Redemption of Anakin and other redemption stories (moved from Main)

[Carol]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "sistermagpie" <sistermagpie at ...> wrote:
>
> Alla: 
> > I also in a way find Snape's redemption from being DE to be strangely well, abstract in a same way.
> 
> Magpie:
> Or maybe the problem is that it's the opposite. I mean, Snape started out as an innocent kid who loved Lily. But then he turned into a DE who loved Lily. And then he got Lily killed, and wanted to make that up, so he did.
> 
> And that's all he did. That's why I don't really see it as redemptive. It's redemption in the most literal sense since he does pay back the crime he wanted to pay back, but it's just not a greater redemption that I can see. He continues to reject that, as we see in his relationships with other people, old and new.

Carol responds:

I'm not sure what you mean by "he continues to reject that." He doesn't want to be thought of as "weak," perhaps realizing that continuing to love a dead woman is a weakness. At any rate, he doesn't want to "wear his emotions on his sleeve" where others (especially Voldemort) can see them and manipulate them, which makes perfect sense in his position. 

It isn't just a matter of protecting Harry so that Lily won't have died in vain. He's also undermining Voldemort and doing his best to teach Potions or DADA in his own Snapish way. He protects the students in general when he has the opportunity; he cares enough about Draco to make the Unbreakable Vow for him (having already promised to kill Dumbledore for entirely humanitarian reasons), and he saves as many lives as he can. ("How many people have you watched die, Severus?" "Lately, only those whom I could not save.") He dies preventing Voldemort from knowing that Draco disarmed Dumbledore, making him the master of the sword, and his last act is to give Harry the memories that will enable him to defeat Voldemort (and understand Snape).

It's never openly stated, but his remorse seems to include his having become a DE in the first place and supported Voldemort in whatever fashion. (As far as we know, all he did was spy. He also watched people did, but there's no evidence that he ever killed anyone.)

You may find his redemption unsatisfactory, but I have no doubt that in acting courageously, continuing risking being tortured or killed, all for love (which is also Ron's and Mrs. Weasley's and Lily's primary motive), he's redeemed in JKR's eyes and Harry's--as he is in mine.

At any rate, I don't know what more we can expect from a man like Snape, who can never be nice (though he manages civility on occasion). Yes, he nurses grudges, but so do many unquestionably good characters. Yes, he wants revenge, but so do many unquestionably good characters. the primary difference between him and Harry is that Harry eventually learned, through Snape, to forgive. Snape never had that opportunity.

Carol, who wonders just what it takes to achieve redemption if years of self-endangerment to make up for our greatest sin don't accomplish that