CHAPDISC: DH11, The Bribe

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 180531

> > 5. Harry accuses Lupin both of feeling a bit of a daredevil and of
> being a coward. What is Rowling saying about the relationship 
between
> recklessness and true bravery? 
> 
> Carol:
> This confrontation was one of my favorite moments in DH, especially
> when Harry accuses Lupin of feeling like a daredevil and imitating
> Sirius. The implication seems to be that Lupin is tempting death, as
> Sirius did not only by going to the Mom but by fighting Bellatrix on
> the dais of the Veil. Lupin, he's suggesting, wants to die
> spectularly, too, with the difference being that this suicide by
> recklessness would in his case be supremely irresponsible and 
cowardly
> because it would be a way of freeing himself of the burden of caring
> for his wife and child while looking like a brave soldier dying for
> the cause of the WW. JKR, I think, is speaking through Harry in
> calling Lupin a coward, and Lupin, though he storms out, apparently
> comes to share this view, as indicated by his behavior in later
> chapters. Yes, Lupin is an adult and was his teacher, but Lupin is
> wrong in this instance, and Harry is right to tell him so, IMO. 
Lupin
> chose to marry Tonks and to father a child with her; now he has to 
pay
> the consequences, one of which is to think of others before he 
thinks
> of himself. I think that JKR is saying that Marauder-style
> recklessness was bad enough when it endangered the people of
> Hogsmeade; in this instance, it would endanger Lupin's own family by
> depriving them of his protection. True bravery isn't rushing
> heedlessly into danger; it's facing the consequences of your own
> actions without running away.

a_svirn:
Well, I can understand marrying-and-facing-consequences bit, but the 
suicide theory is a pure conjecture, I think. There was nothing in 
the chapter to suggest that Lupin actively sought death. No had 
Sirius, really. And as for leaving his family without protection, it 
simply wasn't the case. Lupin stated the obvious when he said that 
they would be much safer without him. Just like they were safer 
without Ted Tonks. Or do you think Ted Tonks was being cowardly when 
he left his family "without his protection"? He practically quoted 
his son-in-low when he said that his wife should be OK since she was 
pureblood. And was Lupin acting cowardly when left his wife and son 
without his protection to come to Hogwarts to fight? How about Tonks 
herself? She was supposed to stay with her pureblood mother and her 
infant son, and she also came to Hogwarts to fight instead, leaving 
her child "without her protection".  

a_svirn