"Snape's Job"

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93282


Kneasy wrote <snipped>:
I'm in a dilemma about this little cameo myself, but IMO it's possible
that Snape is playing games with Harry.
> 
Mel: 
I too have this filed in my "maybe he's not" drawer. It could be, I 
tell myself, that he's satisfied that the nosy little pratt is 
completely fooled into thinking he's spying on V. for DD. and 
therefore will keep his prying nose out of his REAL business.
 
Which because he says it *is*, is probably *not* finding out what V. 
is telling his DEs. Or it *is* and he wants someone to think it 
might not be.
 
Mel, scratching head again.

Carol:
Maybe I'm naive, but I interpret this exchange as the first moment of
real and honest communication between Snape and Harry (further
evidenced by the first bits of praise Harry has ever received from
Snape)--all ruined later when Harry looks into the Pensieve and Snape
angrily ends the occlumency lessons. As for the "glint," it's
perceived by Harry, and he (or we, the readers) could be reading
malice into what is really just a gleam or glimmer or satisfaction
(Potter understands something at last). My dictionary (or the one I
happened to grab) lists as the primary definition of "glint": "a gleam
or glimmer; sparkle; flash." No suggestion that the glint is
associated with evil or ill will.

I see no reason to judge Snape solely on the basis of a single word,
which may or may not connote malice and may or may not be deliberately
misleading, or to allow this one passage to alter our conception of
him, which needs to be based on all of the available evidence,
ambiguous or contradictory though it may be. I personally think that
the look Snape and Harry exchange and the fact that Snape reacted
calmly (not angrily, as Harry anticipated) are at least as important
as the "glint"--or was it a gleam?--that Harry perceives in Snape's
eyes. And the calm, direct way Snape reacts--"Yes, Potter, that is my
job"--suggests that it really *is* his job, though how he goes about
it remains a mystery.

Carol