"Silly Little Girl" (was The Potters)

[karenkyla3 <karenkyla3@aol.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 53093

 This, imo, means
> > there was a strong relationship between Snape and Voldemort that
> > they go about saying the same things.  I, for one, after hanging
> > out with a friend for a long time, start using some of the same
> > phrases they use.  
> 
> > Could this be the same for Snape and Voldemort?  


I have often wondered at Snape's motivations and have always had the 
haunting supsicion that perhaps his envy extends beyond his position 
at Hogwarts.  I've been getting the vibe that Snape was envious not 
just of James, but of the marauder group.  Maybe, just maybe, Snape 
was the introspective outsider who desperately wanted to be part of a 
peer group (the marauders) and because he was resentful, not only not 
to belong, but also of their taunting treatment of him, he by all 
appearances despised them.  Taken a step further, this is the 
pathology for the Manson Girls - an adolescent with low self-esteem 
who is taunted by his appears while desperately wanting to belong is 
picked up by an evil matermind who provides the acceptance and 
comraderie he longs for.  This could very well be why Dumbledore is 
sympathetic to his plight.  Snape at some point probably woke up and 
realized he wasn't going to get the love he was seeking from where he 
was and if that love he was longing for was extended by Dumbledore 
then all the more reason to disregard Voldemort.  It would also 
explain why Dumbledore indulges Snape so much in Snape's resentment 
of the marauders and by extension Harry.  

Which kind of ties into something else I noticed.  Recently I had 
been studying the history of the Quakers, a religious sect who 
believe, among other things, in the absolute supremacy of pacifism - 
that one should always build bridges to others and never erect walls 
of resentment leading to war.  That stuck in my mind in the intial 
book when Draco offers friendship to Harry before the sorting 
ceremony.  Granted, he was offering it while simultaneously attacking 
Ron.  However, in that moment Harry made an enemy of Draco.  He could 
have countered Draco with any number of things but what he said at 
that moment created an immediate and irreversible wall between the 
two characters.  It was at that moment that they became enemies.  
While we cannot expect Harry at his age to have thought this through 
and responded in a more sophisticated way that might have bridged the 
gap while standing up for Ron at the same time (many adults would be 
hard-pressed to accomplish this, including myself), it is the 
defining and pivotal point in creating sides in his generation with 
regard to this conflict.  I wonder if this was the case in Snape's 
schoolyears as well with the marauders.  I could see him offering a 
rather backhanded offer of friendship and getting a similar response 
from Sirious or the others.  While this conflict began with 
Voldemort, it appears to continue through each generation with many 
parallels.  imho, this could be another one....  thoughts?

Stacey