The Key to Snape

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 113407

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Annette" <CariadMel at a...> wrote:
>  pippin wrote:
> 
> > I was re-reading Dudley Demented yesterday, and I realized it 
> > contains the Snape fan's holy grail--a possible insight into what 
> > is going on in our potion master's greasy little head when he 
> > torments Harry.Consider the similarities in their  situations. 
> Harry is confined at Privet Drive, a place full of bad memories where 
> everybody except Hedwig is afraid of him. He has a deadly enemy, and 
> he has no idea what that enemy is doing.  
> (<<<< large snip) 
> > If you substitute Snape for Harry, and Harry for Dudley, it sounds 
> > like it could fit, though of course Snape's old memories are of 
> > James, not Harry. 
> 
> Annette:
> ******   yes, plausible. But I have a hard time equating the teenage 
> angst of Harry that is behind his revenge with the cold, calculating 
> cruelty of the supposedly mature Snape.
<snip>

I don't think Pippin meant to equate them. At least, you don't need to
read her that way. I think they have a correspondence by analogy, that
is, Harry's treatment of Dudley here is the same *sort* of thing as
Snape's treatment of Harry often is.  They do differ in detail and
degree, as you point out.  They especially differ in that as far as we
know, Harry doesn't usually act this way, whereas Snape's behavior is
Standard Operating Procedure for him.

I still think Pippin is right that 'Dudley Demented' offers a valuable
insight into Snape's relationship with Harry. Perhaps we will even
find it a clue to James' motives in 'Snape's Worst Memory.'

Annemehr