Sirius Black Sheep

[sistermagpie]

Happy birthday millefioriI was reading a thread on HP4GU today--naturally a long-running thread that I think started with the question of Dumbledore's placing Harry with the Dursleys and it echoed Sirius' life in a weird way for me, in a Meta-way. It started as a conversation about just what business it was of Dumbledore's to decide who Harry lived with.

Comments

[seductivedark]

You know, I never thoguht about it, but Sirius doesn't seem to have had that infamous Second Chance. James, yes. And, James was the one to save Snape. Peter? Not too sure about him, he saw his opportunity and grabbed it running. It could very well be that Dumbledore didn't trust Sirius that much with the adult things in life. The Prank, at an age when young wizards are supposed to be settling down to be serious about life, was perhaps some indication to Dumbledore about Sirius's state at the time?

And, yes, Sirius is the one who broke away from his WW family, and is the one who suffers alone. Even Draco's got his family to lean on, as we find in HBP.

The Black brothers, pointless deaths, remembered marginally in passing as other deaths are revered. Quite a fall for the noble House of Black, and all of the stock dear Mama put into it.

[sistermagpie]

I am pretty drawn to the whole House of Black in so many ways--and somehow the parallel deaths of the two sons is perfect. It's kind of twice as sad that they were so isolated from each other, but were really alike. They both had reputations that really what they were.

I don't get any particular vibe about Dumbledore feeling anything about Sirius, to be honest. I mean, it seems more like a plot thing, that Sirius just wasn't important in a way that related to Dumbledore. But you can't help but think further about that and wonder, you know?

[sistermagpie]

Heh--the Marauders are so awesome that way.:-) This is why I don't get when people think it's weird to see them as both tragic heroes and total jerks because that's the whole thing with them! They're such an object lesson in what happens when you're sort of not challenged as a teenager in terms of having to really face who you are. Maybe James did...but I don't know about that.

[jodel_from_aol]

Ah. Sysiphus Black. Yes.

[myfatbudgie]

"Sirius kept on flying high & crashing stupid & going full circle again and again, never growing up."

****He went to prison at age 21-22, and when he got out he was either on the run or cooped up at Grimmauld Place. When would he have matured? Most people's brains don't develop their full capacity for logic, reason, and behavior inhibition until about 21 years of age, and for some people, it's as late as 25 years of age. He did well considering what awful family role models he had. In fact, I'd say all of his moral guidance came from James. If he'd lived in a country that wasn't at war, he might have died around the same age due to recklessness, but he would have had a lot of success before that. I consider him a casualty of his times and his combination of good and bad qualities.

[myfatbudgie]

I inferred from the "Sirius kept flying high and 'crashing stupid'" part of your sentence that you felt Sirius was responsible for the way things turned out because when most people say that an intelligent person is doing something stupid, they generally mean because an intelligent person is choosing to be stupid/not using his brains. They don't generally take into account emotional factors. I'm basing this on conversations I've had in RL and online. Anyway, that's why I reacted as I did

[sistermagpie]

I inferred from the "Sirius kept flying high and 'crashing stupid'" part of your sentence that you felt Sirius was responsible for the way things turned out because when most people say that an intelligent person is doing something stupid, they generally mean because an intelligent person is choosing to be stupid/not using his brains. That's interesting--just because I took that comment in a positive way, myself. I think of Sirius as "crashing stupid" in ways that describe his circumstances--like things crash around him in ways that make things seem so futile. Like he goes after Peter and winds up in jail himself--not because he himself was so stupid but just that he winds up taking the fall. But the flying high part was important too--the guy actually did some amazing things, grown-up or no. He survived in Azkaban, broke out, hunted Peter down, remained true to his friend James, lived on the run on rats to be near Harry

[myfatbudgie]

Hm. I would have never interpreted "crashing stupid" to mean that, but okay. I just didn't understand your expression because people here don't mean the same thing by a phrase like that. ANYWAY! The important thing is, now that I know what you meant, I agree with what you meant, and the rest of your reply.

[imkalena]

I am of the mind that JKR intends her writing be read for what she means, not what she actually says.*G*

[myfatbudgie]

LOLOL! Yeah, and she has to keep giving interviews to explain what she means. I look at both what she writes and what she says in interviews; contrast and analyze those two methods of communication to see if I think she's being disingenuous in the interviews; then decide what she meant. She's certainly capable of being disingenuous through both though. (Face-palms remembering her Remus/Tonks comments.)

An explanation.

[myfatbudgie]

I mistakenly replied to Sister Magpie as though she were the one who made the original comments. I apologize. I'll explain myself

Re: An explanation.

[myfatbudgie]

Sigh. You still do feel under attack, no matter what I say, don't you? Trust me, if I attack you, you will know you've been attacked. I won't hide behind a defense of a character to do it, and I won't insinuate anything, I'll say it straight out what I think of you. You'd have to really be an ass to get me to that point. That sort of thing makes me physically ill, and I'd rather avoid someone than do that except in very limited circumstances