Snape's Betrayal and the Themes of Book Seven

[bbkkyy55]

No: HPFGUIDX 132950

From: "inkling108" <inkling108 at ...> 

> Snip>

>The first is Harry's development, his coming of age as a young man
and as a leader. A person in a position of leadership must be able
to trust their own instincts and think for themselves, even in the
face of opposition from their advisors.

>For a long time now, Harry has had a strong intuition that Snape was
untrustworthy, that he hadn't really gone to the good side.
Dumbledore and Hermione, his two most reliable advisors up til now,
kept telling him he was wrong. Dumbledore was essentially saying:
trust Snape because I trust him, and Hermione was echoing the theme:
if Dumbledore trusts him, he must be trustworthy. Listening to
them, Harry even overrode the testimony of his own experience --
that his mind felt more, not less, open after Snape's occlumency
lessons.

>Now Harry has learned the hard way that even the wisest can be
wrong, that he must never ignore a strong intuition again, no matter
what other people say, no matter how much he may love and respect
those others. This realization will be crucial for whatever it is
he must do and face in Book Seven. Trust your feelings, Luke.

> Snip> 

Bonnie now:

I have to agree with most of this post.  There have just been too 
many times that Snape has been quite alone with Harry and has still 
been grossly mean and totally unfair.  Why put up the act when you 
don't have an audience?  Was he just pretending to be so mean in 
front of Harry so he could keep in practice (form). I don't believe 
it.

Besides,  Rowling still insists these are children's books.  Why 
would a grownup show an adult being soooo mean, and then turn them 
into a good guy.  How confusing for us all!  Who can you ever trust?

I suspect Snape is mostly for Snape.  He has some good qualities, 
like his sympathy for Draco and Narcissa.  Bottom line I believe 
Snape is for Snape.

I may be totally proven wrong, but IMO it would be a totally unfair 
red herring to now turn Snape into a good guy.  JKR is a genius 
though, she could probably do it if anyone can.

Bonnie