Sirius' motivation for breaking with his family

[thebookandtherose]

No: HPFGUIDX 154117

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ericoppen" <oppen at ...> wrote:
>
> While I'm sure that Sirius liked attention and standing out in a
> crowd, that alone might not have been his motivation for breaking
so
> completely with his family.  The Wizard World operates on
patronage
> and family influence (it's pre-Victorian, almost Regency,
sometimes,
> at least that's how it feels to me)and turning one's back on a
> powerful source of influence such as the Black family would not be
> something done lightly.
>
> I think that we may have seen a clue to Sirius' motivation in our
> first minutes in his family mauso--er, his family _mansion._  What
> if Little Sirius had had a house elf that he really, really loved,
> that was his favorite playmate---and one day he comes downstairs
to
> find out that Mama has had that elf's head cut off and mounted on
a
> plaque?
> <SNIP>

Mmmm, I think thats an interesting theory, but you need some more
evidence before it can be accepted.
You might want to draw comparisons from the Winky-Barty jr.
relationship, or even the Dobby-Harry but remember not all children
have similar relationships with their house elves (Draco isn't shown
to have any affection for Dobby and frankly I can't imagine any).

I would also question how far a house elf would dare go against the
opinions of the master/mistress of the house (Sirius's parents).
Then again, there is Dobby and Harry, though Dobby is a bit of a
radical with his pride of clothes and wages.

I think Sirius is a rebel who had the debatable fortune to be born
into a family that needed to be rebelled against. Had he been the
son of fervent aurors he may have turned to the dark side, or he may
have rebelled in some other way I don't know.
Back on topic, I think Sirius resents Kreacher because he is a relic
of the Black family, much the same as the disdain he shows to the
Black heirlooms when they are cleaning them out in OotP.

Bookish Rose