I don't want to do it *ANYMORE* (was Re: Snape's punishment a "moral" issue? )

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 144127

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nrenka" <nrenka at y...> wrote:
>


> 
> No matter what the actual topic of the argument, Snape says "I don't 
> want to do it *anymore*" (continuance of a state) and Dumbledore 
> says "You agreed" (holding Snape to the continuance of these 
actions, 
> denying completion).  I think there's some kind of continuing 
> obligation until the situation which Snape was a specific 
contributor 
> to is finally resolved.
> 

Now, you bring up an interesting point of language, Nora.  How do we 
interpret "I don't want to do it anymore?"

Lots of people, mainly DDM!Snape theorists, are saying that this 
implies discontinuance of volition -- i.e. that Snape doesn't *want* 
anymore.  At one time he "wanted" to do something (i.e. agreed to do 
something) and now his desire to do that thing (or willingness to do 
that thing, more exactly) is waning.  To be exact, he is, they would 
argue, saying "I agreed to kill you but what if I don't want to do it 
anymore?"

Okay, that would be a legitimate meaning of the sentence.  But why 
would Snape begin by saying "You take too much for granted?"  Okay, 
maybe Dumbledore is taking Snape's willingness for granted, but put 
all that together and it seems an odd way to express himself.  It 
would seem more natural for him to start out be saying "This is 
absurd!" or "How dare you ask such a thing!" or "That is too much to 
ask!"  But "You take too much for granted"?

Like you, Nora, I tend to think another interpretation makes more 
sense.  If I heard someone say "I don't want to do it anymore," I 
would think that "anymore" goes with "do" not with "want."  That is 
that the person is doing something, engaged as you say in an ongoing 
process, that they want to bring to an end.  With this 
interpretation, "You take too much for granted" fits more naturally.  
Snape is doing something and Dumbledore takes for granted that he will 
keep doing it, while Snape wishes to make clear that he doesn't want 
to do it anymore.

To use a little meta-analysis, since we know what the story is about 
it is a pretty obvious guess that whatever Snape is doing has a pretty 
direct connection to DD's trust in him, and the reason DD is willing 
to protect him.  Given, however, DD's response "you said you would do 
it and you will do it," the activity seems like some sort of condition 
or duty laid on Snape, rather than something he is doing 
spontaneously.  Or at least it is an activity that Snape has come to 
see as a duty or a condition laid on him.

What duty or process is Snape performing that might be extraordinary?  
There are three that come to mind: spying on the DEs, teaching DADA, 
and (perhaps) keeping an eye on Harry.

Could he want out of DADA to escape the curse?  First of all, it has 
never been definitively established that there IS in fact a curse.  
Secondly, it just doesn't seem in character for Snape to want out of 
it.

Could he want out of spying on the DEs?  Very possibly.  Maybe he 
thinks that things have gotten too dangerous, and that he needs out 
from under.  An OFH!Snape or Grey!Snape scenario fits well, here.  
Snape has not admitted the full contents of the UV to Dumbledore, nor 
has he admitted his knowledge of Draco's purpose.  Perhaps he wants to 
take Draco and go into hiding?  Of course that's all been futzed up by 
the UV.  Maybe he thinks he knows a way out of it (i.e. if he can keep 
Draco from making an attempt then Draco won't "fail" and the 
conditions of the UV won't be triggered).  His rage and hatred on the 
tower might well be, in that case, rage and hatred because DD brought 
him to this pass, where he has to kill DD or die, when if DD had only 
let Snape out from under and let him take Draco and disappear, things 
would not have come to this.  In this scenario, Spinner's End was just 
that, the end of the spinner, the spider caught when he wove one web 
too many, perhaps even for the best of motives.

Could he want out of watching over Harry?  Well, that presumes, of 
course, that such a command has been laid on him.  But let us assume 
it has.  Perhaps, at this point, DD is not yet clear that he is the 
target (and Snape may not be clear about that, either).  Perhaps he 
and DD think that Harry might be the target, and DD has charged Snape 
to be especially vigilant.  How might Snape react, given the events of 
OOTP?  Probably not with great grace.  The task of watching over Harry 
would be especially onerous to Snape, but it would be one that DD 
would be very, even grimly, insistent that Snape pursue no matter what 
the Potion Master's feelings.  How might the bitterness and resentment 
be eating at Snape?  How might the anxiety, if once again he has 
concealed part of the UV and now suspects he may have to kill the one 
he is charged with protecting?  How might all that manifest?  How 
might it manifest if, in fact, he has held this duty all the time 
Harry was at Hogwarts, i.e. he has been charged with watching over 
Harry and has been absolutely forbidden by Dumbledore to tell Harry 
what he is doing or bring it up with him in any way?  How might his 
resentment have been building?

Interesting questions, anyway.


Lupinlore