"An old man's mistakes"

[shgupta83]

No: HPFGUIDX 138909

QueenJennifer wrote:

I know that this topic has been touched on many, many times, but it 
just seems that JKR was preparing us all through HBP for what Snape 
did.  Not that any of us expected for him to kill Dumbledore, mind 
you, but for the fact that Dumbledore could have been mistaken about 
him.  He made several comments about, "an old man's 
mistakes.......", but you thought he was always just referring to 
Harry.  He always said he had no question as to where Snape's 
loyalties lie, but never said why.  I could be way off on this idea, 
but I was just wondering.....
 
shgupta:

I think in HBP, JKR wants us to believe that Dumbledore is capable 
of making mistakes. But as she said, they were 'an old man's 
mistakes'. In regards to Dumbledore in his earlier years, I think he 
was much less prone to making these mistakes and we saw evidence of 
this when Voldemort attempted to get the DADA position. We are led 
to believe throughout the series that Dumbledore is very forgiving 
and likes to give second chances, but in this instance he refused 
Voldemort the chance to teach. In all of Dumbledore's generosity and 
willingness to give second chances, he also knows when not to trust 
an individual. Which is why I think he was not tricked or mistaken 
when he hired Snape. The scene with voldemort trying to get the DADA 
position showed that Dumbledore when to trust and when not to trust 
certain individuals. All this goes back to Snape being on the right 
side and Dumbledore being justified in trusting him. 


Shgupta