[HPforGrownups] Re: varying views of characters

[Margaret Dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 191085

On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 1:57 PM, Sherry Gomes <sherriola at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sherry:
>
> Actually, I didn't believe, from the very beginning that Sirius was guilty
> or that he had killed James and Lily. It didn't feel right. It felt almost
> contrived.
>
> In my defense, much as I despised Snape through all the books, I did not
> believe he was trying to kill Harry in SS/PS. It was just too convenient
> for him to be the one, too set up to look that way to be true. I felt the
> same when we started hearing about Sirius in POA. And then, once we
> learned the whole animagi thing, I knew he couldn't have done it, because a
> dog wouldn't betray his pack that way. But yeah, from the beginning, I
> didn't believe he was guilty. So, I wasn't surprised by his innocence and
> was surprised and upset, that DD had seemed never to question it. But it
> would have messed with his plans to have Sirius free and clear before the
> world. Sirius being Harry's guardian, DD could not have overruled his
> custody and sent Harry back to the Dursleys.

Margaret:

The thing is, we readers have the advantage of knowing that we're
reading a book, and that Snape or Sirius (the obvious suspect)
actually being the culprits would be inartistic.  The characters,
OTOH, *don't* know they are in a book.  As far as they're concerned,
they're dealing with real life, where the obvious often turns out to
be true, even if it doesn't make good drama.


--Margaret Dean, who was unsurprised by Dumbledore's death in Book 6
because she knows the usual fate of Kindly Old Mentors in stories.
(I'd been expecting him to pop off any time after Book 4, in fact.)
  <margdean56 at gmail.com>