James, a paragon of virtue? Snape, a paragon of virtue?

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 123430


>Betsy wrote:
Yes, JKR does enjoy faints and red herrings. (Though I will say that
I never really thought Hagrid was Slytherin's Heir.) But in both of
the examples you cite there are hints that things aren't quite what
they seem. Crouch looks heartless - but also broken (it set up just
how good an actor Crouch Jr. was also), and really - Hagrid as
Slytherin's heir? And as you say - past!Dumbledore's suspicion of
Tom gives us a hint.

I'm not trying to argue that young Snape was pure innocence (JKR
carefully includes information to negate that view), nor am I saying
that James and Sirius are absolute evil (future behavior negates
that). What I was pointing out was that JKR gives James and Sirius
*no* proper excuse for attacking Snape at that time. She didn't do
this lightly. There is an overall purpose for that scene and the
realization that some of Snape's accusations against James are true
(e.g. James most definitely strutted). Part of it, I'm sure, is the
usual coming of age realization that parents are not perfect.

vmonte responds:
You are right that there is no excuse for what James and Sirius did
to Snape when they hung him upside down. Even if there is more to the
story than we saw, and Snape previously did something to instigate
this attack, I still think that it was wrong.

What I did like though, was that it showed how compassionate Harry
is. He is like his mother. This is an important trait, and JKR makes
us aware of it by showing Harry's horrified reaction. It means that
Harry can put aside his personal feelings for someone, and do what is
right. I think that Snape, James, and Sirius have/had trouble in this
area.

I hope that Lily taught James an important lesson during that
penseive scene. I hope this was the reason why he later saved Snape
from Sirius's stupidity. (And I liked Sirius, but let's face it what
he did was wrong and would have hurt Lupin as well.) Unfortunately, I
don't believe that James did what he did to save Snape. I think that
he saved Snape because he realized that Lupin would get in serious
trouble (just MO).

Harry is not like James, not emotionally anyway. I think that if
Snape and Draco were in danger, Harry would save them, regardless of
what he feels for them; this is just my opinion though.

>Betsy wrote: But I also think there is something for us to learn
about Snape, and possibly about judging someone based soley on house
affiliation and family background.

vmonte responds:
I agree on the idea, but I don't think this is what JKR was pointing
out to us in this scene. Snape is a deeply horrible person! He has so
much hatred inside of him that he cannot even accept help from Lily.
And please don't say that he was just embarrassed and lashed out,
this is a cop-out answer. 'Mind your own business' would have
sufficed, right? Instead he calls her a foul name. (IMO he hates her
in much the same way he shows contempt for Hermione. It's interesting
that both happen to have muggle parents.)

Vivian