![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
First, I all want to recommend 'Liberacorpus' by terri_testing. You can find it here: http://terri-testing.livejournal.com/756
The following under the cut can't really be called an essay, it's nature to rambling, but I'd love to see what you all think.
We've seen not many glimpses of James, but what we have seen is pretty scary. My warning bells are ringing with this guy. And if James really was a manipulator and a possible abuser, then the whole Lily/Severus relationship changes. Before I thought Lily a shallow bint, who acted like a real b*tch to Sev during the SWM incident, but what could've have gone before? Before reading my ramblings, you really ought to read terri's fic, though. Be warned, James turns out to be nastier than many people give him credit for.
It's the only thing that makes *sense*, really. I've been rereading Gavin DeBecker's 'The Gift of Fear' again in response to this fic and it always amazes me how people will fall for creepy guys because culture has somehow convinced us that guys who will not take 'no' for an answer, will threaten violence, who are 'charming', who brag about their ability to flaunt authority are somehow 'cool' and desirable as mates instead of pushing all our 'warning' buttons.
It makes *sense* that James would be abusive. It's in the text! It is CANON that he and Sirius would sneak away under the Cloak to Hogmead to drink Rosmerta's. Fifteen, sixteen year old boys who sneak out of school to go drinking? Warning sign! It's CANON that the Marauders roam around the countryside, endangering people, every month. For *years*. Warning sign!
Look at James' friends, they tell yo so much about him. People will say, "oh, but the Marauders were such wonderful friends!" Really? There is Remus. You know, the guy they cared so much for that they learned how to be animagi, just so they could comfort him in his pain. Because they were so nice and good that they just didn't care about his lycanthropy. Weren't they nice? So nice, that when they leave school they dump the werewolf because.. they are afraid that The Werewolf was a DE?! Because you can't really trust werewolves after all? Canon would have us believe that this was a legible reason for James and Sirius to distrust their friend, but I say that if you distrust a friend for being a werewolf, then that whole song and dance about the Marauders turning animagi to help their werewolf friend is bogus. They became animagi because it was illegal and they wanted to and they joined Remus every month because it was against the rules and thus exciting.
Then look at Peter. We all thought that Peter must've been such a wonderful actor; acting as if he was a timid nice boy all the while plotting to defect to Voldemort, but when we look at CANON, we see that even as a boy Peter was very, very creepy. A syncophath of the worst order. 'Almost wetting himself', as Sirius sneeringly remarks, in his fervent bootlicking. Would any nice guy *want* to be friends with such a slimy, creepy guy? No, he wouldn't, but a nasty guy would want to have 'Wormy' (the name just hits it on the head, doesn't it) around to do some dirty jobs you don't want other people to know about. You'd want him if your ideas of a 'good time' and yours coincided. Think about it; Remus and Sirius weren't surprised that Peter betrayed James for an 'even bigger bully', they were just surprised that had the guts and the brains to do so. Peter is portrayed in CANON as a cringing, wheedling, slimy, smarmy creep, and this is *not* the 'face behind the mask' but the way he *has always been*. And he was one of the Marauders and James and Sirius trusted him above Remus to be Secret Keeper.
James 'friendship' with Remus wasn't very deep if he dumped him so easily.
James' only real strong relationship was with Sirius (Red Hen did an excellent essay on this) with Sirius firmly being the follower and James being the Alpha dog. Sirius was the follower, the doer, the guy who acted and reacted impulsively. It was James who always got the ideas. It was James who got the idea from the start to bully Snape throughout school and who did so, JKR tells us, because of his jealousy about Snape's friendship with Lily. When we first see him in Snape's memory of the Hogwarts train, it was *James* who badmouthed Slytherin and Sirius kept quiet (Sirius whole family was Slytherin, after all, and who would want to diss his family, certainly at that age?) but when Sirius was Sorted he was so in Gryffindor, and when we see him again he hates everything Slytherin, he hates his family and even moves out and *moves in with James* when he is sixteen. Gosh, *somebody* must've done a good headjob on that boy. *Somebody* must've recognized Sirius biddable and controllable qualities...
Sirius was the ideal fallguy too. Think of how Sirius felt so guilty about suggesting Peter for a Secret Keeper that he was raving 'I did it, it was my fault' when the Aurors picked him up. Now think back to SWM and the Prince's Tale. CANON tells us that the SWM incident took place shortly *after* the Shrieking Shack Incident. We also see that Lily berates Snape when he tries to warn her against the Marauders and especially James. She says, "I know about your theories that Remus is a werewolf". (I'm quoting from memory here)
What? Snape *knew* that Lupin was a werewolf (or at least suspected it) and still he went into the Shrieking Shack during full moon? Why would he do something so stupid? What could Sirius possibly have said to lure him into such danger? How about "Evans was so curious about where Lupin goes every month, we've decided to show her, har har har." I can't imagine Snape willingly going into a suspected werewolf den just to 'get the Marauders into trouble' but I *can* imagine Snape doing so to rescue his friend from the jaws of one.
