Maligning Lupin

[Renee]

No: HPFGUIDX 149659

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "susanbones2003" <rkdas at ...> wrote:
>
> > > 
> > Renee:
> > 
> > Unfortunately, Pippin's answer doesn't solve my problem, which is 
> that
> > the *only* two members of this particular group we get acquainted 
> with
> > would be evil if Lupin is ESE. We have no basis left within canon 
> to
> > assume werewolves could ever be okay and are a cause worth 
> fighting for. 
> > 
> > Political correctness does not apply here. If someone writes a book
> > that shows us two Jewish or Muslim characters who are both evil in 
> one
> > way or another, readers can check this against primary world 
> reality -
> > though lots of them would still be up in arms against the author. 
> We
> > can't do so with werewolves. If JKR were to say after Book 7: `Yes,
> > well, werewolves are basically okay, but these two just happened 
> to be
> > bad eggs,' it would cast a rather poor light on her handling of the
> > anti-prejudice theme running through the books. (The theme itself
> > suggests to me that political correctness is not something JKR 
> would
> > shy from, but that's a tangential discussion.) 
> > 
> > Even assuming she wanted to give us `a character we know we should
> > sympathize with and make him the traitor/spy' to show that nice 
> isn't
> > necessarily good - which I'm not convinced she does - there are 
> better
> > choices for her to make than a person who already carries the heavy
> > burden of showing that `not all werewolfs are bad'. In its almost
> > pathetical insistence that among a known majority of bad werewolfs,
> > maybe a few are actually okay if you get to know them, this gloss 
> from
> > Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them speaks volumes. 
> > 
> > Renee
> 
> Hi there,
> I must admit at first I was taken aback by your argument but then I 
> realized JKR doesn't have to follow your formula. "To prove some are 
> good, please show us one good one!" I think if Lupin proves to be 
> bad and gets to explain in any detail why he decided to go that way, 
> that may be more important for the hearers in understanding what 
> their prejudice does. But let's look at werewolves. Not Lupin since 
> he was raised with a furry little problem, but the ones who embrace 
> their lives, the Fenrir-type. Pretending a little here, but who 
> would want them in society? How would a real society fit them in? 
> I'm not talking in eliptical symbolic terms but if the real thing 
> presented itself. How would it be possible? Even if LV were to win 
> his war, what could it accomplish? Chaos, widespread mayhem? Lupin 
> is on the horns of a huge dilemma. He is the odd man out. Good or 
> bad. He is tragedy beheld. 
> 
> Jen D.
>

Renee:

But what you seem to be saying now is that werewolves *are* bad, that
the prejudice of the Wizarding World is justified, and that Lupin's
tragedy is that he tried to be good, but failed. Failed, because the
prejudice is justified and his attempt to be good was futile anyway,
werewolves being bad and inevitably disruptive. (Which you ought to
know isn't true, because there's such a thing as the Wolfsbane potion.) 

If you're really saying this, I'm afraid you've ceased to make sense
to me. If I thought for a moment JKR had introduced the anti-werewolf
bias merely to justify it in the end, I'd have to conclude I'd been
wasting my time on the series. Fortunately for me, I believe the contrary.

Renee