Harry's very sudden and very deep attachment to Sirius is startling at this point. I've never gotten why he switched so completely so soon.
What I think is more... not necessarily startling, but still deep while remaining not entirely logical, is Harry's attachment to James, whom he's never even known. And I think this might stem from that. Having idealized James in his mind, in missing James when he's never known him, it makes sense that Harry would so immediately attach himself to a man who showed such loyalty (there's that theme again!) to his father. Remus's loyalty isn't any less, but Sirius lends his passion to it in that scene, and that's something a young teenager is more likely to pick up on.
But JKR makes it a point to draw Remus as a detached figure in Harry's life (by always referring to him as Lupin, or as Professor Lupin, as you point out), and Sirius as a father-like figure.
A friend of mine said after reading OotP that one of the main reasons (in a literary sense) he saw for Sirius's death was that Harry had Remus and Sirius both as father-figures, and therefore it wasn't necessary to keep them both in the equation. For the reasons you've stated -- the distance that Harry seems to keep from 'Lupin' -- I don't especially agree with this. But it does make me wonder if Harry will perhaps become closer to Remus in the next books. It does actually feel a bit contrived on Rowling's part; before Sirius, Remus was slowly coming to hold a more personal position in Harry's life. It's always a little jarring for me to read the name 'Lupin' in OotP, especially when used right beside 'Sirius' because there's just not indication enough for me that Harry feels that much more formally towards his ex-professor than he does to Sirius. Anyway, I do think it would be an interesting direction for her to go in, especially since a good part of Sirius's relationship to Harry was based on Sirius's relationship to his parents, and their attachment often seemed more circumstantial than based on a true rapport between the two, which Harry and Remus seemed to have more of. Remus also never let his relationship to James/Lily serve as a conduit for developing a closer relationship to Harry. So while Sirius may have 'interrupted' that (for lack of a better word; I'm certainly not implying he was butting in where he wasn't wanted or even needed; I think he served an important purpose in Harry's life by being someone so true to James), it's possible that Harry and Remus will pick up where they left off and become closer. Spurned on, of course, by Sirius's own death.
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Date: 2004-05-25 03:30 am (UTC)What I think is more... not necessarily startling, but still deep while remaining not entirely logical, is Harry's attachment to James, whom he's never even known. And I think this might stem from that. Having idealized James in his mind, in missing James when he's never known him, it makes sense that Harry would so immediately attach himself to a man who showed such loyalty (there's that theme again!) to his father. Remus's loyalty isn't any less, but Sirius lends his passion to it in that scene, and that's something a young teenager is more likely to pick up on.
But JKR makes it a point to draw Remus as a detached figure in Harry's life (by always referring to him as Lupin, or as Professor Lupin, as you point out), and Sirius as a father-like figure.
A friend of mine said after reading OotP that one of the main reasons (in a literary sense) he saw for Sirius's death was that Harry had Remus and Sirius both as father-figures, and therefore it wasn't necessary to keep them both in the equation. For the reasons you've stated -- the distance that Harry seems to keep from 'Lupin' -- I don't especially agree with this. But it does make me wonder if Harry will perhaps become closer to Remus in the next books. It does actually feel a bit contrived on Rowling's part; before Sirius, Remus was slowly coming to hold a more personal position in Harry's life. It's always a little jarring for me to read the name 'Lupin' in OotP, especially when used right beside 'Sirius' because there's just not indication enough for me that Harry feels that much more formally towards his ex-professor than he does to Sirius. Anyway, I do think it would be an interesting direction for her to go in, especially since a good part of Sirius's relationship to Harry was based on Sirius's relationship to his parents, and their attachment often seemed more circumstantial than based on a true rapport between the two, which Harry and Remus seemed to have more of. Remus also never let his relationship to James/Lily serve as a conduit for developing a closer relationship to Harry. So while Sirius may have 'interrupted' that (for lack of a better word; I'm certainly not implying he was butting in where he wasn't wanted or even needed; I think he served an important purpose in Harry's life by being someone so true to James), it's possible that Harry and Remus will pick up where they left off and become closer. Spurned on, of course, by Sirius's own death.