He, as always, did what he had to do, took the risks unflinchingly, and sacrificed in the name of Harry Potter surviving.
That's right, and until I read JKR's remarks, I thought there was a theme of day-to-day coping with life being heroic. Molly Weasley is the best example of that, and JKR has mentioned her various times since DH came out.
The problem we all have is that we know Snape went back time after time to face Voldemort and his horrible followers such as Greyback. James actually "faced" Voldemort once, and died. The other times are hazy. The three "acts of defiance," whatever they were, were not enough for James to fear Voldemort enough to make Dumbledore the SK.
I find it fascinating that when JKR talks about "bullying" she usually talks about Voldemort or Peter, and completely ignores her own scenes of the Marauders. There was one rare occasion on her Official Site when she said that Sirius treated Snape and Kreacher badly, and that came back in DH when Hermione said the same thing. So we know what she thought of Sirius, but what about James? She never talks about SWM, though we see it again in DH - it must be important to her, yet she ignores it.
I have the impression that because she knew what James meant to Harry that she tip-toed around the fact that James is a worse bully than Sirius. There is no excuse for the way he treats Snape, and there is no evidence that he came from a "dark" wizarding family, since he wants to be in Gryffindor, just as Hermione and Ron did. Why did she make James a parallel to Draco in so many ways, only to gloss it over in her interviews? One reason comes to mind - no one has asked her about it at all. Why don't they?
I'm still sorting out in my mind just what JKR's purpose was in giving Harry an oldest son named James who also taunts and bullies his younger brother A. Severus. *eyeroll* I love the book, too, and I even like the epilogue, but there is a lack of resolution about Harry's feelings towards James that bothers me. Maybe when Ginny tells young James that he really is "like Ron," then we are supposed to think that James was just a goof who meant no harm to anyone, and Lily was another forgiving Hermione.
But it doesn't work because Severus is such a sympathetic sad character, and James was a privileged, spoiled boy.
That's right, and until I read JKR's remarks, I thought there was a theme of day-to-day coping with life being heroic. Molly Weasley is the best example of that, and JKR has mentioned her various times since DH came out.
The problem we all have is that we know Snape went back time after time to face Voldemort and his horrible followers such as Greyback. James actually "faced" Voldemort once, and died. The other times are hazy. The three "acts of defiance," whatever they were, were not enough for James to fear Voldemort enough to make Dumbledore the SK.
I find it fascinating that when JKR talks about "bullying" she usually talks about Voldemort or Peter, and completely ignores her own scenes of the Marauders. There was one rare occasion on her Official Site when she said that Sirius treated Snape and Kreacher badly, and that came back in DH when Hermione said the same thing. So we know what she thought of Sirius, but what about James? She never talks about SWM, though we see it again in DH - it must be important to her, yet she ignores it.
I have the impression that because she knew what James meant to Harry that she tip-toed around the fact that James is a worse bully than Sirius. There is no excuse for the way he treats Snape, and there is no evidence that he came from a "dark" wizarding family, since he wants to be in Gryffindor, just as Hermione and Ron did. Why did she make James a parallel to Draco in so many ways, only to gloss it over in her interviews? One reason comes to mind - no one has asked her about it at all. Why don't they?
I'm still sorting out in my mind just what JKR's purpose was in giving Harry an oldest son named James who also taunts and bullies his younger brother A. Severus. *eyeroll* I love the book, too, and I even like the epilogue, but there is a lack of resolution about Harry's feelings towards James that bothers me. Maybe when Ginny tells young James that he really is "like Ron," then we are supposed to think that James was just a goof who meant no harm to anyone, and Lily was another forgiving Hermione.
But it doesn't work because Severus is such a sympathetic sad character, and James was a privileged, spoiled boy.
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