One of the characters we quite
literally see constructed during the final three books is Harry’s father,
James. I think the way that he is
portrayed in the books is marvelous. I’m not saying that just to agree with
Rowling’s interpretation of who James should be in Harry’s life, but because it
balances. He is what Harry despises, and creates an uncomfortable feeling that
I love as a reader.
In the Order of the Phoenix, we see a side of James that we didn’t quite
expect. We knew that he was mischievous, but we had no idea the extent that it
went to with Snape. Everyone had always told Harry how good his dad was, and
how much he was like him. When we see that James would attack Snape for no
reason, Harry becomes conflicted, but it makes the reader conflicted as well. I
knew that Snape had hated Harry because he hated his father, but I hated James
too when I read that. James was Draco Malfoy to me in that instance. He was a
person that Harry had tried not to be for his first five years. But clearly
James had changed his ways, as Lupin said, when he got older. For that reason,
I believe it is important that Harry knows his father is not everything he
expected. These are, however, just the way Severus remembers it.
We later find out that James had
saved Severus’ life, and for that, Severus was in debt to the Potters. This I
didn’t like as much. It was something I would expect to happen, and therefore,
I thought it was almost insignificant. I think the fact that Snape loved Lily
would have been reason enough for Snape to keep a watch over Harry.
While I want to like James, I
believe that he was more worried about his pride than actually stopping dark
magic with the Order. I think the scene she painted with Snape being bullied
was absolutely essential to Harry’s development, and the fact that James saved
Snape was passable. I think the development of a character that is not alive
during the entire series is just another detail that makes her books so full of
life in our minds.
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