[HPforGrownups] Re: Crushes on characters/ Why Snape appeals

[shane dunphy]

No: HPFGUIDX 48044




Ezzie wrote:
>"If you're a Snape fan, ask yourself when the inclinations (obsession?) 
>began."

Me:
Obsession?  Oh dear, I hope not.
First off, I'm a straight male.  I am a very committed Snape fan, and I have 
to admit, this thread has given me serious pause for thought.  Why do I like 
Snape?  He is painted as one of the more unpleasant characters in the canon, 
and indeed reminds me of several individuals I have had the misfortune to 
meet in reality and who I would (and do) cross the street to avoid.  So why 
do I find him so fascinating?

Well, for me it's not sexual.  If I want to get really Freudian (in response 
to all the Jungian analysis thus far) there may be a subconscious 
homo-erotic impulse, but if there is, it's very sub-conscious.  I am drawn 
to Snape for different reasons.

Some of it may be Snape's polarity.  He is a fish out of water.  He's a man 
who is certainly in the wrong job, and he spends a great deal of time 
grappling with his own emotional issues.  He is flawed, and very obviously 
flawed.  He is distant, yet you get the impression that if he deigned to 
spend the time having a conversation with you, he would have plenty of 
interesting and insightful things to say.  He exerts a great deal of control 
over himself.  We see him losing it in PoA, but this is rare for Snape.  In 
general, he keeps the beast in it's cage, and we only see it through the 
bars.  In many ways he reminds me of a character like D'Arcy in Pride and 
Prejudice.  I think that there is something very charismatic about that 
sense of powerful control.

Now, is this anything got to do with aspects of my own life?  Well, I 
suppose that I am in some ways a fish out of water: I'm a sociologist who 
has specialised in the lives and social conventions of children, and as such 
have spent a great deal of my career as the only male member of staff among 
women (much has been made of Snape's role as Potions master - vaginal 
symbolism etc).  I have experienced prejudice from some females who assume 
that my involvement with children must be suspect, purely because of my 
masculinity.  I am also from a working class background, and the academic 
world in Ireland is very middle-class.  This too has led to prejudice.  
Growing up in Ireland, because of my British parentage and having been born 
in Brighton, I spoke with a very middle class English accent, once again 
marginalisng me and making me different.  I like to think of myself as 
controlled, but don't think that I'm *as* controlled (repressed?) as Snape.  
I do admire his intellectual brilliance, which I suppose any academic would 
aspire towards.

I think that what draws you towards a character in a book is some sense that 
the character connects in a real way with something in *you*.  There has to 
be some sense of familarity, something to identify with.  I think that what 
makes JKR such a talented writer is that the characters in HP are so real, 
so flawed, so *human* (even those that aren't 100% human!) that it's easy, 
even effortless for us to identify with them in some way or other.  There 
are times when I feel for Hagrid, who seems so needy, so child-like; times 
when I'm right there with Sirius in his anguish and lust for revenge, his 
almost adolescent need to make things better; times when I can almost share 
Lupin's exhaustion as he tries to tame the monster inside himself for yet 
another agonising month; times when I admire Dumbledore for his noble, 
gentle nature, but yet other times when I question his motives.  This is 
what makes the Potterverse so rich and vibrant, a true tapestry of human 
experience and interaction.

Shane.

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