Hm. See, I always feel that when we discuss these characters we do it mostly on the basis on a very subjective interpretation. In fact, I use the phrase 'subjective interpretation' so often, I am getting sick of it. But it's true.
We don't know how the relationship between James and Peter developed. Peter might have been a stalker, but in case James found him repulsive from the very beginning, he shouldn't have let him in into the group as far as he did. If they didn't want Peter around, why did they help him become an Animagus? The moment they accepted him as part of their group, they took on responsibility.
The Peter we see in OotP is not the sort of friend I would like to have around, so I understand that you consider him a stalker.
A stalker, by contrast, reads far too much into the beloved's tiniest gesture and imagines a strong relationship when in fact little or no mutual affection exists.
As I said, letting him in as part of the group, sharing secrets (to which extent we don't know) with him, were gestures of, if not of affection, so of acceptance.
The abused-wife issue is a difficult one. There are certainly those who, as you say, want that love back again, blinding [themselves] to the present cruelty for the sake of past memories. But some relationships are abusive from the very beginning. An abusive man doesn't beat his wife because he stopped loving her, but because beating is his response to all conflicts. And the reason why the abused woman lets him is not necessarily that he wants his love back, but because she believes he really loves her, deep down, but he can't show it. Or that she deserves being beaten, because she has annoyed him. Or - and this is where I drew the parallel to Peter - that he will stop beating her if only she does her best to please him.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-07-14 09:28 am (UTC)We don't know how the relationship between James and Peter developed. Peter might have been a stalker, but in case James found him repulsive from the very beginning, he shouldn't have let him in into the group as far as he did. If they didn't want Peter around, why did they help him become an Animagus? The moment they accepted him as part of their group, they took on responsibility.
The Peter we see in OotP is not the sort of friend I would like to have around, so I understand that you consider him a stalker.
A stalker, by contrast, reads far too much into the beloved's tiniest gesture and imagines a strong relationship when in fact little or no mutual affection exists.
As I said, letting him in as part of the group, sharing secrets (to which extent we don't know) with him, were gestures of, if not of affection, so of acceptance.
The abused-wife issue is a difficult one. There are certainly those who, as you say, want that love back again, blinding [themselves] to the present cruelty for the sake of past memories. But some relationships are abusive from the very beginning. An abusive man doesn't beat his wife because he stopped loving her, but because beating is his response to all conflicts. And the reason why the abused woman lets him is not necessarily that he wants his love back, but because she believes he really loves her, deep down, but he can't show it. Or that she deserves being beaten, because she has annoyed him. Or - and this is where I drew the parallel to Peter - that he will stop beating her if only she does her best to please him.