James and Intent

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 186966

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:
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> I think she pictured James as being a good adult. That much I get. And I see Pippin's point of view about his simply growing up. It's the writing of it that seems somehow unsettling. We think James is a great guy (but I don't know why we thought that) then we saw him being a jerk--several times---and we never see the transformation between the two moments. So it's unclear why we got the good man/bad boy story without the middle transforming scene.

Pippin:
What JKR showed us, brilliantly, was not how James transformed. It was  how Snape could keep perceiving James as such a jerk when everyone else thought he was so wonderful. 

People do keep saying what a great guy James was. Dumbledore, Hagrid, McGonagall, Lupin, Rosmerta, and Sirius all clearly love him and miss him.  Even Peter Pettigrew and Voldemort have nice things to say about him. Undoubtedly he resisted Voldemort and died trying to save his wife and child, though not in the epic battle that Voldemort boasted of having with him.  

But nothing is compelling enough to  shake the bad impression that teenage James left on us.  Snape's abiding hatred and disdain, which at first seemed completely undeserved, the mark of a character so filled with jealousy and malice that he couldn't even be grateful to the man who saved his life, become more than understandable. 

But even though there were episodes in his father's life that Harry would rather not dwell on, Harry named a son after James. I think that shows us that Harry believed that James had grown beyond those days. 

For me, the glimpse through the window of the happy father playing with his son was telling. It's not just that James loves his family, it's that he's at peace with them. When do we see Vernon or Lucius just enjoy being a dad? Never: they're always in a power struggle with somebody. And so was Sirius at GP, most of the time, even when Harry was there and desperately in need of his company.

Pippin