DD's respect for Snape (Was: Unreliable narrator - The Snape Timeline

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 117561


Alla wrote:
<snip>
> If we are talking about Dumbledore's trust in GENERAL, I liked 
> Flinwitch's post which argued that despite the fact that Dumbledore 
> keeps repeating that he trusts Snape, NOWHERE in the books did he
say that he LIKES Snape or he SUPPORTS Snape, or that Harry needs to 
> given him ANY kind of respect, other then calling him Professor.
><snip>

Carol responds:
It seems to me that Dumbledore treats Snape with something like
fatherly affection, for example pulling a cracker with him at
Christmas (which unfortunately turned out to contain a vulture hat).
Even when he reprimands Snape, he's usually firm but gentle.

Dumbledore says to Harry regarding Kreacher, who by all accounts is
demented and evil with few or no good qualities left in him, "I warned
Sirius . . . that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and respect"
(832). Surely Dumbledore would apply a similar philosophy to Professor
Snape, whose loyalty he does not question?

And I would argue that Dumbledore's repeated defense of Snape's
actions in the next-to-last chapter of OoP is respectful throughout.
For example, when Harry unreasonably accuses Snape of "sneer[ing] at
me as usual" when Harry told him about Voldemort, DD says:

"Harry, you know that Professor Snape had no choice but to pretend not
to take you seriously in front of Delores Umbridge, bu as I have
explained, he informed the Order as soon as possible about what you
had said. It was he who deduced where you had gone when you did not
return from the forest. It was he too who gave Professor Umbridge fake
veritaserum when she was attempting to force you to tell of Sirius's
whereabouts" (833).

This passage strikes me as a wholly respectful defense of Snape. It
even includes a bit of extra information not directly related to the
MoM incident showing that Snape, like Harry, is an enemy of Delores
Umbridge.

I see no disrespect for Snape by Dumbledore in this passage or
anywhere in the books. DD treats Snape exactly as he treats McGonagall
in GoF; it's no accident that they appear side by side behind
Dumbledore as they enter Crouch!Moody's office. (Their reactions, too,
are almost identical; both stop dead in the doorway. And note that
both are reflected, with Dumbledore, in the Foe Glass, surely as good
a bit of evidence as we'll find that Snape really is on DD's side
against LV and the DE's). And there is that moment in GoF when DD
makes Snape and Black shake hands because "it is time for two of our
number to recognize each other for what they are." He is treating
Severus Snape exactly as he is treating Sirius Black, and he is
viewing both of them as needed members of his team.

I could cite other examples of his fatherly attitude toward Snape;
they're everywhere. Dumbledore preaches kindness and respect for House
Elves, and he follows that same philosophy in the treatment of his
employees. And Snape, besides being worthy of respect for the depth of
his knowledge in his field, is in a position of trust, watching the
hallways at night, aiding Dumbledore when he is in need, always at
Dumbledore's side in a crisis. That trust, IMO, is not violated by his
actions in OoP. In fact, it is reinforced, as the quoted passage and
others like it show, by his role in bringing the Order to the MoM. "I
trust Severus Snape" implies respect as well as trust.

BTW, I hope at some point to come back to Neri's timeline with what I
think Snape must have been doing during that time (although I don't
see how even Harry's portion of the adventure could have taken from
dusk to dawn), but I won't deal with that here.

Carol, who really is trying to get to more recent posts but couldn't
pass this one by