[HPforGrownups] Re: Character you wanted to like, but didn't

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 179723

Cathy (YasminOaks) wrote:
> <snip> There was one character that I thought all along I would just
 love, but after reading DH I found I didn't like her much at all.
That character is Lily. <snip>

Carol responds:

I agree with you. I'm not sure what I expected of Lily, but from the moment
she called Severus "Snivellus" and told him to wash his underwear, I found
it difficult to like her. Admittedly, she was provoked by his "filthy little
Mudblood" remark, but surely she could see that her attempt to help him
when, in a fair fight, he'd be perfectly able to defend himself, was
humiliating to him, not to mention that it was obvious she was flirting with
James. And Slughorn's references to her as "cheeky" didn't help. (What sort
of teacher *awards points* for cheek?) And even in the Prince's Tale, I
din't like her all that much, especially refusing to forgive Severus when he
abjectly apologized and even waited outside the Gryffindor common room,
apparently intending to sleep on the landing, until she came out. 



Sherry:

Oh my gosh!  Something you and I agree on, Carol!  I didn't like lily
either, not necessarily for the same reasons.  I didn't like her before DH,
but that was unfair.  I didn't like her because she was built up to be so
perfect--the "Sainted lily" was how I referred to her.  But I expected JKR
to do something to make me like her, and that didn't happen.  This example
of noble self sacrificing motherhood turned out to be almost a non character
to me in the end.  By the way, I never did like her calling Snape that name,
because two wrongs didn't make it right.  But I can understand her refusing
to forgive him later, because I don't know that I could forgive someone who
put me down for my disabilities, particularly someone I considered a friend.
Yet, Lily knew he called other muggle borns "mudblood", and she didn't put
an end to the so-called friendship, until he turned it on her.  She doesn't
seemed even to have tried to stop him or make him think about how insulting
others was also insulting her.  It wasn't happening to her, so it didn't
matter, that's how I read it.  I just came away not respecting Lily any more
than I had before and liking her even less.  Previously, it was because I,
who was raised by my father, resented the oh so perfect mother being raised
up to practical sainthood and all the fathers being torn apart--except
Arthur.  But seeing what we do of lily in DH made me just think she wasn't
necessarily all that likable, even before she became the perfect image of
motherhood.  not being a Snape fan, I felt sorry for him over the whole lily
thing.  I'm not sure she deserved the devotion of either James or Snape.

Sherry, who doesn't even think of lily as character enough even to be an
annoying character!