Nice vs. Good, and a Rowling quote

[juli17ptf]

No: HPFGUIDX 153027

(My apologies for the previous incomplete post!)

> > > 
> > > houyhnhnm:
> > > 
  Here is the quote (from 
> the
> > > August, 2004, Edinburgh Book Festival):
> > > *************************
> > > Q: Also, will we see more of Snape?
> > > 
> > > A: You always see a lot of Snape, because he is a gift of a 
> character.
> > > I hesitate to say that I love him. [Audience member: I do]. You 
> do?
> > > This is a very worrying thing. Are you thinking about Alan 
> Rickman or
> > > about Snape? [Laughter]. Isn't this life, though? I make this
> > > hero—Harry, obviously—and there he is on the screen, the perfect
> > > Harry, because Dan is very much as I imagine Harry, but who 
does 
> every
> > > girl under the age of 15 fall in love with? Tom Felton as Draco
> > > Malfoy. Girls, stop going for the bad guy. Go for a nice man in 
> the
> > > first place. It took me 35 years to learn that, but I am giving 
> you
> > > that nugget free, right now, at the beginning of your love 
lives.
> > > *************************
> > > 
> > > Notice that she is not responding to the questioner but to the
> > > audience member who blurted out "I do".  
> > 
> > Renee:
> > What I notice first and foremost is that JKR says: "Go for a nice 
> man
> > in the first place." 
> > 
> > Now we may all have our own ideas about what the word "nice" 
really
> > means, but in this quote the author of the books uses it as the
> > opposite of "bad". This sheds an interesting light on the "nice 
vs.
> > good" debate. Either JKR doesn't see these two concepts as 
opposed 
> or
> > fundamentally different at all - or she gives girls the advice to 
go
> > for the polished surface, which may or may not conceal a black 
> heart,
> > rather than for the possibility of a golden heart hiding behind a
> > semblance of nastiness. 
> > 
> > Personally, I rather think it's the former, the latter not being a
> > very laudable alternative. And an author's use of a concept in an
> > interview should be a fairly strong indication of the way it's 
> handled
> > in the books. 
> > 
> > Renee
> >
> 

Julie:
There are as many different definitions for "bad" as there are 
for "nice." JKR is clearly talking about societal definitions of bad 
boys (the kind women often go for and think they can "fix") versus 
nice guys (the ones who treat a woman well from the get go, even if 
they are a bit, er, boring). Bad boys can be boys who push the 
envelope and take crazy risks, who ride fast bikes, who play with 
women's feelings, who have unresolved issues, who are self-
destructive, who are sarcastic and emotionally closed off, etc, etc. 
Bad boys aren't all drug addicts, wife beaters, bank robbers and axe 
murderers. There's quite a range, and a bad boy doesn't always or 
even usually equate with morally corrupt (call that the big BAD).

So, yes, Snape, whether he is simply bitter and full of unresolved 
issues, or whether he is in fact morally corrupt (the big BAD), falls 
in that bad boy range. (As does Sirius, BTW!) Basically, JKR's 
statement reads to me more like "Why put up with that kind of crap, 
why not go for the guy who already has his stuff together?" (Because 
that other kind may *never* resolve all his issues and get his stuff 
together.) 

Speaking of nice, when we're comparing "nice" and "good" in JKR's 
books (or in life), I think the two are related in a particular way, 
where nice is good, but good isn't always nice. 

1. Nice is being kind, thoughtful, and compassionate toward others--
and I'm talking *genuine* nice here. Faking niceness, like Umbridge 
or Fudge, is not nice, it's, well, fake. It's a lie. Genuine nice to 
me is always good. You can't be genuinely nice, act out of true 
kindness and compassion for others, and be bad. 

2. Good *can* include genuine niceness, but it has a more critical 
component, which is moral rightness. Being good means acting from an 
ethical code, or doing what is right (often over what would be easy). 
It doesn't have to be acting out of compassion or out of kindness 
(though doing what is right is often the same as doing what is kind 
or compassionate, even if the doer isn't acting from that feeling).

So, one can't really be a genuinely nice person without being good. 
But--a big BUT here--a person can act in a moral manner without that 
act being based in niceness. Snape can conjure stretchers and 
transport the unconscious Sirius and Harry back to Hogwarts, he can 
save Harry from Quirrel, he can send the Order to save the kids at 
the DoM, he can stop Goyle from strangling Neville, all without 
feeling any kindness or compassion toward those he's helping. He can 
do it just because it's the right thing to do. 

Snape can be morally good--he can do what is right--all without being 
the least bit nice. He can be a good guy though he definitely isn't a 
nice guy. 

Julie