Snape's plant imagery

[esmith222002]

No: HPFGUIDX 124293


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "M.Clifford" <Aisbelmon at h...> 
wrote:
> 
> > kempermentor wrote:
> So I'm re-reading Snape's Worst Memory when I come to passage that 
> happens immediately after Harry 'falls' into the memory.  Harry is 
> looking for Snape.
> > > 
> > > "And there he is, at a table right behind Harry.  Harry 
stared.  
> > > Snape-the-teenager had a stringy, pallid look about him, like a
> > plant left in the dark."  (OoP, soft, 640)
> > > 
> > > 'Plant' not 'weed'.
> > > 
> > > Like a plant left in the dark.
> > > The plant, a symbol of life, is Snape.
> > > Left in the dark, left out of the light.
> > > Left to survive in the dark rather than thrive in the light.
> > 
> 
> Carol: 
> > That image caught my eye, too, and it seemed to suggest neglect 
on 
> the part of the adults in young Severus's life--his parents, his 
> head of house, maybe even Dumbledore. I think the boy Severus had 
> enormous potential,...edit... but that's what the image of the 
> pallid, neglected plant suggests to me, and I find it very sad.
> > 
> > But the absence of light may also, as you suggest, indicate that 
he
> > was raised to believe in the values of the Dark side,....
> 
> Valky:
> I agree with you Carol, and Kemper, I am sure the plant imagery is 
> used by JKR in the same way done so many other characters 
throughout 
> the books, to say samoething huge about it while only literally 
> saying something apparently insigificant. I like the way that both 
> of you have understood it and I agree. 
> Just one thing I would like to add.
> Sirius' house of a dying person, Bodes sepulchral voice, I wonder 
if 
> we might also think over how the plant left in the dark could have 
a 
> more /literal/ meaning like these ones. I mean, is there an actual 
> plant that might hae something to do with Snapes mystery, for 
> example, the reason Dumbledore trusts him. Or could it be to do 
with 
> Devils Snare? That's just and odd thought that came to mind while 
> thinking about how right you both were.


I just wanted to add another possibility to this discussion. One of 
the definitions of 'plant' in the English Dictionary is;

Plant; To station (a person) for the purpose of functioning in 
secret, as by observing, spying, or influencing behavior

Obviously we know that Snape is a spy! What we don't know is who he 
is spying for. Everything tells me that he is helping DD with the 
fight against LV.  However, if you look at this definition, the place 
where SS is stationed....Hogwarts!!

Brothergib