Scene with likable James WAS: Re: Eileen Pince

[esmith222002]

No: HPFGUIDX 156293

<SNIP>
> But regardless what various other characters think of James, I'm 
> just curious about what JKR wanted us to think of him.  Back before 
> OOTP, I just assumed James was this heroic, very admirable guy with 
> lots of strength of character.  That was really shot to pieces when 
> I read the Snape's Worst Memory scene.  The emotional impact, for 
> me, was as though I was reading a "Harry At the Mercy of Draco" 
kind 
> of scenario, with James in the Draco role (not that I thought of 
> Snape like Harry).  But the scene was so strong and with such clear 
> bullying and cowardly behavior -- I really wondered what JKR wants 
> us to feel about James?  She *tells* us admirable things through 
the 
> memories of other characters, but she *showed* us a bully.  
<SNIP>
> wynnleaf
>

Interesting that JKR shows us this negative scene with James in, and 
we are shown that Harry is not impressed with his father's behaviour. 
In fact most people I know were shocked by this.

However, I can think of an (almost) direct comparison. When Mad 
Eye/Crouch Jr turns Draco into a ferret. I'm pretty sure that Snape 
went for his wand first to get at James, just as Draco was attempting 
to curse/hex Harry. Mad Eye/Crouch turns Draco into a ferret and then 
torments him a little bit, just as James torments Snape. Finally a 
crowd of onlookers are laughing at this display in both scenes.
The major difference between the scenes is that most of the people I 
know are actually amused by this scene. If you are honest with 
yourselves, how did it make you feel??
My feelings have always been that Draco deserved it. Why? Because I 
have seen Draco's character throughout the books and I don't like 
him, and feel he deserves to be brought down a peg or two.
In 'Snape's worst memory', I did feel sorry for Snape, but I had not 
seen Snape's character prior to this scene. If we had seen Snape as a 
student behaving like Draco, would that scene have upset us so much?

Brothergib