Expecto Patronum was Psychoanalysis of CoS revisited

[olivier.fouquet+harry at m4x.org]

No: HPFGUIDX 101335

Anyway I do think adds
 > another
 > dimension to that occlumency lesson disaster that Harry had with 
Snape. It'=
 > s hard to
 > imagine anyone who would be a worse candidate than Snape for giving 
Harry f=
 > atherly
 > advise on sex (and on one level that is what it is involved.) 
<Shudder> Fro=
 > m what we glean
 > from Snape's pensieve, we learn how bad an idea that this is. Poor 
Harry.
 >
 > Barbara (Ivogun), who can't believe she wrote this post

Now Olivier

Exactly! And you spotted that well on time too Barbara. In the midst of 
a huge confrontation about wether Harry, Sirius or Snape is the worst 
person and if they are morally equivalent, I really think that this 
perspective is enlightening.

I intended to write a post on that somewhat later next week, but here 
are some thoughts.

Suppose we admit for now that at least some magic is metaphorically 
tied to sex in the books, then we can understand what's going on 
symbolically in PoA (and later during the Occlumency lesson).

PoA can be read as the endeavors of a teen to understand his masculine 
identity. In order to do so, he must overcome his childhood fears (the 
boggart), accept to move forward and not to be seduced by the 
regressive forces of self-destruction (Dementors) but most important, 
he must find a model, a father, a patron (Expecto Patronum revisited). 
PoA offers 4 possible patron: James, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and 
Severus Snape. Each represents a distinct aspect of fatherhood and each 
has therefore his own particular traits. Ultimately, Harry chooses 
James because he has realized through the book that none of the others 
fulfill his needs.

Sirius is wild sex-force (something JKR herself said on her site) while 
Remus is uncontrolled psyche (via the werewolf persona). So those two 
are not acceptable (though Remus, by providing Harry the means of 
finding an ideal father figure, plays a significant role).

What about Snape then? I argue that Snape represents the repressed 
aspects of sexuality.
Hence his bat-like attitude, his association with dark, creepy dungeon, 
his "vampire" persona. That could also shed a new light on his role as 
"potion" master and the fact that he is Neville's boggart (honestly, a 
mean teacher Neville's worst fear? Not the Lestranges or Voldemort?)

And that could explain also why Snape can provoke such different 
reactions: some see him as sexy, other as abominable...

I would venture the guess that those different reactions are 
reflections of the different feelings readers feel when confronted with 
the theme of repressed (or repressive) sexuality.

But I promise I will expand on that in a forthcoming post devoted to 
PoA.

Coming back to the Occlumency lessons, there is a powerful 
psychoanalytic feel to the scenes. The master of repressive sexuality 
exploring the mind and memories (particularly traumatic ones) of the 
young hero. And of course, Snape finds Cho. Conversely, when Harry 
enters Snape's mind, he finds dysfunctional love and a girl mocking our 
Severus. Not to mention the Pensieve scene.

Now, the Occlumency lessons failed and that caused Sirius death. What a 
better way to say that failure to control sexuality and trying to 
repress it leads to wild sex-force (in itself neither positive nor 
negative) turing into death-force or desire for violence. Note that 
Sirius is killed by Bellatrix, the icon of Eros/Thanatos.

I am sorry to speak so quickly of themes that would require careful 
canon examination and references. I promise I will soon do so. For now, 
I will conclude by saying that if one accepts this reading (Occlumency 
lessons are repressed sexuality turning Sirius sex forces into 
Bellatrix death drive), then the question of who was responsible for 
Sirius' death and if Harry should have apologized to Snape or the 
contrary become rather meaningless.

It can be fun to argue though.

Olivier