What's in it for Snape? Finding motive...

[bobbi_ma]

No: HPFGUIDX 97155

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" <vmonte at y...> wrote:
> What motivates Snape?  Is he really working for the Order, 
> Voldemort, or himself? Is he good, bad, or neither? 
> 
> I have a bad feeling about Snape -- I just can't help it.  He had a 
> miserable childhood, was picked on in school, yet, instead of 
> learning how not to be, he grows up to become a teacher who bullies 
> his students.  (Harry also had a miserable childhood, and was 
bullied 
> by Dudley; yet, he is able to feel compassion for others.) 
> 
> Harry is capable of having friends, yet, Snape cannot.


Harry's situation is very different, though. His time of being 
bullied has been left behind him. He has a new life in a place where 
he's very popular and is hailed by most as the saviour of the 
wizarding world, and he knows he doesn't have to put up with it any 
more -- by OotP his fear of Dudley has turned into a sort of scorn. 
His confidence borders on arrogance now.
Also, when Dudley was picking on him, he wasn't even eleven. He was 
quite young then, but Snape grew into an adult being bullied, which 
presumably would have much more pronounced long-term effects (I don't 
know the psychology of it all but I know that my own time in high 
school affected me as a person more than primary school did).


> 
> I still feel that Harry's occulmency lessons with Snape were really 
> DD's way of letting Harry learn more about "Snape the person." 
> I feel that Snape really reveals his himself during these lessons. 
> ("The Art of War," post # 94893 and 95076.) 
> 
> You learn that Snape was an unhappy child, and that he was a victim 
> of James's gang -- repeatedly.  You also hear Snape tell Harry: 
> "Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot 
> control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow 
> themselves to be provoked so easily - weak people in other words - 
> they stand no chance against his powers!  He will penetrate your 
mind 
> with absurd ease, Potter!" (OOTP)
> 
> It seems to me that Snape is the one who wallows in his sad 
memories -
> - why else would he remove them from his mind before teaching 
Harry? 
> And did he have control over his emotions when he realized that 
Harry 
> saw them? I think that the: "Fools who wear their hearts proudly on 
> their sleeves" quote, is what happened to Snape. I think that 
> Voldemort, realized what Snape's weaknesses were, and used them 
> against him. He lured Snape into being a DE. 
> 
> Did Voldemort pose as a father figure? Did he tell Snape that he 
> understood him, and that he also had an unhappy childhood? 

<< snip, snip >>

> Remember when Sirius tells Harry that there were a lot of 
purebloods 
> that at first believed that Voldemort had the right idea?  They 
> approved of Voldemort's dislike of mudbloods. I think this is what 
> first interested Snape into becoming a DE. 


Yeah, I agree that he's wallowing in bad memories and maybe self-
pity; Harry's resemblance to James probably brings back all the 
feelings of frustration that he can't do anything about his dislike --
 now even more than before, seeing as he's a teacher and part of the 
side that Harry "represents" -- and anger that Harry is in the 
limelight, seen as a hero, when Snape thinks he's the only one who 
isn't blind to his manifold shortcomings.
But you'd never know it. He seems proud, with nothing more than an 
intense dislike of what he sees as an arrogant child who believes his 
own publicity too much.
I don't think he was lured into joining the DEs, though. After being 
bullied like that by people who were very obviously meant for 
the "light" side, I always thought he probably felt that he couldn't 
join them. How could he fight alongside them against a group of 
people in which he probably saw a way out? He'd likely want revenge, 
too, and joining the DEs would 
be a perfect opportunity to get his own back. And, as you said, he 
probably agreed at first with Voldemort's feelings on blood purity.


> 
> We know by cannon that Snape is a racist! He calls Lily a nasty 
name 
> in the penseive memory.  He would rather be hung upside down before 
> allowing a mudblood come to his defense. 


He probably still would, but I think it'd be more down to pride than 
a dislike of mudbloods. Maybe not then, though.



> Here is my problem with Snape.  I find it hard to believe that 
> knowing what we know about him that he is working for either 
> Voldemort or DD.  He seems to have contempt for both sides.  He 
also 
> craves recognition (obvious when you read PoA). 


I think he has contempt for the light side because a lot of them are 
so "noble" -- he probably sees Jameses and Siriuses and Harrys in a 
lot of them --- and I think he feels a bit looked-down-on because of 
his past. But in light of that it seems even more probable that he 
believes what he's doing; it must have taken a lot of courage and 
humility to go to Dumbledore, whatever happened then.
I think he half wants, half dreads recognition. I can't picture him 
being gracious and happy when and if he gets recognition for his 
bravery and good deeds for the light side! But at the same time, I 
think that his getting recognition would be an up-yours to Sirius and 
Harry and everyone like them, which he'd love.

But I think that when it comes down to it, he is firmly on the good 
side and hates Voldemort just as much as anyone. Maybe even more so. 
He's such a complex character, I can't wait to see where the next 
books take him!

Bobbi