[HPforGrownups] Re: Victory for TEWWW EWWW

[Lenore]

No: HPFGUIDX 173353


> > >Adam, who, despite all of this, still admires Snape way more than I
> > >admire James or Sirius
> >
> > Lenore:
> > Me too, no contest.
>
>Prep0strus:
>I just don't understand.  I'm just baffled, even if you could like the
>character of Snape, even if you see more good in him that I can
>imagine - taking him in the best of terms, a tortured child, full of
>love, who risks life and limb for his love, his love's child, for the
>fight against evil... why would you admire him more than James or
>Sirius?  What did they do to make them worse than him?

Lenore:
First of all, we never learn much about James in the books.
The best we know of him is that Lily loved him and married him.
Well, we don't know why and how he changed, so that isn't
enough to inspire me to admiration.

Sirius was always a kind of disappointment to me.  I did like
book three best, and loved Sirius' escape story.  But, he, too,
as a character never developed fully.  I never could sense any
real inner strength in him; he was just kind of immature, always
a little boy.

Lenore:
I'm not sure why we are debating perceptions, which are what
we each see in a given character.  However, since you asked,
my perceptions of Snape aren't based on any of the things
you've mentioned above.  I don't care about superficial things,
like personality pleasantness or unpleasantness, or external
forms of things, like dress, fashion sense, status, etc.  You
are certainly right that Snape's personality doesn't do him
any favors!  But what I am always looking for in people (which
currently includes JKR) comes down to what their deeper inner
values are.  In the "olden days" it was called character, or honor,
or integrity, being true to oneself, which means being consistently
honest with oneself.  What do they value and how much do they
value it?

You can defend Sirius and James to me all you want and it
won't make any difference, because we just don't know that
much about them. They have never been revealed to the reader,
really, in any deep sense, and so they leave me uninspired.

[snipped]
>how can there be 'no contest' in admiring snape more than james or
>sirius?  to admire someone is to respect them, believe them worthy of
>emulation.  why would you choose a nasty little boy who grew up into a
>nasty little man - an EVIL man, who managed to become good, but remain
>nasty... over two men who always chose good. sometimes they were
>petty, sometimes they were small - no more than sirius, but they were
>always GOOD.  and brave.

Lenore:
IF I perceived him as you do, then no doubt I wouldn't admire him,
or be able to see any admirable qualities in him.  But I've always
seen more in him.  It was easy.

Lenore