Why Sirius Had to Die-maybe (was: Why we'll get no further revelations that Snap

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 169873

> Jen:  I don't know much about the Gothic novel but did happen to 
> search for that information a couple of weeks ago when wondering if 
> Snape would fit the role of a Gothic character.  From what I read, 
> POA doesn't seem like the most obvious example of having a Gothic 
> theme so I'd be curious to read that paper if you have a link.  

Magpie:
I wish I did. Unfortunately it was just a paper I went to--hopefully 
it will be in the Phoenix Rising compendium.

The basic idea was that in terms of the Gothic trappings (which 
you're right, Grimmauld Place is FULL of), there's the Dementors 
(both horror and terror there), and a haunted house full of secrets 
(Hogwarts itself and more specifically the Shrieking Shack). I'll bet 
the Grim counts too. Oh, also Gothic novels often have a female who 
is the one behaving in an ethical way and punished for it--in this 
case Hermione being shunned by Harry and Ron for turning in the 
broom. Snape is also there to tear down Harry's view of his father--
he even says that flat out: In case you had some idea your father was 
some sort of hero when he saved me...

When the book starts Harry learns there's this guy broken out of 
prison who will try to kill him, but that doesn't mean much because 
people always are. Until he finds out this man is family. This starts 
an anxiety about the failure of the paternal line. He starts hearing 
the moment of failure in his head when the Dementors come in--he 
hears his mother die. A death he had somewhat blamed on himself 
because she died for him. LV had told him his parents died bravely, 
but the Dementors echoes reveal something a little different. James 
is ineffective, essentially. He does nothing wrong, but Harry 
hears "panic" and "stumbling" and then not James standing firm but 
Voldemort's high laughter.

Sirius and Lupin are part of that same failure of the paternal line 
to protect his mother with their Secret Keeper plot. Harry is 
ultimately able to keep them from disintegrating further by becoming 
murderers, that does not make them stronger and again they fail and 
Peter escapes. But Harry is then himself able to dispel the anxiety 
about the paternal line (symbolized by Dementors) himself. The Gothic 
concerns itself often with both anxiety about the failure of the 
paternal line and the overcoming of that anxiety.

The Blacks, of course, get into the whole incestuous crubling of the 
family from within and all that--interestingly the paper didn't even 
touch on that; she was just analyzing PoA.

> Jen:  A failure, yes, and Mr. Black's absence gives a sense of the 
> patriarchal figure having no power to save any of them from their 
> fates.  Yet there's the idea the failure wasn't complete with the 
> introduction of R.A.B., most likely Regulus, and then Sirius dying 
> but living on in the underworld.  I can see those ideas tying into 
> your thoughts here about Harry.

Magpie:
Oh, I think RAB is a failure too, because he died--and probably 
without actually destroying the Horcrux. Which is not to put down 
Regulus if that's who he was. He died heroically and I think saved 
his own soul if that was in danger. But I think it's significant that 
he shouldn't have been able to actually complete the blow he tried to 
strike on his own.

Jen:
> There's unfinished literal business with the locket located at 
> Grimmauld but this seems like a perfect place to insert something 
> that's always bothered me and is a bit obsessive-compulsive of me:  
> The Permanent Sticking charm on the family tapestry and the fact 
that 
> it's one major artifact the Order can't get rid of in the House of 
> Black.  Lol, it's silly but now I see where there could be some 
> significance to that - everything in the house *shouldn't* be 
removed 
> and cleaned away as if the family never existed and especially not 
> that tapestry.

Magpie:
Oh no, I totally agree. I love that Sirius can't remove the history 
of all the people who lived there. Nor can he get rid of his own 
pedigree--he came from these people. They couldn't get rid of him 
either--here he is inheriting the house despite being blasted off the 
tree.

> Jen: I agree this was a big part of HBP.  It really was the 
Slytherin 
> book just as I think of POA as the Gryffindor book and GOF as the 
> Hufflepuff one (messages of inclusiveness).  Harry was on his own 
> journey connecting with parts of himself that interestingly enough, 
> he was finally given permission to connect with from Dumbledore.  
> Dumbledore, who really is the ultimate Slytherin when it comes to 
> ambition - bringing down his second Dark Lord after all - is  also 
> the messenger trumpeting the news of Harry as a Black heir and 
> starting him on his journey by taking Harry to meet Slughorn, the 
> first Slytherin Harry doesn't outright detest even though he 
doesn't 
> exactly like Slughorn, either.  

Magpie:
Definitely and (plugging own theories) OotP was the Ravenclaw book. 
Could there be more brain fever in that book?

> Jen:  
> So in this case, what I could see taking place is something else 
you 
> considered awhile back, IIRC.  Weren't you the one suggesting that 
> the information in HBP about the curse-that-wasn't on inheriting 
> Grimmauld Place might come back into play?  Because it didn't have 
> any real meaning in that situation or rather, it fizzled out to 
> nothing so there really wasn't a reason to bring it up. 

Magpie:
Right! Yes, that was me. It seems like certainly something has to be 
done with the Black House and family--I think we all agree Harry will 
be opening that locket however he does it. But yeah, I do feel like 
that whole "we'll have to test this because the Blacks really ought 
to have charms making sure only Blacks can inherit..." should go 
somewhere. Another neat paper I went to at PR was about repitition in 
HP and how JKR always does everything at least twice, pretty much. 
The paper even gave one example that I'd totally never noticed where 
something I remembered as happening once actually happened twice, the 
first time showing us what normally happened, so that when something 
odd happened the second time we would know it was strange. I would 
not at all be surprised if we saw someone test a heridity-type charm 
once in OotP, and will see it again with different results in DH.

-m