Effect of circumstances (re: Snape / Dumbledore / Lex Luthor)

[juli17 at aol.com]

Dina wrote:

<< I know, I know... Snape is not a nice person  but it's also the
wondering, if circumstances had been different, he *may*  have been
nice. >>

 
Catlady wrote:
 
I can't imagine any sets of circumstances in which Snape would  have
grown up to be *nice* to any people except the ones he *likes*  --
maybe Draco, maybe Narcissa, was the way he interacted with those  two
in HBP 'nice'? But being less venomously cruel to the ones  he
*dislikes* and less mildly cruel to ones he doesn't care about one  way
or the other...
 
Julie now:
I don't know about that. It depends on how *different* those  circumstances
were. What if Snape was raised by Dumbledore (say Snape's parents 
died, and Dumbledore is his great-uncle or something). So he doesn't
experience what we assume to be unhappily married parents, as well
as an abusive? disapproving father. He learns a different way of  relating
to people because of lifelong exposure to Dumbledore. He learns to 
wash his hair frequently and use an "anti-grease" charm on it. He 
starts Hogwarts not knowing 1001 Dark curses, not having spent 
a vast amount of time alone in his room, not being singled out as
"ugly" (having silky, manageable tresses instead of greasy, slimy
hanks of hair, yummm...) or weird (having at least a clue  about the
social niceties), thus he does not become the target and foe of the
Mauraders, even if he is sorted into Slytherin. 
 
I'm not saying Snape would become a cheerful Dumbledore clone!
He probably would still be a bit of a loner, and have a snarky way
about him. But perhaps that snarkiness would be merely dry humor
rather than cruelty. And presumably he'd have a better self-image, 
having been praised for his abilities and talents, thus easing his 
driving thirst for overt acknowledgement and recognition, and  his
intolerance for anything that diverts from his own perspective.
 
While Snape's core personality might not change--he's introverted,
intense, logical, orderly--how he expresses it *is* influenced by his
youthful environment (I believe). It's that whole nature/nurture  thing,
and it's never just one or the other, but a combination of both.
 
Julie 
(thinking Tom Riddle would have been a different person too, if he'd
grown up in the Weasley family, for example)

 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]