Lily' sacrifice v James' sacrifice

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 150102

> Julie:
> It makes sense to me, Alla. Like you, I understand that Voldemort's
> intent was to kill James, whereas he was willing to spare Lily if
> she didn't get in his way. The biggest question is why Voldemort was
> willing to spare Lily, or, conversely, why he was *determined* to 
> kill James. I also wonder if James and Lily were aware of this fact,
> thus James rushed Voldemort as his only chance (albeit a small one) 
> was  to kill Voldemort before Voldemort killed him. Or did James
> simply rush Voldemort because he was the male, thus determined to
> shield his family? (Which is a bit sexist, since why didn't Lily
> rush Voldemort, and give James the chance to escape with Harry, but 
> we all still have that tendency to act within those society-
> prescribed gender roles.)

Jen: 
Here's the part of Lily's sacrifice that's hard for me to understand 
and makes me wonder if it's what JKR meant about Lily being more 
brave: I would imagine as a parent, with someone threatening your 
child, your natural instinct would be to pick your baby up and shield 
him. Maybe hold him tight to you and turn away from the attacker, 
while begging and pleading for your baby to be spared. The alternative 
sounds horrible to me, knowing you might die and leave your infant 
completely vulnerable in the hands of a heinous person who could kill 
or worse.

Going against her maternal instinct to pick Harry up and hold him 
tight would be so difficult in my opinion, and I have to ask why Lily 
did that. James acted on his instinct to protect his family even if 
facing certain death, but in a way Lily didn't. She could have chosen 
to pick Harry up and force Voldemort to kill both of them at the same 
time, but she chose to die first and leave Harry alive *shudder*. 
Rebecca gave a really good reason why Lily might do that--because she 
hoped it might spare Harry and the WW, if Harry really was the one who 
had a chance to defeat Voldemort in the long run.

I'd add to Rebecca's premise and wonder if Lily knew more information 
than just hoping for the best, if she actually understood that such a 
sacrifice would protect Harry more completely than she could ever do 
alive, as well as possibly help Harry defeat LV? If so, it's back to 
the DOM for my speculation, Lily working in the Veil room and/or 
locked room. Maybe she didn't plan how the events would commence, but 
when LV offered her a chance to be spared she knew what the moment 
required no matter how painful it was. And oh how painful that would 
be, to leave your child behind not knowing with 100% certainty what 
would happen to him. (Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I'm 
thinking JKR nixed the suggestion Lily knew, so someone please remind 
me with the interview if I'm going down the road of unproductive 
speculation.)

Jen, who is suddenly feeling very sympathetic toward Lily and will try 
not to hope for her to have a bunch of weaknesses anymore ;). And also 
sorry she missed Rebecca's point earlier.