Understanding Snape

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 90996

Kneasy:" I'm a Snape-aholic myself,  but IMO trying to slot him into 
a profiling pigeon-hole is premature. There are too many blanks and 
alternative interpretations for what we *think*  we know of his past."

We've known Snape for five years now, and I only came to my 
impression after OotP.  No one knows everything about anyone, but I 
think we've seen enough to form some ideas of what makes him tick.

Kneasy:" He is extremely self-confident and professionally competent. 
His contempt for others gives him an edge that few can blunt and he 
uses it with skill. "

We don't see any signs of self-confidence. Being professionally 
competent, which he is, does not exclude social phobia at all. 

Kneasy:" I'm in a very small minority in this, but I'm not so sure 
that this memory
is of his parents; I think Snape is the adult, that what we see is 
Snape's family and that they are the reason he splits from Voldemort. 
And if there's one thing Snape isn't, it's shy. "
You have to jump through a lot of hoops to interpret that memory that 
way; there's no reason to believe it. Snape is remembering some of 
the pain of his life.  Aggression is not the antithesis of shyness, 
far from it. It is sometimes a symptom of having seen that's how life 
works and the lack of social skills to come up with something more 
effective. Shyness is not necessarily mouse-in-a-hole timidity.

Kneasy:" He's so described [oily, greasy] by his 'enemies'. OK, we 
all  know he  has  lank, greasy hair - but unkempt? I presume your're 
on about the grey underwear, that
was exposed after  end of term exams and I doubt his parents had any
influence over his personal hygiene once he got on the Hogwarts 
Express."

They didn't have influence, but we have two examples of  unkemptness, 
and how many of good care?  The remark about parents sending kids to 
school like that was an aside, really. The point is that a kid who 
doesn't look cared for at school has two strikes against him from the 
outset.

Kneasy:" Yes, he does appear to be a target for James and Sirius, but 
he's not 
helpless -  he uses a spell to draw blood from James's face. This may 
be just an episode in an on-going war, but the way Sirius blusters in 
the face of Snape's tauntings in Grimmaud Place, plus the fact that 
he was supposed to know so much Dark Magic at school, adds weight to 
the idea that he would be a handful for any of the Marauders on their 
own. "

He isn't helpless, but he was humiliated and bullied on the lawn, and 
the dialogue suggests the bullying was going on.  James wasn't the 
one shown with gray underwear shown in midair in front of half the 
school; he did it while hanging out with his buddies, the "arrogant 
little berks" who were good at pretty much anything they did.  Is 
there any reason to think Snape scored on them like that in any way, 
ever?

Kneasy:" . Snape is *not* good. He has joined the Order  for his own 
reasons and they are nothing to do with spreading sweetness and 
light."

Snape's on the right side, and he's done the right thing more than 
once. `Nuff.  He isn't spreading sweetness and light, but that's not 
a membership requirement for being one of the Good Guys in a war.

Jim Ferer