James, a paragon of virtue? Snape, a paragon of virtue?

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 123437


>Valky wrote:
My canon James is based on a flowthrough of absolutely *everything*
ever penned about him, so forgive me if I do not cite all the canon
behind each conclusion and rather just posit my view, which I
believe can speak for itself anyway.
Back to the point, I was saying James saving Severus and Remus and
Sirius from their respective consequences that night so long ago,
was the same as Harry saving everyone in the lake.

He thought about it all:
If Snape reaches Remus Snape will probably die.
If Snape gets hurt Remus will suffer.
If anyone ever finds out its goodnight Sirius' chance at future
happiness.
If anyone ever finds out Dumbledore is righteously scr***ed for
letting a werewolf eat a student......

Ifs ifs ifs.... take a look at Harry in the lake and you'll see the
exact same thing.. and the conclusion that they both came to....
*I* am the *only* one who can save them.
Duty, gallantry, honour, and of course the saving people thing.
Expect it to be canonised James in HBP... a paragon of virtue? a
saint?... in a sense, yes, absolutely.
Remember, James risked his life for all of them, it *was* an act of
selfless endangerment.

vmonte responds:
Maybe you're right. But I think that if what you are saying is true, 
James only started thinking this way because of Lily. I just don't 
see James, before Lily, as someone who thinks things through. His 
best friends include:

Wormtail - a kiss ass if ever there was one. 

Lupin - a teenager that needed friends and always kept his mouth shut 
when his friends were doing wrong.

and

Sirius - a teenager with serious parental issues. A guy who is 
definitely acting out on a lot of pent up frustration.

I don't see James as a thinker in the Snape penseive scene. He lashes 
out at Snape infront of the school, in broad daylight. Did it ever 
cross his mind that he might be expelled? No, I don't think 
so.        

I, on the other hand, see Lily as the "strategist," the one who would 
think everything through. She is afterall the mastermind behind 
Harry's survival, isn't she? This is also an act of selfless 
endangerment, right?   

> vmonte responds:
I agree on the idea, but I don't think this is what JKR was
pointing out to us in this scene. Snape is a deeply horrible person!
He has so much hatred inside of him that he cannot even accept help
from Lily. And please don't say that he was just embarrassed and
lashed out, this is a cop-out answer. 'Mind your own business' would
have sufficed, right? Instead he calls her a foul name. (IMO he
hates her in much the same way he shows contempt for Hermione. It's
interesting that both happen to have muggle parents.)

>Valky:
That's a very bold statement Vivian. And I agree. :D
Love him or hate him, Snape is not nice. Its the inner struggle that
fascinates, not the question of whether its there, for me.

vmonte:

Yes, it's the inner struggle that fascinates all right.  :)

Vivian