Snape again (was Ron Sequitors)

[lea.macleod at gmx.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 16979

, Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> 
> Along those lines, I've noticed that a set of words frequently
> associated with Snape is "stepped forward." I've been meaning to go
> through the books and compile how often this particular phrasing is 
used
> for Snape, and in what settings. I think it underlines this 
perception
> of him that I've got, about the just moving on and not wasting time 
with
> recrimination.


I haven´t checked it in the books, but I got the same impression. 
There are many key scenes, mostly towards the end of the books, where 
the main characters will gather and discuss what has happened or what 
is to be done. Not unlike the Agatha Christie novels when everyone is 
in the library in the end and the detective presents his solution to 
the case...

Anyway, Snape is usually there, too, but he usually remains in the 
background until it is time for him to speak or act. And his comments 
or actions are usually quite vital to how the scene or the story will 
go on. "the parting of the ways" in GoF is the most prominent example 
for this. That´s his style. He´s like a shadow to Dumbledore. Not to 
be seen, not to be noticed, but always at hand. Which makes it 
necessary for him to "step forwards" in order to intervene.

But there is another aspect to this "stepping forwards" metaphor. He´s 
not afraid of being singled out, of being noticed, when it becomes 
necessary. Look at the GoF-scene from that point of view. Snape, in 
revealing the Dark Mark, and speaking of his DE past in front of all 
those people, was really an act of stepping out of the line, out of 
the shadows, or, to use another metaphor, of leaning out of the window 
so far that a little push from an unfriendly person would have been 
enough to make him fall.