Nel Question # 6. Peter Pettigrew

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 128050


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> Alla's follow – up questions.
> I believe that we know very little about motivations behind Peter 
> Pettigrew's actions, therefore the majority of the questions,
> while based on canon, are quite speculative, due to limited 
> information.  
> Here we go. 
> 
> 1. `Although every society, large or miniscule, can change the 
> meaning of betrayal, it is political circumstances that bear down 
> most heavily upon our reliability. Of all extenuating 
circumstances, 
> the pressure of military force is the most irresistible. Fear of 
> persecution makes all of us potentially treacherous. Who is to 
> condemn the Soviet citizen who shuts his door and heart to a 
> dissident who once was his friend? It is the self-righteous, far 
> more than the craven, who are unjust. Public fear, even more than 
> personal circumstances, makes us treacherous; and it also excuses 
> us, because danger summons us to look out for ourselves and our 
> families. Heroism is very rare, and no one is obliged to rise to 
> such heights. When someone does, he is being praised precisely for 
> being more than merely good" –   "Ordinary Vices" by
> Judith Shklar. 

a_svirn:

There is a bit of a difference between "shutting one's heart and 
one's door" to one's dissident friend (although this is not a nice 
thing to do, admittedly) and actually reporting one's friend to KGB. 
And still more difference between reporting someone-who-was-once-a-
friend-but-chose-the-wrong-side and betraying your fellow 
conspirator. Not everyone in the USSR challenged communists openly 
and why should they? But then, decent people didn't sell their 
friends either.

> 
> Do you think that this quote is in any way, shape or form 
applicable 
> to Peter Pettigrew's circumstances? In your opinion, did he owe
> to his friends to be "more than merely good" or not?

a_svirn:

No, I don't. He was much less then good whichever way you look at it.

> Sirius in the Shack tells Peter that he should have died just as 
> they would have died for him. Would they? 

a_svirn:

Yes, I think they would. In fact, Sirius did.

> 2. In her well known quote JKR talks about Peter as someone who 
out 
> of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person. 
> "  Q. : You referred to the darkness in your books, and there's
> been a lot of talk and even concern over that.
> 
> JKR: You have a choice when you're going to introduce a very evil 
> character. You can dress a guy up with loads of ammunition, put a 
> black Stetson on him, and say, "Bad guy. Shoot him." I'm
> writing about shades of evil. You have Voldemort, a raging 
> psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's 
> suffering, and there ARE people like that in the world. But then 
you 
> have Wormtail, who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of 
the 
> strongest person. What's very important for me is when Dumbledore 
> says that you have to choose between what is right and what is 
easy. 
> This is the setup for the next three books. All of them are going 
to 
> have to choose, because what is easy is often not right."
> (Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000)
> 
> Is that really all that there is to Peter? Is that the only reason 
> he befriended James, Sirius and Remus?  Is that why he joined 
> Voldemort?

a_svirn:

Well, JKR would know, wouldn't she? She is the one who created him 
after all. As for reasons to befriend James and Sirius: aside from 
that already mentioned, they were fun to be with and were prepared 
to tolerate him. If it wasn't for the little matter of saving his 
neck Peter would much prefer their company to that of Voldemort. 
> 
> 3. What is your stand on "Peter as Dumbledore's spy"  
> theory and all the variables from it?

a_svirn:

Not likely. 


 
> 5. So, why did Peter end up with Weasleys of all people?

a_svirn:
They are close enough to power to be well-informed and they were 
willing to tolerate him.

> 
> 6. Sirius in the Shack accuses Peter of passing information to 
> Voldemort for a year. How did Sirius know for how long it 
happened? 
> Is it because Dumbledore started getting suspicious a year before 
> Potters death? Any other reasons? 

a_svirn:
He got it from DD. DD told James that someone close to him kept LV 
informed. James and Sirius suspected Remus, but after the Potters' 
murder it was borne upon Sirius that it must have been Peter after 
all.