Pensieve/objectivity (was:Looks aren't everything!)

[bookraptor11]

No: HPFGUIDX 86779

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> Carol:
> Actually, the memory is not revealed from Snape's point of view. 
Harry
> is not inside Snape's head, as he's inside Snake/Voldemort's in his
> dream of trying to kill Arthur Weasley. He sees Snape from the
> outside, sitting at his desk writing with his nose almost pressed
> against the parchment and again, hanging upside down with the
> Marauders laughing and taunting him. Similarly, when he's inside
> Dumbldore's memories, he sees Dumbledore himself (and sits beside
> him). He himself is actually inside the memory of the event just as 
it
> happened. In other words, a Pensieve memory is much more objective
> than a normal Muggle memory, which is necessarily subjective and
> incomplete because we remember only what we perceived, distorted by
> our own interpretation of the events. There is no interpretation in
> the Pensieve memory itself. It's only what was actually said and 
done
> from the viewpoint of a nonparticipant onlooker. Any interpretation
> must be done by the onlooker, that is, Harry, not by the objectively
> rendered event itself.
> 
> Carol, who hopes this is clear and is glad that you're learning to
> like Snape

Donna

Since a Pensieve memory is much more objective, I wonder if that's 
the main reason Dumbledore keeps one. He tells Harry in GOF that it 
helps when he has so many thoughts and memories crammed in his mind, 
and a few paragraphs later that it helps him spot patterns and links
(GOF p.597 paperback). What he doesn't tell Harry is that the 
objectivity helps him to see things as they really happened, not 
filtered through his perceptions and prejudices, making those 
patterns and links more accurate.

I wonder if Snape has used a Pensieve before, not just because of 
Harry's occlumency lessons. Perhaps Dumbledore lent him one so he 
could sort out his bad memories, seperate what's true from how he 
remembers it. Unfortunately I have a sad picture of Snape watching 
the scene Harry saw (and similar ones) over and over, feeding his 
anger, telling himself, "it's not just my viewpoint, they really were 
*total* bastards!"

Donna