Sirius Waste (was Re: So what is to become of Severus Snape?)

[elady25]

No: HPFGUIDX 127041


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bbkkyy55" <bbkkyy55 at y...> 
wrote> 
> Bonnie Now:
> 
snip

> By the way, I think it's Lupin that will die next.  Sirius was such 
a 
> tragic figure, death was almost a release for him. Only Harry's lose 
> made it so sad.  Lupin strikes me the same way.  Death would almost 
> be a mercy for him.  His life cannot be very fun.  Of course now he 
> has the Order to give him something to concentrate his efforts on. 
> (Assuming he's a good guy)
> 
> Bonnie

imamommy:

I must respectfully disagree.  I don't see Sirius' death as a release 
at all.  Actually, I see it as the frustrating culmination of a good 
life wasted and lost by external forces.  

Sirius was a strong man, not suffering from illness or infirmity of 
mind.  He spent twelve years wasting away in prison, and was still 
able-bodied when he escaped, if perhaps a little emotionally 
unstable.  Then he is imprisoned once again, this time by his friends' 
attempts to keep him safe.  Undeniably, this is maddening, and he 
finds it hard to swallow.  One could argue whether he might have been 
happier to still be in Azkaban, rather than his family's home.  Yet 
there was hope for him; hope that someday soon Voldemort would be 
defeated, Wormtail revealed, the truth would surface and he would be 
free.  Sirius' death is made more poignant by the fact that his was a 
vital, hopeful, strong life that never had the chance to fulfill its 
potential.  Even more so because the one person he choses to gamble 
his freedom on is Harry.  Why does he come back from the tropics 
during GoF to live off rats and read cast-off newspapers?  Harry.  Why 
does he let the Order set up shop in his kitchen?  They need to 
protect Harry.  Why does he go to the train station to say good-bye?  
Harry.  Why does he welcome them all so warmly at Christmas time?  
Harry.  Who does he go to help at the Ministry, thereby risking 
exposure as well as death?  Harry.  Sirius' love and devotion rests on 
Harry.  On Harry he pins his hope for the future, and for Harry he 
would sacrifice everything, even to the giving of his own life.  Was 
he perfect?  No.  But he did give his love, loyalty, and anything else 
he had to Harry and the cause of helping him.  I do not see his death 
as a release for him, but as first the life of a good man, laid to 
waste in the wake of the first battle of VW2, and secondly, as a 
fulfillment of his feelings towards our boy hero.

(Stepping off the soapbox now)  I don't know about Lupin.  I think his 
role is to be the one who carries the torment of watching those he 
cares about suffer and die, powerless to help.  But I also think he 
serves a very significant diplomatic function, and still has uses that 
could be made of him.  But yes, I see your point of his death being a 
release.  Back to Snape, would his death be a release?  Would it free 
him of the hate he carries?  I don't think so.  I think if it is not 
addressed in this life, he will carry it through to the next.  He 
shall have the same spirit in the next life that he had in this one.  
If Snape is to die well, he needs to have some sort of closure on his 
issues.  I am not saying he has to be redemptive, just that he has to 
make peace with himself.  If he doesn't, I can see him as a good 
candidate for becoming a ghost.

imamommy