Snape's and Black's grudges;Snape vs. Black

[Ev vy]

No: HPFGUIDX 28375


From: <MMMfanfic at hotmail.com>
> Then it became common knowledge the narrator mentioned in every 
> single book and the narrator never ask Snape whether he wants the 
> DADA job.
> 
> If Professor Luke is lurking around (gosh I like how that sound!), I 
> have a question:
> 
> Can a narrator supply misinformation like that?  Is it Authorial 
> Misinformation if it turns out that Snape doesn't want the job? Who's 
> point of view is it when the Narrator said something like that?  It 
> doesn't sound like Harry's PoV.  I guess it could be Harry's PoV of 
> everybody's opinion.

*delurking* I'm no Professor Luke, but I suppose I can supply you with the answer. Of course, that a narrator can do such a thing. First, because the narrator in the HP books is not omniscient, books are written from Harry's PoV and the narrator can relate only what Harry hears or sees (I'm not sure if there's another PoV, surfacing from time to time, I suppose I should re-read HP again). Percy's revelation is a kind of open secret at Hogwarts. Everybody knows that Snape wants DADA job, so this is one of the most relevant information about this teacher (for the students and that's why Percy gives the information to Harry). Second, the times of omniscient narrator have ended with the arrival of modernism. And now the authors play with PoVs, and so does JKR. GoF begins with a scene which Harry is not able to witness personally, so to be consequent, JKR uses the means of a dream to allow Harry to see what had happened.

> >Which leads to the question: Why does
> > Percy think Snape wants to be DADA teacher?
> That's been bothering me as well.  May be it's one of those old 
> school rumours being turned into an article of faith and nothing can 
> be done to dispel them.  Every school has them, they are passed on 
> from one generation to the next.  My old school has many but the best 
> one is that our uniform used to be bright yellow from top to bottom.  
> No one can verify it but we all know it to be true.  So may be it's 
> the same in Hogwarts

I'm not sure, but I'd say that Quirrell might have been a teacher before Harry's arrival at Hogwarts. It's not said anywhere (please, correct me if I'm wrong) that Quirrell begins to teach when Harry begins to attend Hogwarts. Therefore, as Snape's antipathy is so visisble (and maybe the students liked Quirrell) the students sipmly assume that Snape is after DADA job. Or, there was another teacher who was as incompetent as Quirrell or Lockahrt and Snape wasn't particularly fond of him/her. There is still another possibility, namely that either Snape or someone from the staff/students has spread this rumor on purpose. I haven't got a clue what the purpose would be, but it's plausible. It's said that every open rumor has some truth to it, but not the one spread on purpose.

And so as to liking Snape and Black.
I liked Snape from the very beginning, he's my favorite character, as IMHO he's one of three best-constructed characters in the whole series. The remaining two are Dumbledore and Lupin. But Snape is a real mystery and that's why he's so attractive (OK, I think he's attractive anyway). After reading PoA I began to like Black very much but after a while I stopped, not enirely, but I don't like him as much as before. My musings on the events from the Shrieking Shack brought me to conlcusion that:
1. OK, Sirius was a prisoner, etc. but he's still a Gryffindor (sorry for a cliche) so he might be hot-headed and acting before thinking but his hatred towards Snape is somewhat out of place.
2. Snape is a Slytherin, cunning and faithful to the rule that end justifies the means, so he'd do anything to put Black back to prison and reveal Lupin's compromising relations with Black.

Therefore, Snape is for me someone who acts consequently and level-headedly, while Black is acting upon an impulse, and that's tha main reason why I like Snape better. It was possible for me to like them both, but there was also the factor of fanfiction which has greatly influenced my antipathy for Black.

And that's all folks from a newbie!

Ev vy
who's a rabid shipper in fanon, but no-shipper in canon
who's so fascinated with HP that she decided to write her MA thesis on literature for children and should be doing this now but prefers to spend some time on interesting discussions

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There's nothing level in our cursed natures
But direct villainy.
      William Shakespeare "Timon of Athens"
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