Knowing it was Snape (was: What has Snape seen)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 118821


SSSusan:
(snip)
> I admit that I assumed the teenage boy to be Snape, but I know some
> have wondered whether that is true, as well as whether the hook-
> nosed man is Snape or perhaps Snape's father, with the cowering boy 
> being Snape.  I would argue that we cannot be certain of any of it  
> because it's all based upon Harry's perception, and we've been 
> shown before that the narrator has "allowed" Harry's perception to 
> be presented as fact previously, only to have it eventually be 
> shown to be a misperception.  
>  
> For another example, just think of GoF, when Harry is preparing to
> enter the Yule Ball with the other champions & their dates.  The
> narrator says that Harry saw Viktor Krum with a pretty girl whom he 
> did not know.  But of course he DID know her!  It was Hermione; 
> Harry simply did not recognize her.  Yet the narrator says it was a 
> girl Harry "did not know", not that Harry didn't think he knew her 
> or that he didn't recognize her.  Surely this would be a case where 
> Harry "should" have known one of his two best friends, but he did 
> not.  
> 
> Likely or not in this case of the teenaged boy & the hook-nosed man,
> there is at least precedent for Harry's pronouncements of 
> recognition to be faulty.
 
Nadine : 
> Your example taken from GoF illustrates your point very well, Susan,
> and I agree with you. Harry's perceptions are deceiving sometimes 
> but in the OotP scene (Chapter 26 - Seen and Unforeseen) the 
> narrator says: «Harry did not speak; he felt that to say anything 
> might be dangerous. He was sure he had just broken into Snape's 
> memories, that he had just seen scenes from Snape's childhood. It 
> was unnerving to think that the little boy who had been crying as 
> he watched his parents shouting was actually standing in front of 
> him with such loathing in his eyes». Apparently, Harry 
> just «identified» little Snape and his shouting parents... Truth or 
> deception ?


SSSusan:
Nadine, I think they're actually similar(?).  I'm away from GoF right 
now, but I believe it was the same kind of set-up.  Harry wasn't 
speaking in the Yule Ball scene either; it was the narrator reporting 
that Harry saw Krum and a girl he didn't know.  Just as the narrator 
here [and thanks for the quote!] says Harry was unnerved that this 
was the little boy he'd seen now standing there.  It seems to read 
the same way to me.  

Hmmmm.  Then again, "It was unnerving to *think* that the little boy 
he had just seen...was actually standing in front of him" [emphasis 
added] actually makes it look a little MORE suspect than I'd 
imagined....  This sends up a red flag kinda like "assume" and "as 
if" in JKR's world.  Or am I missing something obvious?  Is there a 
clear difference between the presentation of the two bits of 
narration from GoF and OotP?  Somebody please let me know if so!


Siriusly Snapey Susan, who wasn't a lit major and sometimes feels it 
here!