Quesiton for Snapeophiles and -phobes RE Dumbledore, Snape, and Harry

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 114962



> Carol responds:
> I agree that Snape is a much more interesting--and much less
> evil--character than Voldemort. I also agree that so far Voldemort 
hasbeen by and large a cartoon villain. (I count the first chapter 
of GoF as a partial exception; he was actually a bit mysterious 
there, and the unusual point of view--Frank Bryce's--also added 
interest. And the spell that resurrects him later in GoF is gruesome 
and clearly shows how selfish and cruel and evil he is. But the 
graveyard scene returns us to Cartoon!mort. (Jenner in the Disney 
film "The Secret of NIMH,"
> anybody?)
> 
> One problem, maybe, is that JKR has chosen to make him snakelike,
> barely human--unlike Diary!Tom in CoS, who fooled me on a first
> reading into thinking he was a sympathetic character (at least 
untilthe Hagrid/Aragog scene). Another problem, maybe, is that wand
> violence is so bloodless. Horrible as a Crucio is, you can get up 
and fight again after surviving one (or at least Harry can). And AKs
> (except at Godric's Hollow) leave no mark. We've heard about people
> being blown apart by DEs ("We only ever found bits of him," Moody 
says about one of the Order members--Benjy Fenwick, I think), but 
the only deaths we've actually witnessed so far, Cedric's and 
Sirius's, have been swift and painless.
> 
> I'm certainly not craving blood and gore. I can read about the
> American Civil War or the Crimean War if I want that (and I don't).
> But still, so little has happened. Voldemort has possessed Quirrell
> and made him drink unicorn blood. He's drunk Nagini's "milk" as a
> perverted, monstrous infant. He has tortured and killed Bertha 
Jorkins(off-page), killed Frank Bryce, ordered the Imperioing or 
kidnapping
> of various people, crucio'd some DEs, crucio'd and tried to murder
> Harry. I may have missed something, but still he's more of a Mafia 
don or a serial killer with a gang of thugs than an evil overlord. 
And for all of OoP, he thought of nothing but getting the Prophecy 
(and controlling Harry). 
<snip>

Hannah: I absolutely agree, Carol.  For me, by far the most chilling 
character in the books is Diary!Tom.  Returned!LV looks like a 
monster.  Everyone knows he's bad.  And most of time he's removed, 
and seems unreal.  Whereas Diary!Tom seems to be a normal, even 
likeable boy.  He insinuates himself into people's lives through 
that very plain, blank little book.  No one realises he's evil until 
it's too late (or nearly so).  And his words in the Chamber are far 
colder and more frightening than anything CartoonVillain!LV says so 
far.

While JKR has already shown she's not afraid of addressing issues 
that some childrens authors may not, I do think she will draw the 
line at very graphic horror (or her editors will make her).  She's 
not out to traumatise kids.  Thus I think it is hard for her to 
truly convey to us the horror of Voldemort and the things he's done, 
making him seem less scary than the characters find him.

I also agree about wand violence. Crucio sounds horrible but 
(thankfully) we can't imagaine it, nor do we have any fear that it 
might one day happen to us.  Whereas the teacher who is unfair, the 
bully who humilates you, are characters we experience in our 
everyday lives.  Most of us know exactly what it's like to have a 
Draco or a Snape making life hard, we can all imagine and fear being 
tormented, humiliated, bullied etc. 

Hannah