In Defense of Snape (Against Snape in JKR's words)

Tonks tonks_op at yahoo.com
Mon Jan 17 15:44:00 UTC 2005


No: HPFGUIDX 122174


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> Alla:
> snip, snip)
> We also have Snape's "you are neither special, nor important"
> 
(Snip)
> There is also from PoA "you should thank me on the bended knee", 
> which again smells as jealosy to me.
Snip)
> 
> Alla

Tonks here:

When I hear Snape say these things I do not think that he is jealous 
of Harry, I think that he is projecting onto Harry.  This sounds 
like the sort of things the nasty man in the pensive would say to 
Snape as a child. (Of course we do not know who that man was or his 
relationship to Snape. He sounds like his father or close male 
relative because of the description of his crooked nose, but we 
really do not know.)

When a person has been emotionally abused, as we think Snape has 
been, this is how they sometimes act towards others. This is 
especially true if the other person reminds them in some way of 
themselves at the same age.  They may not know that they are doing 
it, or they may know and are unable to stop it. 

What I am saying is, yes, Snape is a mean, nasty man.  But once he 
was a scared little boy.  And the scared little boy, in order to 
survive the abuse took part of the abuser into himself. This is what 
I mean (in an earlier post) when I say that Snape as a child 
internalized his father figure. Nasty people don't start life as 
nasty people.  And true some are so nasty that we can not see past 
that and pity them. I have met nasty people too, and some I could 
have compassion on and some I just hated with all the rage I had 
within me.  Snape is certainly a well written character to cause 
such strong reactions (for or against)from us all.

Tonks_op








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