Sirius' potential (was: Sirius as Father Figure)

[eileennicholson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 130665

Magda said:
>Sirius was a tragedy of unfulfilled potential, unfulfilled largely due  to 
his own weaknesses.<
 
Eileen: 
How much of a chance did he really have to fulfill that potential? His life  
up to the point where he ran away from home looks far from ideal, judging on  
what we see in OoP; once he'd recovered from the trauma of running away  from 
home and had got a place of his own he probably had some scope, and maybe  he 
can be considered to have wasted it, being 'too busy being a big rebel' (JKR  
Edinburgh World Book Day 2004), but at 22 he was in Azkaban without trial, and 
 after that, every time we see him with an opportunity something else goes 
wrong.  Its like he's on a rollercoaster and can't get off - the high points are 
 very brief and go very quickly, the low points are dragged out in episodes 
of  depression. And there was something badly wrong with him in OoP, judging by 
the  contrast with the man we saw in GoF, if not PTSD then something else. 
 
IMO he keeps getting more potential heaped upon him (by the end of OoP  
there's so much of the stuff he's almost carting it around in wheelbarrows,  
psychologically speaking :-) ) but never gets a real opportunity for  redemption 
before he goes through the veil. 
 
For me, the tragedy of Sirius' death was that Jo didn't redeem him  
sufficiently after she'd built up such an opportunity, so I think (hope?) that  she'll 
do it in the next book or books.
At which point perhaps I'll get closure too, and be able to read something  
other than HP again! 
 
Eileen Nicholson   


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