Sirius vs. Snape

[LadySawall at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 99516

In a message dated 05/26/2004 12:35:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Marianne
writes:
> It's always interested me that the two characters who spark the most 
heated discussions and who are always pitted against each other to 
this level are Sirius and Snape.  Not Harry and Draco. Not Harry and 
Snape. Not Snape and James. Not Voldemort and anyone. These two.  I'm 
not counting SHIPS because that's another kettle of fish...
Jo Ann:

I suspect it has a lot to do with the bully/victim, popular/unpopular dynamic 
between the two.  It exists in some of those other relationships, but the 
story of the Prank and the Pensieve scene highlight it so starkly that it's 
impossible to ignore.  I think it's easy for someone who identifies strongly with 
either type of person to get caught up in defending one or the other.

I've seen those two referred to as flip sides of a coin (even seen it 
speculated that Snape might miss Sirius in some perverse way, wondering how a 
one-sided coin can exist.)  I tend to think of them as cold gray and warm gray, both 
equal parts light and dark, complementary but opposing forces...

And again, I suspect JKR may have set them against each other that way 
intentionally.  It's weird how she can play up the struggle between good and evil as 
though they were absolutes, and have an almost entirely unsympathetic villain 
like Voldemort, but at the same time confound us with a couple of mixed bags 
like S&S.  

Jo Ann

...who is starting to scare herself with the number of outgoing HPFGU posts 
piling up on her desktop today.


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