[HPforGrownups] Re: Why Readers Love Snape (long)

[Allen, Rebecca]

No: HPFGUIDX 33524

Dicentra wrote:

> So if Snape isn't as bad as he seems to be, why is he this bad at all?
>  It would seem that he has already been "redeemed" once by abandoning
> the Death Eaters, so there's no point in setting him up for a second
> redemption. For a redeemed character, he's still pretty rotten.  

<snip Sirius counter-example> 
> With Snape, what can we find out to change how we see his bad
> behavior?  His bad treatment of Harry is genuine, not misunderstood
> good behavior. Even if it turns out that LOLLIPOPS is correct, mean is
> still mean. 
> 
> No, Snape's bad side is genuinely bad. JKR might insist on this to
> conceal something else, but I really can't see him being redeemed a
> second time.

I wanted to contribute my remarks about Snape's possible 'redemption' because I think it's a little complicated. 

On the one hand I agree that Snape might not need redemption a la evil-to-good because it would seem that he already got that a long time ago. In this case, his future 'redemption' would occur in the mind of Harry or the reader when we find out more about what motivates him, about which we know nothing at all. 

Sirius got a chance to tell his side of his story. This vindicated him for both stuff he was innocent of (e.g. he really didn't betray the Potters or kill Peter) and for stuff that he did do that seemed terrible at the time but was sort of understandable in retrospect. Like breaking Ron's leg -- I could forgive someone their violent rampage if I found out they'd been imprisoned for 12 years for someone else's crime. 

Snape, on the other hand, also has a story that no one is willing to tell. OK, it is possible that he's simply an insecure, jealous, cruel person, but I think there is a ton of possibility for the reader to see things differently when his back story or his current point of view is revealed. His bad behavior certainly appears bad, but it could be misunderstood as well -- Harry consistently misunderstands Snape anyway, so we have an established theme here. And I agree with Pippin that JKR is being coy in talking about Snape; she's not keen on giving too much away prior to future books, so she has to stick with his 'horrible' depiction until she writes more.

*OTOH* concerning his 'redemption' --

One of the things that intrigues me the most about Snape is that it's quite possible that he still feels he needs to redeem himself for his DE days even if he's been on the side of good for 15+ years. What really struck me about the 'pajama party' scene is that Snape really acts like he's guilt-stricken. He nearly has a breakdown when fake!Moody accuses him of still being untrustworthy; in 1500 pages this is the only time he blushes.

This brings me to my Snape theory (yeah, you knew this was coming). I think after he decided to turn against the DE's he wound up feeing terrible about whatever it was he did do while he was really with them and he became obsessed with the idea of doing something important to redeem himself. If he was the spy who uncovered the plot to kill James and Harry then you could see how he might consider this his big chance to make up for his past, not just because he owed James a favor but since everyone else loved James so much then saving his life would be construed as really heroic. But then something went horribly wrong (thanks to Sirius, he believed) and James wound up dead anyway and whatever credit there was to take was taken by Harry. I think Snape gets so irrational around Harry because Harry reminds him of his guilt, regrets and failure to really help James when he had the chance. And I think he hates James because James up and died. This would also explain why Snape is al!
ways running into the middle of dangerous situations to try to fix them; he's still trying to make up for his past and he still winds up being mistrusted and misunderstood for all his efforts. I think he's a terribly sympathetic character even with all his flaws.

Also, I don't think anything 'drove' Snape into joining the DE's in the first place. He might have had family already DE's and he just thought that was *who he was* and it wasn't until later that he realized he could decide on a different course of action (i.e. the moral of the whole story).

And I'm afraid I'm not a LOLLIPOPS believer (sorry! please consider me your loyal opposition), but I do agree with all your premises that it seems like the books are leading up to a bombshell revelation about what's really eating Snape. We shall see.

The long-winded Rebecca (who, thanks to LesAJa, has spent the whole evening picturing Snape with ringlets)


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