(Was) Why I Hate Snape / Now - WHY I LOVE SNAPE!!!

[C M]

No: HPFGUIDX 68391

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

>"Perhaps not children, because they have not trully had time to live 
yet, but mature adults who have experienced more of life have, and 
they are the one's who can relate to his character the most."<

I find this remark kind of odd (and potentially offensive), but I'm 
simply going to respond by stating that I am not a child and, 
although I'm not Snape's "age," I have experienced a decent amount of 
life and I neither like nor relate to him. Do I *understand* him? 
Yes. But I don't relate to him at all.

>"Also, he is the most intelligent, complicated and mysterious 
character in the books."<

I'm not sure if you're stating this as an opinion or a fact, but if 
it's the latter, I have to strongly disagree. For the record, I don't 
think any one character in the HP-verse is the most *anything*, which 
is part of why I like the books so much. In my opinion, Dumbledore, 
Sirius, Lupin and even Hermione could give him a serious run for his 
money in the category of "intelligent, complicated and mysterious 
characters".

>"Think of the difficult life he has had, and of the difficult life 
he is still living. It's amazing that he's managed to keep himself 
safe and alive for as long as he has, and this is only becuase he is 
cunning enough to do so."<

It's entirely possible that I'm guilty of selective memory, but I 
can't really think of much evidence to support the claims made above. 
Have we been told or shown that his life is very difficult? His 
childhood was, sure, but he's certainly not the only person to come 
from an unhappy, potentially abusive home. He's also not the only kid 
who was teased and tormented by his peers. I'll concede that whatever 
he's doing for the Order can't be without danger, but the attack on 
Mr. Weasley would indicate that they are *all* putting themselves in 
danger, so I don't think he necessarily deserves special marks until 
JKR sees fit to tell me just what it is that he's doing.

I will say this: Even though I'm not a fan of Snape, I do not think 
that he's evil. I don't think he's playing both sides and/or planning 
to screw over the Order in some way or anything like that. JKR stated 
that people shouldn't think he's too "nice" and I think it's 
important to note her choice of words. There's a difference between 
being "nice" and being "good" (Oooh. Had an "Into the Woods" 
flashback there). I do think he's one of the good guys. And I did 
feel a swell of sympathy for him in the Pensieve memory. Until he 
called the one person who came to his aid a "mudblood." There ended 
any and all of my "poor Snape"-ing.

-CM, who's finding the Great Snape Debate very reminiscent of the 
Spike Wars on the Buffy boards (and, not surprisingly, finding 
herself on the same side).