Themes and theories

[carolynwhite2]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> 
wrote:
> 
> 
> > David:
> the plot is not like that of a detective or spy 
> > story, where plot is paramount and one may suppose that 
> rigorous  analysis of small clues may lead one to the unravelling 
> of the mystery.  In my experience of this type of literature,  
> chracterisation is necessarily flat to allow as many characters as  
> possible to remain suspects for as long as possible.<
> > 
> 
> Pippin:
> JKR gets around this by having Harry see large numbers of 
> people as flat. Then he suspects only the flat characters whom 
> he notices doing something suspicious.  It is the characters who 
> tell lies  and don't strike  Harry  as suspicious (or that Harry 
> forgets were suspicious)  that you, as a sleuth, should have your 
> eye on: 
> 

Carolyn:
You seem to be sticking to a very traditional take on the genre, 
David. Many of the best detective and spy novels tend to be intense 
psychological studies, with the complexity arising from what people 
do when driven by events they can't control. Often the original cause 
of a death or betrayal turns out to be quite simple, even trivial, in 
retrospect, but difficult to understand at the outset because it is 
buried in past events that are not yet known by the reader. 

I see no conflict between JKR broadly addressing meta themes like 
love, loyalty and death, yet doing so through intensely-imagined 
protagonists, who behave ambiguously under pressure, or who cave in 
and try to cover up, leaving a trail of clues if you want to look for 
them. You can call this conspiracy theory or subversive if you like, 
but the fact is that people do this on a regular basis every day in 
all walks of life. She's just presenting us with an authentic study 
of human nature, warts and all within an entertaining WW universe. 

It's for us to disintangle the wildcard magic elements from the 
essential human story, and in the case of Harry, consider what a 
teenage boy might overlook or misunderstand in the way adults around 
him behave. 

I think ESE!Lupin is a fascinating theory, but myself I have 
difficulties with the idea that he has actually gone as far as 
becoming one of Voldemort's henchmen, or that the Voldy war is 
anything but incidental to this sub-plot. 

As I have said to Pippin offlist, I think this is a case of someone 
committing a crime in the past that he thought was good and buried, 
but which has come back to haunt him. A personal disaster which has 
become entangled with world events and which he can't prevent 
unravelling.

He clearly did something that raised the suspicions of Sirius, James 
and Dumbledore before GH, or they would have included him in the 
group that knew about the SK. Equally clearly James and Sirius were 
more important friends to him than Peter. I think that Voldemort's 
agents were no fools, and targeted Lupin in the run up to GH, and 
partially succeeded with him, to the extent that, to get them off his 
back, or to prevent further public disclosure of his werewolf status, 
or to save his own life, he finally gave away information about 
Peter - who in his mind was less valuable than his other friends, and 
could be sacrificed. 

He probably thought Peter knew very little, and was too stupid to 
have been entrusted with any important missions. Unfortunately, 
unknown to Lupin, that was just what that towering intellect, Sirius, 
had finally persuaded James to do, and so the tragedy at GH occurred.

Lupin was no doubt devastated at the consequences, but also pretty 
glad that Peter was apparently dead. Then to his horror, in the best 
detective story tradition, Peter turns up again 12 years later, and 
from then on in, Lupin is in damage limitation mode. He's convinced 
that Peter will have realised he was betrayed, and tries to kill him 
in POA, but fails due to Harry's intervention. Now things are much 
worse - for all Lupin knows, Peter could share his suspicions with 
Voldy, who wouldn't hesitate to use them to discredit a member of the 
Order.

He frets and worries offstage all through GoF, but finally, in OOP, 
get to spend a lot of time with Sirius at Grimmauld Place. Sirius, 
depressed and drinking can't stop running over old events, starts to 
ask too many questions, makes some boozy accusations....Lupin decides 
to his deep regret, that he must silence his old friend, and sees his 
opportunity to do so at the MoM.

Of course, Dumbledore has figured all this out too, and is now having 
to factor in how this increasingly desperate, and flawed individual's 
personal disaster might affect his future plans. And Peter has not 
told Voldy, but is storing up the realisation of who betrayed him and 
ruined his life for dealing with at a later date, if he ever gets a 
chance.

Carolyn