The scene involves Harry and Lupin, a former teacher at the school who is also a werewolf. Lupin is married to Tonks, and Tonks is pregnant with their child. Lord Voldemort (the devil in the Harry Potter series) has risen and is taking over the Wizarding World, slaughtering all who resist, as well as many innocents. All those in the Wizarding World who don’t have the proper bloodlines are being rounded up and destroyed.
Harry and his two faithful friends, Hermione and Ron, are holed up in his godfather’s abandoned house, planning their next move. Dumbledore, the deceased school headmaster, has assigned Harry a crucial task–he needs to destroy Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes. The Horcruxes encase parts of Voldemort’s soul, and as long as they survive, Voldemort cannot be killed. Given the other casualties (Sirius Black, Mad-Eye Moody, Dumbledore, etc.) and defections to Voldemort, Lupin is one of the very few able, adult wizards available to help Harry.
Lupin has placed Tonks in a safe house under her parents’ protection, and has gone to Harry to offer his assistance with the project. Harry instead berates him for “abandoning” Tonks, and calls him a “coward”–language which could’ve been taken straight out of the mouths of father-bashing feminists and child support enforcement officials. Shamed, Lupin returns to Tonks and stays in the safe house with her, later gaining Harry’s (and apparently Rowling’s) approval.
This is absurd. Voldemort is winning, and there are few experienced Wizards left to resist him. If Harry does not succeed in the mission to which the late Dumbledore has assigned him, Voldemort will reign supreme, resulting in the deaths of millions. Lupin volunteers to put his life on the line to help Harry and is instead supposed to stay holed-up with Tonks while the fate of their world hangs in the balance. For offering to help Harry, he’s a “coward”?
Harry successfully shames him into returning to Tonks, and Lupin (more or less) sits things out there while the decisive struggle against Voldemort and his forces is being waged.
In addition to being reminiscent of standard modern father-bashing, the scene also brings to mind the famous incident involving then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2000, around the birth of his child. His wife, Cherie Blair, publicly shamed her husband into taking paternity leave to help her care for their baby.
Now, I’m a long-time supporter of dads as primary caregivers, and I recommend it whenever possible. I was a stay-at-home dad for the first three years of my daughter’s life (from the time she was six weeks old), and the time we spent together then was absolutely the greatest experience of my life. But Tony Blair had more important things to do–he had a country of 60 million people to run, and countless people depending on him. I think it’s unfortunate that it wasn’t politically possible for him to say he had more important things to do than take paternity leave.
www.GlennSacks.com, Glenn Sacks
Loading ...
3 users commented in " Harry Potter and Deadbeat Dads "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackwell that’s a pretty narrow-minded way of seeing things. Harry was speaking from his own experience, growing up without having both parents there.. he cares about Lupin deeply and Tonks as well, and wants their child to have a better family situation than he did.
I think you need to read that scene again. Yes it’s stunning that Harry, in his most desparate hour, would refuse the help of someone like Lupin. But, he had good reason for refusing. He knew plenty of families would be broken up before his adventure was over. I also think he didn’t want to be some excuse for Lupin walking out on his family, which lets face it, that’s what he was. Lupin was came looking for a reason, any reason, to escape his own problems, and Harry didn’t want to be it.
And let’s not forget that Harry took time when the whole thing was over to wonder if he overreacted. He even asked himself if he had reacted the way if father would. I don’t think this is some cloak and dagger insult to deadbeat parents but rather a show of the panic and chaos that the situation was causing to the other characters of the novel. I think also it was a way to keep Lupin and his family “in the loop” so to speak, to that his death at the end would be more powerful.
Um, I think you missed something.
Harry called Lupin a coward because of Lupin’s REASON for wanting to help Harry. Lupin was afraid, as a werewolf, that he would hurt Tonks and their son. He was running AWAY from his family not toward fighting the battle. Helping Harry was just an excuse.
And Lupin did not go off into a safe house. Both he AND Tonks were killed in the final battle, where they fought bravely alongside one another - leaving their tiny baby without parents.
Lupin and Tonks were anything but cowards and Teddy should be proud to have them as parents - the only sad part is that he never got to know them (just like Harry).
Leave A Reply