What is the use of Ch2 "Spinners End"?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 134331

Del wrote:
<snip>
> Whenever I think of the second chapter of HBP, "Spinners End", I get
> the nagging feeling that JKR is playing with us. Mainly, my main
> concern is: what is the POINT of that chapter?? <snip>

Carol responds:
I don't know if you read my post 134206, which tried to answer the
objection that the chapter was just "checking items off a list," but
here's the link in case you're interested:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/134206

At any rate, I think "Spinner's End" is a giant red herring geared
mostly to those who believe that Snape is evil and want their views
confirmed. What it actually gives is not the true answers to all the
questions that both Harry and the reader have been asking about Snape,
but the lies and half-truths that he told Voldemort, and thanks to
Occlumency, was able to convince him were true. (Of course he probably
has a few remaining doubts, like Bellatrix, but the Unbreakable Vow
changes that for her and him.)

For the reader, it does one of two things. Some readers, those who
have always thought of Snape as evil, will say "Aha! I told you so!"
and eagerly read on to see him prove his unworthiness. For the reader
who has always seen Snape as an ambiguous figure, unpleasant  but
almost certainly on the side of good, it sets up doubts--an initial
"this can't be true" reaction that anticipates the climactic moment
when he kills Dumbledore. (It also shows, as I think you said
yourself, a very confident, controlled Snape, very much in charge of
the situation, knowing exactly how to deal with Wormtail and the two
very different women.) 

My reaction was to start thinking feverishly about the potential
consequences of that accursed oath, which I knew put Snape at a
terrible risk, regardless of whether he was good or evil, and it
certainly started my doubting him as I never would have done otherwise
(and never did in any other book). In a sense, it provided a buffer.
Without that chapter, Dumbledore's death at the hands of Snape would
have been such a shock to me that I would never have read any of the
books again, and I think, based on the initial shocked reactions of
other list members, that it did the same for many of them, whether
their shock was at the loss of Dumbledore (which many of us
anticipated but nevertheless felt numbed and saddened by) or the
seeming perfidy of Snape, which disturbed me, and probably others,
much, much more.

So, as I said in the post I linked to, I think we're seeing a
variation on the unreliable narrator here, ironically a "dramatic"
narrator who reports the scene without commentary and without a POV
character, which reduces us to Wormtail's position, listening at
keyholes (ironic since we later find out that Snape did the same
thing; he was the eavesdropper at the Hogs Head). So JKR wants us to
think the worst of him, just as she did in SS/PS, only this time it
will be a whole lot trickier, and a whole lot more interesting, to see
how she can possibly redeem him since he did unquestionably kill
Dumbledore.

BTW, I like the ingenious theories that are popping up regarding Snape
and I hope the Snape defenders are right. As I said before, I would
really hate to have all the sophisticated characterization that JKR
has put into Snape, making him so real and complex and mysterious, be
for nothing. And I'd hate, too, for Dumbledore, who seemed so wise
with Draco, even weakened and helpless as he was, to be reduced to
piteously begging Snape for his life, having foolishly trusted him
with no better reason than Snape's claim of remorse for the death of a
man that he hated.

Chapter 2 has *not* given us all the answers. It's a trap for the
unwary, and I think we should hesitate before believing Snape's words
to a Voldemort worshipper and a hysterical mother. He's telling them
what he needs them to believe, which should not be mistaken for the
truth, or at least not the whole truth.

Anyway, I liked the prominence the chapter gave to Snape. I hated and
still hate the terrible position it placed him in--protect Draco at
any cost, even if it means to do evil or die. My only comfort, my only
hope, is that it must have been done, somehow and for some reason, on
Dumbledore's orders, or on his own initiative, to save Draco at a
terrible price to himself. My fear is the consequences of committing
murder, regardless of his unwillingness to commit it, and particularly
of casting an Avada Kedavra, an Unforgiveable Curse. I wish we could
get inside his head to feel the anguish, the terrible grief and
remorse, that he must feel but can't show. And surely if he were evil
he would have gloated or triumphed, basking in his supposed glory.
Instead, he concentrated on rescuing Draco (for which chapter 2
prepared us) and on saving Harry from being cruciod while trying to
give him a last-minute, unappreciated lesson (for which it didn't).

Sorry. I know you were only complaining about chapter 2. But I think
it established the importance of Snape to the book, it set up the
Unbreakable Vow, and it provided seeming answers that I hope we will
discover are lies.

Hope this helps.

Carol