Conspiracies and re-assessments

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 112513

Alex wrote:
> Valky (I think, I'm a little confused) wrote, among other 
insightful
> things, 
> 
> >-- James saw a Dark man in Snape, and 
> > he was *not* all that wrong. 
> 
> I have to say, I'm not sure where you get this.  I think if we were
> "supposed" (there's that word again....) to read James as acting 
out
> of conviction that Snape is a Bad Man and has it coming to him for
> those reasons, we'd have heard him say *something* that's open to 
that
> interpretation.  Perhps when Lily asks him "What's he ever done to
> you?", if not before.  Maybe he'd say "Hey, there's that evil git
> Snape, who we saw knocking a muggleborn student down the stairs 
last
> week, let's get him," instead of "Excellent.  Snivellus."  His 
remarks
> are a bit of puerile wordplay with Snape's name, not a 
condemnation of
> his existence on moral grounds.  


Hannah now: 
I think the name 'Snivellus' is significant in the whole 
marauders/Snape feud.  The name implies 'snivelling' - crying, 
whining, being weak.  It's the sort of name a bully might give a 
pathetic, greasy haired kid with a rather dodgy background, who 
cries when he gets teased by the handsome, popular bully (not naming 
any names, but you get the picture...) during his first years.  It's 
not the sort of name that you give someone you suspect to be evil.  

Would Harry and co. call Malfoy that (if his first name was 
something like Severus)? I don't think they would, and they really 
do have good reason to suspect Malfoy's up to his eyeballs in the 
dark arts and likely to become a DE one day.  They don't give Malfoy 
any sort of nickname (correct me if I'm wrong), although they might 
refer to him as a 'git' or some similar generic insult.  

The way they use the name is also interesting.  They emphasise it, 
using it as a deliberate taunt - maybe harking back to some time 
they made Snape cry (snivel). Taunting someone with a name, IMO, is 
the behaviour of a bully picking on a weaker victim, not a brave 
Gryffindor challenging a suspected Junior Dark Wizard.  

Hannah