[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape's oily hair

[Amanda]

No: HPFGUIDX 37145

Porphyria appeared in a blinding flash of light and intoned

Snape strikes me as someone who is *in mourning* and his irritability, bouts
of rage and disdain for keeping a tidy appearance all express the same
mental state. I think that idea ties in perfectly well with what we know of
the Potterverse wherein nearly all of the adult characters are still
traumatized in some way by the past and Dumbledore is practically the only
person who can say "Voldemort" out loud. This is a society of people who
have failed to recover. And Snape has fairly personal reasons to be in
mourning; regardless of whether he's more grief-stricken at the loss of the
Potters or his own fellow housemates, his generation was decimated. Not to
mention his depression and self-hatred from whatever past actions he blames
himself for.

*blink*
*blink*
::sits very still as great wave of This Feels Right washes over and soaks
in:::
Of course.
::goes off to find a hat to tip at Porphyria::
I may be losing more brain cells than I'm aware of, but I don't think anyone
has ever put it in quite this way, or quite this light. I think you've
snagged more than a bit of the truth here. *Brilliant* bit of looking up to
recognize the forest when the rest of us are huddled over debating the types
of trees, leaves, and mulch we've found.

Can I forward your post to the Snapefans list, please, which is currently
languishing in a cyclical bout of denigrating the closed-minded book-burner
types?

--Amanda, truly impressed to read something new under the sun on Snape, and
really wishing she'd thought of that.