Snape, Sirius and the End of the Series(Long)

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 69778

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "linlou43" <linlou43 at y...> 
wrote:
>   
>   No matter what your opinion of Snape it is becoming clear as we 
> reach the latter portion of the series that his character is going 
> to be all but impossible to resolve within the confines of the 
world 
> he currently lives by the end of book seven. Whether you hate him 
> or love him, think he's complex or cruel, think he's a good guy or 
> ESE, this is not his story and as such there is no way (IMO) he can 
> find personal resolution in just the two books we have remaining in 
> the series. As a result of this, I think there are only two ways 
> this character can go as the saga comes to a close. 
> 
>   I'm basing the following character progressions on the premise 
> that Snape has some very real inner pain that he needs to deal 
with. 
> Whether it is from painful childhood memories, his days as a DE, or 
> possibly things we as yet don't know about is irrelevant. Even 
those 
> who think he is just being cruel for cruelty's sake, haven't denied 
> that Snape carries around a wealth of hurt that he doesn't have a 
> clue how to deal with.
> 
>   The first is pretty basic. Once Voldemort is defeated, Snape 
> simply leaves. The problem with this scenario is that although it 
> may give Snape the space and time he needs to heal his inner 
demons, 
> it would not satisfy the reader's need for closure. 

Is that important?  It's Harry's story, after all, not Snape's.  As a 
fan of Sirius, my need for closure in this character's death has not 
been met.  Granted, maybe more information will be forthcoming in the 
next two books that will deal with that.  If not, my closure is not 
dealt with.  And, perhaps this is a cautionary lesson for the Snape 
fans out there - you might not get closure, either, should JKR decide 
to kill off Snape.

I know I would 
> not be satisfied with a few lines in an epilogue chapter telling me 
> that Snape went to live alone in the woods for ten years, found 
> himself, and lived happily ever after. No matter what happens in 
the 
> next two books, Snape is going to need healing time and there just 
> isn't going to be enough page space for us to share that with him. 

You're absolutely right. Get over it.  I'm not satisfied with "Sirius 
gets hit with a curse.  Goes through the veil."   But, that's my 
problem. Again, it's not Snape's story. Whether he heals or not is 
immaterial to the plots of "Harry Potter and the_______Whatever" 
Books 6 and 7.
> 
>    The second is, I think, more plausible (IMO) from both the 
> writer's and the readers' POV- Snape must die before the end of 
book 
> seven in order to bring closure to both him and the readers.
    Let me say that I am not a Snape hater. I am trying to explain in 
> what manner I would be most comfortable with (note the wording-I 
did 
> not say be happy about) the character's personal developement being 
> resolved. I also should say I did not cry when Sirius died. It was 
> not that I didn't like the character- I did. It was not that I 
> couldn't see what that would mean for Harry- I could. What it does 
> mean is that I saw it as a resolution of the character that I could 
> be comfortable with. I know it left a lot of people feeling that, 
> along with a lot of other things, a huge story arc had been taken 
> away. It was seen as a robbery of the character's potential. But 
> this is Harry's story- not Sirius's story. In the same way, it is 
> not Snape's story either.
> 
>    That said, Snape has become a central character, especially, it 
> seems, to adult readers. He is the character that inspires the most 
> passion, both in emotion as well as argument and well he should. 
The 
> character is beautifully written. Puzzles of the human condition 
> intrigue us and if Snape is nothing else he is an enigma in 
> wonderful proportions. The problem with character resolution in 
this 
> case is that Snape is also an enigma to himself and again I assert 
> that there is not enough page room left for him to solve it to 
> either his, or our, satisfaction.

I only hope that there is a resolution regarding Snape, even though I 
don't like him, have never liked him, but think he is an integral and 
intriguing character in the books. However, I came away from Sirius' 
death with such a feeling of incompleteness that I fear the same fate 
might await Snape.  He might simply be sacrificed for the story line.

Now, Snape is in a different league that Sirius in that he has been 
in all of the books.  He's had  a lot of face time. So, perhaps that 
will make JKR deal with him in a more detailed and complete way, 
which I find lacking in Sirius' death. 

> > 
>        Right up until the page on which it happened I did not see 
> the death of Sirius coming. I missed all the foreshadowing for it 
> throughout OOP and I'm actually glad I did. It made the moment more 
> meaningful for me. In hindsight, I completely understand the choice 
> JKR made. Once I got past the initial reaction of "poor Harry" in 
> realtion to the loss of his godfather, I realized that JKR did the 
> only thing she could do. Bluntly put, from a storytelling 
> standpoint, Sirius was in the way. I don't mean he was in the way 
of 
> Harry's developement as a character. I mean he was in the way of 
JKR 
> being able to tell Harry's story in any kind of succint manner and 
> still give closure to his (Sirius's) character.

I'm not sure I understand your point here. Are you saying that, since 
Sirius is a minor character in relation to Harry that his story would 
be too complex to deal with within the confines of the books, so that 
the only course JKR had was to kill him off?  I have to repeat my 
comments from above - there was no real closure to Sirius' death.  
Sure, it's convenient to get him off the stage. But, I don't see the 
connection of how the death gives closure to Sirius' character.  It 
simply removes an active player from the board.  Why do you think 
that Snape's ultimate fate will be any more detailed, or fit into a 
nice, neat resolution?

 Again, there just 
> isn't enough page space. As central as Harry felt Sirius was to his 
> life, he was really a fringe character. This enabled JKR to do what 
> she did so far from the end of the series. Sirius's character was 
> never pertinent to the outcome of the central storyline, but his 
> death still had a profound effect on the main charcter. 

Well, I'm hoping to see evidence of that.  Certainly we get 
inferences of Harry's grief over the death.  I'll be interested to 
see how this plays out in the next book.  This has to have an affect 
on Harry, much more so than the guilty feelings he had in OoP about 
Cedric's death.  If this is glossed over, I'll be highly annoyed. And 
the only reason I worry about that is that there was very little 
acknowledgment made to Harry by all the adults around him in OoP 
about how painful this death was to him. It was very much glossed 
over. 

Marianne