The Snape/Harry connection (was: what if all teachers were like Snape?)

[mnaper2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 101238

David:
 
> My reading of the sweep of canon is that Snape is a fairly tireless 
> and effective supporter of Dumbledore.  He does, however, have a 
> tendency to independence of mind and action, which often takes him 
> down the wrong path, and makes him all the more vulnerable to 
giving 
> in to some of his worse motivations.  He also has a tendency to 
> believe the worst of Harry, despite the evidence.  In these traits, 
> as list members have pointed out, he is something of a mirror to 
> Harry.  This has little to do with moral equivalence, it's just a 
> literary observation.
> 

Ally:

Just had to say, word.  Harry and Snape do seem to walk in each 
other's shoes a bit - Snape can't see past Harry's rule-breaking, and 
Harry is obviously and understandably put off by the fact that Snape 
has hated him since the beginning.  

It seems like there is a distinct if subtle pattern here:

1)  DD compares James and Snape to Draco and Harry, but who is who in 
the present day?  It seems to me that in the pensieve scene, James 
plays the role of Draco - the unprovoked aggressor.  Snape is left to 
react, much the way Harry does with Draco.

2)  The fact that both are willing to, as you put it, believe the 
worst in each other, despite the fact that they have both been 
confronted with evidence that that is not the case.

3)  And I always think about the occlumency lesson where Snape goes 
off about the danger of wearing your emotions on your sleeve and how 
that makes you easy prey to V - that seemed like Snape talking about 
himself to me.  I could imagine Snape having been preyed on b/c his 
emotions were so apparent.  And Harry is also one who wears his 
emotions on his sleeve most of the time.

4)  Harry's rage at Snape after Sirius died which comes out of him 
blaming wrongly Snape for Sirius' death, is just as misplaced as 
Snape's hatred of Harry for the things James did.

There are probably a lot more, but these came to mind fairly easily.  

SO, is JKR actually building something here, or are these just 
coincidental or otherwise insignificant similarities?  I find it hard 
to ignore them, b/c there are so many separate incidents in which 
they have been shown.  They keep recurring but in ways just subtle 
enough that they can be missed if you aren't looking closely.  

I don't think JKR would do something like use this to build an 
epiphany for Snape - and the Snape/Harry somehow related theories are 
a little too pat for JKR, I think.  But maybe Snape is a blueprint of 
things to come for Harry?  After all, Harry more closely resembles 
Snape at the end of OOTP with his misplaced anger than he ever has in 
any of the other books.  Maybe Harry will be tempted to actually join 
V at some point in Book 6 or 7?  Maybe he will otherwise do something 
that is so reminiscent of Snape that not even Harry can ignore the 
similarities and he has the epiphany? 

If Snape and Harry ever do come to an agreement to work together for 
the Order, Harry will have to be the one to make the gesture or 
request, and Harry is certainly not in a position to take that step 
emotionally at this point.  But if Harry saw that he and Snape are 
more alike than he believed, he might approach Snape for guidance.  
It would be a huge step for Harry and Snape would probably be stroked 
enough by it that he would respond equally well. 

Any other thoughts on the similarities b/n Snape and Harry and what 
they could mean?