Looks aren't everything! (was:Re: Sirius / Severus)

serious_schwartz serious_schwartz at yahoo.com
Tue Dec 9 18:40:12 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 86821

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:

> 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

Serious:
I understand your view point and those of the others who have 
written that the pensieve records and plays back a more 
objective  view of events rather than just a colored memory.  But I 
think JK is deliberately leaving some wiggle room with this plot 
device. Either because she wants to tease us, use it as an 
*a-ha!* moment at some point, or because she wants to be able 
to twist it for its most useful purpose in the future.  

I do still believe it is more of a memory than an objective viewing 
of events. Yes, Dumbledore says that the pensieve lets him 
stand back view events in their total contexts, but most of us 
learn to do that with our memories as we get older. I'm pushing 
40, and I know that I am much more able to see things from all 
points of view than I used to be.  Besides, is the mind really 
capable of taking a snapshot of events and not letting your 
thoughts and feelings filter it? That's sort of what pensieve 
means: thought filter. Although that also stands as an argument 
for it filtering out emotion... okay, better sign off now that I've 
written myself into a corner.

Serious_Schwartz, who has just found another reason to reread 
all the books.





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