And suddenly it all falls into place. We've been staring ourselves blind on Snape in the Slytherin Common Room getting his ears filled with anti-muggleborn propaganda, but we've totally neglected Lily in the Gryffindor Common Room. James must've spent years poisoning Lily's thoughts about her Slytherin friend, twisting Snape's actions and words to discredit Snape and make himself look good. *That's* why SWM is his Worst Memory. It was *the* moment that Lily finally, totally 'went over' to the Other Side, and look what happened to her.
*That's* why Snape felt so guilty for her death; for years he had been warning his friend about no-good James Potter. *He* was not such an idiot to be fooled by that smooth talking bullying pureblood bastard. James played 'devide and conquer', playing Severus and Lily against eachother, bullying Sev and manipulating things so that it looked as if it was *Severus* fault (classic manipulator behaviour: shifting the blame of the abuse onto the victim). Hey, he got the *teachers* gobbling up his pretty stories about 'Snape giving as good as he got' after all. Lily turned out to be a harder nut to crack; it took him five years. Five years of bullying Snape, five years of manipulation, shifting blame, smooth talking, charm and badmouthing Slytherins in general and Snape in particular. It took a while - Lily *knew* Severus after all - but in the end he succeeded.
First he would wait until a new full moon. Then, just before the Marauders would go to the Shrieking Shack he would say something about Snape suspecting Lupins lycanthropy. He would then smoothly suggest to Sirius something like "Oh Snape would never dare to follow us, you know how all Slyths are cowards at heart. Wouldn't it be fun if he did, though? He'd shit seven colours! But he'd never... well, maybe if he thought that pretty redhead Evans were with us. Even slimy Snivellus might want to rescue a damsel in distress, ha ha ha!"
Sirius would be off in an instant (probably thinking it his own idea) to find Snape (Marauders map) and say something like, "looking for your girlfriend Snivelly? She's with us tonight. Arrhooooo!!"
Snape would leg it to the Shrieking Shack, just as Lupin transformed, and of course James would be waiting there to be 'just in time to save Snape'.
James would spin his usual tale and just as usual be believed by DD (isn't it weird, you might ask, that Dumbles didn't even know the Marauders were animagi who let Lupin out of the shack to roam around the countryside for *years*? This tells you something about Dumbles, but it also tells you something about James' ability to lie and charm his way out of murder *just as a certain other Head Boy we could mention*!)
After this 'incident' James stages the very, *very* public Worst Memory incindent, carefully checking (canon!) that Lily is in the vicinity and at the end of that day Lily has permanently broken with her best friend and is shown as believing James' every lie. Oh, the also spewed her anger at *James*, but James is nothing but tenacious (another warning sign!)
For two years he keeps on bullying people (and especially Snape), he just hides it better. He keeps telling Lily that he 'cleaned up his act' and that she and her actions that day 'made him a better man' (again, shifting the responsibility of his own actions, "if you don't become my girlfriend/wife I might regress into my old behaviour and then it would be your fault" - warning sign!)
The rest is history.
So poor Snape, who at first congratulated himself for not being so stupid to fall for James' tricks, finds out that he has, instead, been playing to James' tune. James called every shot during the SWM incident. Snape had been so furious with Lily, listening *again* to that bastard instead of hexing his balls off and freeing him. Hadn't he warned her again and again that Potter was no good. Why did she listen to him? And how had Potter learned the Levicorpus? He had told only Lily of his new spell (Lily had, of course, shown the spell to James to prove that 'look, Sev *isn't* a Dark wizard. He makes these spells himself, you know, he doesn't learn them from the other Slytherins. He's very clever.. Look at this one..") So he lashed out in utter fury at her, calling her the one name he knows would hurt the most because he *wants* to hurt her that one time, for so betraying him (and he is immediatly sorry for doing so) and it played into James' hand.
Think of the guilt he must've felt. "If only I had.. she might not have married that bastard, she wouldn't be in this situation.." etc. etc.
I loved the bit about the photos. Now we know why Snape cried and tore that foto in Sirius' room. We also know why that letter sounded way to naive for a young, intelligent woman. We also know why Lily, for such a 'brave Gryffindor', ended up huddling pathetically, pleading for her child's life without so much as trying to accio her wand; abused women will cower, not fight.
In the end, it just comes down to two options. If James was really a nice guy, then Lily must've been a nasty golddigging bitch who dumped her poor halfblood friend so she can marry the rich jock/biggest bully on the playground. Then Snape must've been mentally disturbed for continuing to carry a torch for such a horrid girl.
Or James is really a nasty piece of work. A possible abusive husband, who only associates with people he can use and whose closest relationship is with best buddy, rebel-without-a-cause, Sirius. At least a manipulator who poisoned Lily with lies for years, who filled her head with stories about 'those Slytherins' until she believed them and discounted the stories of her friend Severus.
I suddenly find myself liking Lily again and can truly feel the tragedy of her and Sev's history.
evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
Could someone - anyone - point out where those interviews are? Maybe provide a link over to Accio Quote about where they are?
Because honestly I can't see that JKR actually likes James. I haven't seen it yet in any of her interviews, although I admit to not being nearly as familiar with some of her most recent comments, especially following her US interviews after DH was published.
