James' essence/ a bit of Snape/Lily speculation WAS: Re: Choice and Essentialism

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 154012

> a_svirn:
<SNIP>
> Of course, James could have hated the Dark Arts, his bulling of 
> Snape notwithstanding, just as Snape could have loved Lilly, his 
> bulling of Harry notwithstanding.

Alla:

Yes, that is ALL I am saying.


a-svirn:
 Yet it is really hard to believe 
> that a sixteen-year-old James Potter gave any more thought on the 
> subject of Dark Arts than his sixteen-year-old son ever did. (And 
he 
> had much less incentive than Harry to think about such things.) 
<SNIP>

Alla:

I don't think we will ever agree on this one from what I remember of 
the past discussions.  :) It is NOT hard to believe for me at all 
that at sixteen James may have given a lot of thoughts about the 
subject of Dark Arts, especially given what was happening in the 
world around him. I think the Voldemort's rise may have given him a 
lot of incentive to do just that. IMO of course.



a_svirn:
<SNIP>
By the same logic I'd say that the 
> teenage James's hatred of the Dark Arts boiled down to the hatred 
of 
> one Severus Snape – a slimy jit who knew more nasty curses than it 
> was his fair share. 

Alla:

Entirely possible OR it is also  possible that James had other 
reasons to hate Dark Arts in general and people associated with 
them, which we just don't know about yet.

a_svirn:
<SNIP>
> In other words, I'd say that just as Sirius did not hate some 
> abstract Dark Arts – he hated his parents and everything they 
stood 
> for, James did not hate Dark Arts either – he hated Snape. I 
should 
> probably add "and everything he stood for", but thing is – we 
don't 
> know just *what* did he stood for at sixteen.

Alla:

Of course - often the hatred of the abstract is really the hatred of 
the people associated with it, but the thing is Sirius parents 
really don't seem to be "stood for"  good things, right?

And I agree, we don't know everything that Snape stood for at 
sixteen, but we know some things - he was not above inventing curse 
that could cut people and make them bleed to death and he was not 
above using "mudblood" word.

This indeed has nothing to do with James' bullying, but it does not 
portray a very good picture of young Snape in my mind.

JMO,

Alla