In Defense of Snape (long)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 122176



Naama:
. Phineas Nigellus is obviously in the habit of behaving in the 
> annoying way he has - Sirius isn't. 

Pippin:
Except with Kreacher, who was "a living reminder of the home he 
hated." You remember what Sirius's mum was like, don't you? 
That's what Sirius grew up with, and IMO, it comes out when he 
has to deal with people he dislikes, like Kreacher and Snape.

The culture of insult doesn't mean that Slytherins never insult 
each other for other reasons, but it does mean that any Slytherin 
could come up with insults without feeling deep-rooted hostility. 
Snape doesn't have to hate Hermione to come up with the tooth 
remark, and he and Sirius don't have to be mortal enemies   to 
get into that silly almost-duel. 

Naama:
> 
> Lily, at that point, did dislike James. Sirius and Lupin say as 
much. Sirius certainly  disliked Kreacher. "<snip>
> 
> It leads to the same sort of arbitrariness in interpretation as 
playacting!Snape. You apply  it in order to undermine the straight 
meaning of the text in one place, while leaveing other  places 
undisturbed. What's the criteria? <

Pippin:
You mean, there should be some kind of 'tell' that Snape is 
acting? But it's the mark of a good actor that there aren't any! Did 
you know that Quirrell was acting? Riddle?  Fake!Moody? But 
maybe we can find one...

Harry *does* have trouble telling the difference between dislike 
and hatred, it's one of those subtle distinctions he's not good at. 
Hagrid tells him that Snape doesn't hate him, Sirius tells him 
that Lily didn't hate James, and Dumbledore tells him that Sirius 
didn't hate Kreacher, though in each case there's obviously 
dislike. JKR is clearly making some kind of a point here.

We do know that at least one of Snape's sneers is not prompted 
by hatred. The sneer in Umbridge's office, which Harry 
characterizes as 'usual' is only pretence. So, according to your 
premise, that would make  Snape's usual sneers pretence, 
right?


Hmmm, interesting idea. I'm not sure I believe it, but let's try, 
Kneasy-like, to see if we can make a theory out of it.

Given that  Snape merely dislikes Harry, should he pretend to 
hate him to further his masquerade? Wouldn't a loyal Death 
Eater pretend to like him? That would be prudent, as Lucius 
says. But the unreformed Snape, the one we saw in the 
pensieve, who wore his heart on his sleeve and allowed 
Voldemort access to his thoughts and feelings, would surely 
have hated Harry with all his heart, and he would never have 
been able to disguise it.  And it was that rash hatred that enabled 
Voldemort to control Snape, or so we must interpret what Snape 
says. 

Voldemort is paranoid; he trusts people only so far as he can 
control them, so it would not be prudent for Spy!Snape to act as 
though he had learned to restrain himself from hate. So even 
though the loyal Death Eaters generally pretend to like Harry, 
Snape, in pretending to be  still a Death Eater, must pretend to 
hate him.

Now, that doesn't mean that Snape *never* hates Harry. He 
does, IMO, especially when Harry is being egregiously 
James-like. But we should have a 'tell' for that, and I think we do. 
Harry notes in his first potions class that Snape's eyes  look like 
cold, empty tunnels. But when he goes to confront whatever at 
the end of GoF, they glitter. Suppose the empty look is 
occlumency at work; Snape hiding whatever thoughts and 
feelings would contradict the lie. The glitter is honest emotion. 
So let's see:

Snape sneering at Harry's fame in Book One? No glitter. Potion 
making ability? A random check of passages reveals no glitter, 
just smirks and sneers, though it would be rash to say it never 
happens without checking them all.

We get the glints and glitters when Snape accuses Harry of 
being like his father, and when Snape is in the Shrieking Shack, 
but *not* when he accuses Harry of helping Sirius escape. They 
appear when Snape accuses Harry of invading his office but 
*not* when he reads the Witch Weekly article, and interestingly, 
not when Snape finds Harry in the pensieve . There's anger 
there, definitely, but not hate, not if you believe the glitter clue.

Thoughts?

Pippin