HP and the Half Blood Git

justcarol67 justcarol67 at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 13 22:55:13 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 106094

caesian wrote:
And while I'm at it, Snape (a fictional character, I know) has 
been irritating me. Again.  I'm OK with the subtlety of Albus 
Dumbledore allowing Snape to terrorize a generation of students - 
to their detriment - to no other purpose than the possible defeat 
of Voldemort.  I'm OK with Snape being a jerk.  So long as he 
stays on his page, I love it.  

On the other hand, those who ascribe secret good intentions to the 
character of Snape make my brain hurt and my blood insulin soar 
worse than a quickly consumed pint of Hagendaaz (strawberry).  
He's a mean evil jerk for the good of Harry and Neville?  No.  And 
what makes my angst worse is that people who post these ideas are 
smart and cool.  I read and Respect their posts (the analogy is to 
Hagendaaz strawberry, after all).  
 
Some might say that a central message in the Septology is that the 
world is not divided into Good People and Death Eaters.  I would 
agree.  But in the case of Snape, I'll guide that point to it's 
logical conclusion - that the world is not divided into Death 
Eaters and people who aren't Evil Gits.  Snape might not be a 
Death Eater.  He might be helping Dumbledore.  He might even die a 
heroic death in glorious sacrifice for Harry, or some such.  But 
he Is evil.  Not irredeemable (if Tom Riddle can experience 
forgiveness, who can't?).  But alot worse than "not a nice guy".  
He's a bad guy.  He might not be a death eater, but that doesn't 
make him good.

Siriusly Snapey Susan responded:
In reading this, I was, of course, asking myself whether I'm one of 
those posters who've been annoying you w/ my remarks about Snape.  
I've called myself a Snape-aholic but NOT a Snape-apologist...and 
I'm quite willing to be a Snape-basher on occasion...so I simply 
don't know.
 
But I *would* ask you how you know what the "logical conclusion" to 
draw is?  Isn't that a big part of what Snape-aholics have been 
saying?  That there is so much which is unanswered about our former-
DE-turned-potions-master?  Without some answers, how do we *know* 
that he is evil?  Cruel, sadistic (JKR's word), abusive (JKR's 
term), sarcastic--all that is clearly available in canon or in JKR 
interviews.  But "evil"?  That seems an awfully strong & certain 
conclusion to draw at this point.  Could you say more?

Carol adds:
First let me commend SSS for her tactful and sensible response. I
think the problem here is that caesian's emotional reaction to Snape
is blocking her ability to read these strawberry Hagendaaz posts
without a similar reaction. I don't know what to recommend (other than
Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra ;-) ), but I agree with SSS that you
might want to present us with canon evidence that Snape is evil as
opposed to sarcastic, etc. Umbridge, I would argue, is genuinely evil
but not a Death Eater. Snape--well, Snape is a mystery, which is why
some of us (maybe those whose school days are so far behind us that we
don't identify much with Harry) find him so intriguing.

Consider that he is always trying to keep Harry from breaking the
rules and endangering his life--by entering the corridor where the
sorceror's/philosopher's stone is or going to Hogsmeade and possibly
encountering Sirius Black, to give just two examples. And he really
can't be nice to Harry, can he, if he really is trying to keep his
cover as Dumbledore's agent from being discovered by his Slytherin
students? Consider the courage that it took to reveal the Dark Mark to
Fudge and to do whatever errand Dumbledore sent him on at the end of
GoF. Consider that, despite his dislike of Harry, he arranged the
rescue mission to the MoM. If he hadn't alerted both the Order and
Dumbledore, Harry would be dead.

However unpleasant Snape may be, all of the evidence, including
Dumbledore's repeated assertions that he trusts Severus Snape, point
to Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore, his opposition to Voldemort, and his
remarkable courage--a very unSlytherin trait. I don't see how those
qualities can be reconciled with "evil."

I happen to enjoy Snape's wit and sarcasm (for example, his putdown of
Umbridge regarding the veritaserum and his advice to Crabbe to stop
strangling Neville because he'll have to mention it if Crabbe ever
wants a recommendation). I like his uncanny ability to put two and two
together (even though he occasionally arrives at the wrong conclusion,
like suspecting Harry of taking supplies from his office). I
especially like his ability to work loyally for Dumbledore, to be his
righthand man (and, I think, an essential part of DD's "army") despite
his intense dislike of Harry and the pureblood/Dark Arts instincts
that point him in the other direction. It takes real courage to oppose
your friends, as Dumbledore said of Neville in SS/PS. And Snape is
risking his life, not once but repeatedly.

*Something* has caused him to leave the DEs and join Dumbledore.
Something has caused him to abandon evil for the cause of good. What
can it be? More than anything else in these books, I really want to
understand the motivations and history of Severus Snape.

Carol, who doesn't want to make anyone's blood boil but does hope to
see more canon and less emotion in the discussions of Snape, Sirius,
and now Berk!James (the last of which is probably partly my fault) 





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