Childhood influences: Sirius (Re: good and bad Slytherins)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 175250

> Carol:
> Can you cite some canon to support this view of Sirius at age 
> eleven (not as a teenager whose bedroom is decorated to emphasize
> his differences with his family)? I don't see anything except his
> surprise at James's antipathy to the House that his family has
> always been Sorted into, his curiosity regarding the House James
> would prefer, his desire for James to think he's "all right," and
> his joining with James to ridicule Severus  (who admittedly treats
> them with equal disdain).


Jen: I'll offer my intepretation of canon with a few quotes, meaning 
I doubt citing canon is convincing if someone has a different 
interpretation.  I'm rather attached to my interpretations now that 
canon is complete, and I expect others are as well!  Still, canon can 
help paint a picture for why I hold my interpretations, so here 
goes....

Part of my picture of Sirius is due to the way JKR creates 
characters, where events and impressions in childhood matter for who 
an 11-year old is when he/she puts on the Sorting Hat.  We learn much 
about Sirius and the Black family because he's back in his childhood 
home, an atmosphere that lends itself to revelation of memories.  

When Sirius told Harry, "I don't like being back here...I never 
thought I'd be stuck in this house again," [1] I understood that to 
mean he'd felt 'stuck' when he was a child.  Harry understands, he 
can't imagine going back to live at Privet Dr. as an adult.  The 
comparison between the two characters, and knowing what Harry 
experienced at the Dursleys before escaping to Hogwarts, is part of 
my reasoning to think Sirius had similar feelings growing up, whether 
it had to do with him rejecting his family, his family rejecting him 
or a cycle playing out of both reinforcing the other.  

IOW, it's hard for me to think of Sirius on the train at 11 existing 
in a vacuum, with no particular positive or negative impressions of 
his family.  

Also, I didn't read Sirius's reaction as surprise when James 
said "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" 
[2]. Instead, that interaction reads like this for me:  James is 
making what he thinks is a funny joke; Sirius doesn't smile and the 
reader is about to find out why.  Turns out he doesn't smile because 
his whole family is in Slytherin and for some reason that's not funny 
to him.  Since he's not mad at James for the comment, his family is 
the reason there's no humor in the joke.


> Alla:
>So, I am just going to mention the canon in support of the inference 
> that Sirius hated his family and his family hated him. That would 
> be him talking to Harry about his family tree in OOP and his mom's 
> portrait remarks to him.
> 
> We do not know when Sirius' hating his family started, I choose to 
> believe that it started before he went to Hogwarts.

Jen:  I agree, and one reason in my mind is all the family history 
Sirius was able to recite about the family tree even after 
stating, "I haven't looked at this for years."  [3]  So when was the 
last time he looked?  After he got sorted into Gryffindor and started 
hanging banners and Muggle posters around his room?  Not likely.  No, 
the implication is he was a child, learning about family history from 
mum.  And if Sirius felt proud of his family history, of a relative 
who tried to force through legalization of Muggle-hunting or one who 
started a tradition like beheading house elves, I can't see him 
telling James he might be the first to break the family tradition of 
Slytherin.  It doesn't work for me that a character like Sirius, 
who is *very* strong-headed and strong-willed, didn't already have 
ideas about what he wanted at 11.  


Jen
[1] OOTP, chap. 6, p. 106, UK ed.
[2] DH, chap. 33, p. 671, Am. ed.
[3] OOTP, chap. 6, p. 105, UK ed.