Snape, Harry, Dumbledore, and flaws in the books

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 105587

> Dzeytoun wrote:
> A lot of threads lately have been devoted to explaining mysteries 
of 
> the relationships among Snape, Harry, and Dumbledore.  These 
> relationships are fascinating, but also puzzling and inconsistent.  
> To a large extent we are lacking a lot of information we need.  We 
> are also hampered by the tight Harry-centric POV JKR uses.
> 
> However, and this isn't going to make me popular, I think a lot of 
> the explanation for why these three act the way they do is, well, 
> that they HAVE to act that way for the plot to go the way JKR wants 
> it to.  The fact is that, good a writer as JKR is, characterization 
> is her severe weak point.  She just isn't very good at explaining 
> what makes people tick.  Look at the trio.  After five books we 
STILL 
> don't really know much about what kind of people Ron and Hermione 
> really are, and why they make the decisions they do.
> 
> True, a lot of this is due to POV.  But an awful lot is also 
because 
> JKR sometimes commits the cardinal sin of writing, she lots plot 
> dictate character instead of the other way around.  A lot of the 
> seeming inconsistencies and flaws really ARE inconstistencies and 
> flaws.
><snip>

Neri:
Your case will be much stronger if you can bring a at least one 
specific example where the plot clearly dictates the character. 
Preferably with characters we know very well, not with a character 
like Snape, on which very few is actually known. I can't think of a 
single example like this. Generally, I think JKR's characterization 
is quite good, though not fabulus. The only times I can think of when 
characters act out of character is when they pretend, e.g. Crouch!
Moody or Scabbes!Peter.

Neri