) to get revenge. <<

> Jen: When Lupin and Sirius calmly rolled up their sleeves to 
murder  Peter, they appeared to be veteran fighters who were 
trained to injure and kill. <snip>. But  unless I'm forgetting a 
canon point where Sirius stated he was opposed to murder (and 
I know you will be able to quote me one if it  exists, Pippin!) I 
definitely had the feeling Sirius and Lupin had  killed before.<<

Pippin flips pages:
GoF, ch 27
"I'll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help
it. Always brought people in alive where possible. He was tough, 
but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters."


Pippin