[HPforGrownups] Re: Understanding Snape

[Silverthorne Dragon]

No: HPFGUIDX 91097

{Cindy}

Or conversely, maybe he's full of self-pity, and later assumes the trio was talking about him.  There he was, being studious and minding his own business, and the bullies come up and start plotting against him out of nowhere...  So in his memory he's portrayed as a bigger victim than in real life.

I guess what I wonder is how much fact do we give memories in a pensive?  I think we give them as much credence as we do the owner; DD's memories are fact, whereas maybe Snape's are slanted a bit in his favor.


{Anne}

An interesting idea there, that the memories shift according to knowledge that's gained later on, and may even possibly be 'altered' by the person's own view and beliefs...

However, to be fair, although in this scenario, we can easily assign Snape a 'selfish' streak that will alter his veiwpoint of those memories, I have to object to the idea that only Snape would be doing such a thing. To be fair, if you want to use this scenario, you'd have to allow that any  memory in the pensieve is subject to subconsious (as well as concious) tinkering that is also fueled by that person's own take on things. And if you do so, then Dumbledore's memories are just as 'suspect' (though not for the same reasons)....

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying for an Evil!Dumbly argument here, just wanting to point out that Dumbledrore will also have things within his own psyche that will color what he saw in the trails--for good or ill--and therefore, according to this theory will still give some sort of a slant to the memory. It may not be as severe--Dumble has a better grip on life in general--but he will still affect his own memories of what happened, if for no other reasoin than because that's what humans DO with thier memories. Stating that DD's are irrefutable fact whereas Snape's are 'slanted a bit in his favor' attributes DD with a godlike control over every aspect of his mind--and he himself has made it clear in the last book that even he makes mistakes (In other words, he is human and is just as prone as the next 'mere mortal' to do something such as...say....unintentionally alter the penseive memories a little according to his own experiences and beliefs....).

Personally, since the pensieve is a magical device, I hold to the theory that although you enter the scene through a person's memories, the scene that unfolds is actaully drawn from another source---perhaps some sort of limited gateway or bobble on the mobius strip of time--that gives the viewer a more detached, but wider, view of the original situation, which is why Harry CAN range so far from Snape's position, or get an almost 360 degree view of the Wizenmagot--after all, as Carol and others have pointed out--the feelings of the person the memory is from is not shared with the veiwer--just the events. Otherwise, if Harry were experience the memories from the viewpoint of the memories holders (IE was inside thier head--which I imagine you would have to be to see the 'altered' version of events), he would have most likely exhibited Dumbledore's calm demeanor in that memory, and then shared Snape's self-absorbtion, then anger, then embarassment and rage in his memories. Harry's feelings, however, remained his and his alone in both instances--unlike when he's 'sharing' with Voldemort, when he feels whatever it is ol Moldy Voldy is feeling at that moment...




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