Is Lupin For Real?

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 125917


Greetings all,

(One shouldn't start things one isn't able to finish. I'll be gone 
for a few days starting from tomorrow 5.45 AM and won't have Internet 
access, but I had a thought that won't leave me alone and thought I'd 
toss the ball to other HP fans and see if it bounces. Just as a 
disclaimer, I'm not a teacher.)

Do you think Remus is portrayed realistically as a teacher, in terms 
of his personality rather than knowledge? For plot reasons, he has to 
be a good teacher, and JKR has written him as her pedagogic ideal. 
>From day one, he outdoes fabled fictional teachers like Mr Chips or 
John Keating (of Dead Poets' Society) - not for him Hagrid's slow 
tortuous journey of trial and error. While his suitcase 
with "Professor R.J. Lupin" in peeling letters hints that it's not 
his first teaching job, it's still circumstantial evidence.

But in the same breath JKR's described him as a person with profound 
issues, as someone who desperately needs to be liked. He rates fairly 
low on the scale of self-esteem and self-respect as well. How would 
he deal with a situation where he'd have to disappoint his students?

As JKR writes his lessons, he doesn't seem to have any troubles with 
upholding his authority, but we only see him with the third-year 
Gryffindors. Where would he be if one substituted a bunch of hostile 
seventh-year Slytherins who'd only be too happy to challenge him? Or -
 horror of horrors - an over-large class in an inner-city state 
school. Would he handle it just as well? I'm not sure, so I hope 
someone could convince me. Is it just that he's done some growing up 
from his easily cowed teenage self and only has one weak point 
(making Dumbledore disappointed) left, or is he too good to be true?

Alshain
(who if she could add to her Remus-centric fanfic now would add a 
couple of diary entries where he wails about unruly classes)