Snape/George....I'm not an expert...

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 35622

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., mlfrasher at a... wrote:
> >  ...his disillusionment with the DEs was not a sudden 
> epiphanous revelation, but rather, a gradual realization that
> Voldemort and his followers were evil: their motives selfish, 
their 
> means unjustified, their ends corrupt, and their assumptions just 
> plain *wrong.*  
> 
> I have a problem with theories that depict moral quandaries of 
right or 
> wrong.  If there's anything that Snape has given us in the books --
 it's a 
> nice grey area.  

The existence of gray does not preclude the existence of black and 
white.  In fact, you can't have gray at all unless you've got black 
and white first.  In any case, regardless of my own view on the 
matter, I don't think JKR is trying to present a morally 
relativistic universe in the books; I think real evil exists in the 
HP universe, and Voldemort is meant to represent it.

> Him suddenly having an epiphany, like some ray of sunshine 
> that hits him from the sky and all the sudden enlightens him, 
seems all hokey 
> to me.  
> I agree to the gradual realization that this isn't the way to 
live, 
> again through some personal threat to survival, and then realizing 
that 
> living this way is an isolated and horrible life.  

I'm all for lack of epiphanies (George nods enthusiastically from 
the sidelines), but the idea that Snape's defection from the DEs was 
based on the purely pragmatic realization that there's nothing in it 
for him doesn't work for me.  I don't think it would've served to 
win Dumbledore's trust and regard -- I think Dumbledore would've had 
to see evidence of sincere moral repentance on Snape's part before 
he cut any deals.  Plus, on purely aesthetic grounds, I just find it 
less interesting to reduce Snape's motives to mere survivalism; it 
removes much of that "principle vs inclination" tension that makes 
the character so fascinating for me.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com