Loving multiple characters exclusionary? (was: Re: Hermione and Snape)

[Bernadette M. Crumb]

No: HPFGUIDX 37534


----- Original Message -----
From: "naamagatus" <naama_gat at hotmail.com>


> Naama, wondering whether you can only love Hagrid *or* Snape,
but not
> both

Well, I adore both characters.  I find both of them have a lot of
potential for character analysis and speculation because they are
both "mysterious."

By that, I mean that there are secrets in their pasts (especially
in the first book) that I ache to explore and reveal. Yeah, I'm a
nosy git, I guess! :)  They are both characters who figure
largely in Harry's life, albeit on different ends of the
emotional spectrum, and, going by the hints that JKR has given us
in the subsequent novels, they are both going to figure pretty
heavily in the final outcome--one way or another.

Perhaps the reason some people feel more inclined to love one
over the other of Snape and Hagrid has to do with whether they
prefer to explore the darker or lighter end of the moral scale.
It's very easy to see Snape as evil when we first meet him, and
it's obvious to all that Hagrid is a good guy at the first
introduction (even if he mischievously gave Dudley the pig's
tail!).  As the books go on, we find that both characters have
additional depths and secrets waiting to be discovered.  Perhaps,
though, the reason more people seem to want to know more about
Snape is because, even though he's now working on the side of
good, there's something in him that made him become a DE in the
first place, and there's frequently an allure to the darkness and
its unknowns that is seen to be lacking in the mysteries of a
"good" character.

Anyway, while I enjoy analyzing Snape, I equally enjoy analyzing
our beloved half-giant--one of these days, assuming I survive the
last three weeks of this semester--I'll write up my ideas about
Hagrid's mysteries and character and see if they make more sense
than what I've babble on about today.

Bernadette
(who is trying to reconcile muted group theory with the HP
universe as a way to keep sane while writing a research review on
the theory...)
"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no
survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value
to survival."
-- C.S. Lewis (1898-1963).