Someone also suggested that JKR had never been bullied or she wouldn't sympathize with bullies (assuming she does sympathize with the Marauders). Actually, it's the opposite. She was bullied quite a bit in school. Interestingly, one newspaper article revealed that one of her refuges of choice when being bullied in school was to go to the science block and hang out. This was where her mum was working under the supervision of JKR's supposedly disliked chemistry teacher.
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
Of course, how she could include Lupin, because he died in "Harry's battle" but not include Snape who specifically died trying to get to Harry, is telling, and she clearly didn't want to see Snape as a hero as we all know.
However, I don't see this as evidence that JKR specifically sees James in a particularly good light. For that matter, I never got much impression that she saw Sirius in a great light, speaking of his prime good point as being his love for James and Harry, which is of course a good thing, but JKR spoke of that plus almost as though it was just the one thing, the main reason to appreciate him.
Any other interview evidence about her thinking James particularly great? On another thread someone mentioned JKR commenting about wanting her patronus to be a large black dog. Actually, she *wished* it would be an otter, but suspected it would be a large dog, no color specified.
Pre-DH, when I tried to search for evidence of what JKR thought of the individual Marauders, I never came up with much positive. Her comments about James always seemed pretty wishy washy as though she didn't see much to him -- the "pampered only son" and someone who was going to get killed by Voldie regardless, unlike Lily who intentionally died to try to protect Harry. She claimed to sometimes speak through Dumbledore's character to pass info along to readers, and I didn't see Dumbledore as being particularly pro-James either (not particularly cut up over his death, was he?, nor Sirius' death either). And she never put a scene in the books with James in it where he looked particularly good.
Oh, don't worry, I'm not arguing that converse -- that she thinks the world of Snape. Obviously she doesn't. But that doesn't mean she thinks particularly highly of James either.
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
MA: "How did they get together? She hated James, from what we've seen."
JKR: "Did she really? You're a woman, you know what I'm saying." [Laughter.]
http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0
When you contrast that assessment with her description of Snape ("Who on earth would want Snape in love with them, that is a very horrible idea." - 12 October, 1999; http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
The "stag" animagus form.
We all know animagus forms are intended as comments on one's inner personality: Peter the rat (traitor), Sirius the dog (faithful), so James as a stag is clearly meant to imply the nobility, beauty and grace that comes with this heraldic symbol.
I honestly think it is possible for a writer to write a character who s/he thinks is a praiseworthy person, and for the character's actual behaviour to ring warning bells for many readers. Edward Cullen is one such character, and James Potter is another.
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
During the first book, she has Dumbledore tell Harry that Snape's rivalry with James was kind of like Harry's with Draco, and that James had saved Snape's life. Perhaps JKR really thought of it in that context at the time. So when she planned James' animagus, she came up with the stag. Besides, she wanted something that she could have Lily's patronus correlate to (not that we can be sure Lily's was a doe, as that was only Harry's guess).
But by OOTP, she was writing Snape far more sympathetically and James as a great bully.
I know a number of big James fans who, when in discussions with Snape fans about the James-Snape bullying situations, would insist that by the end of the series we'd see how good James had become. Numerous James supporters over on the Lexicon Forum used to say they were sure we'd find out the Prank was partly Snape's fault, or that we'd get info in DH about how James really grew up and matured, etc. And those readers were disappointed that in DH we *didn't* find out anything good about James, but just more evidence of bullying, clear evidence that the Prank didn't make him "grow up", and then he didn't even get the heroic death everyone imagined - charging out wand in hand to take on Voldemort to save his family.
Actually, I think JKR likes her characters to be pretty flawed with very few completely "good" characters. Nor does she go with the notion that the hero has to have the ideal parents, just because readers tend to expect that if the Dursleys were so horrible, the parents must be noble and good.
JKR doesn't seem to like Snape very much, but I do think one of her biggest strengths is writing very, very believable characters. Snape wasn't going to be nearly so much affected by a "Neville" Potter or even a "Remus" Potter. Even Harry, in James' place, would never have acted the way James did. No, James *had* to be as he was, arrogant, a bully, and so on, even if he did turn out to be an Order member, die protecting his family, and father of the hero. He does have some of the trappings of a "hero" because of the other heroic aspects he's got to play in the story. On the other hand, he's believable in part -- especially as the person that drives Snape to such hatred -- only because he's such an arrogant, bullying jerk.
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
So, while I agree that the HP story shows exactly the strengths you have attributed to JKR -- how its characters are all so believable with very human strengths and flaws -- I can no longer believe it was JKR's authorial intention to write such characters as horrific manipulator Dumbledore or arrogant jerk James Potter.
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
And as for Edward I also got warning bells. I have been viewing “twilight sucks” and “I hate twilight” communities on LJ, because I thought that I was the only one that didn’t find Edward praise worthy, and glad to see that others saw what I saw.
Side note: I read an essay that said does mate with bucks and stags mate with hinds. I just mention it because I find it kind of funny.
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?
Re: evidence that JKR wants us to view James well?