Explanations but no facts (was Re: Mr. Snape, not Saint Snape)

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 135752

Dan wrote:

As I  have asked before and ask again to the list - what would explain
Snape's  revulsion and hatred, Albus changed tone (such that it
startled Potter) on  the Astronomy Tower? In spite of vague comparisons
to mercy killing, there  has been no explanation that makes sense,
other than, perhaps, that Snape  has broken under the general distrust
of the faculty, students, of the  whole wizard world, and holds the old
man in contempt. Albus has forced, or  tried to force, respect for
Snape, because Albus is trying to make Snape,  the abused kid Snape,
who claimed he wanted to get better, who expressed  remorse, a better
person? It has failed dismally, because of Snape's fear,  his self-hatred.
Julie says:
You ask again what would explain Snape's revulsion and hatred, and 
then dismiss the theories that Snape could feel hatred and revulsion
for what he must do (or so I assume, as that theory has been posted
here repeatedly). It's fine if you don't believe in this theory, but it  is
viable given the ambiguous information imparted in HBP, just as the
idea that Snape was killing an already dying Dumbledore (i.e., "mercy
killing") is viable. So you have been given alternate explanations 
that could fit with the few facts we actually know. It's fine that
you don't believe them, but they have been given. 
 
Oh, and Dumbledore's changed tone came about as Snape
walked onto the scene, *before* Snape and Dumbledore even
had eye contact. Assuming ESE!Snape, how did Dumbledore
know Snape was going to kill him before Snape even got 
there? He would have just been assuming Snape was arriving
to help fight the DEs. And if he could Legilimens that info
from Snape, why didn't he Legilimens earlier the fact that Snape
had turned ESE, or that Snape was prepared to kill him out
of self-preservation?
 
It's contradictory, and two reasonable explanations are that 
Dumbledore was begging for something he'd already been 
planning to beg for (all along, or as a last resort--which could
be that Snape must kill Dumbledore to save himself), or that
Snape Occlumensed Dumbledore up to that very last minute. 
(See, I even present both sides!) And once again JKR is very 
careful to keep Snape and his true loyalty a complete enigma. 
Damn, that woman is good!



If Snape liked Lily, or Lily was nice to him, and he called  her
"Mudblood", and this is his worst memory, and the "mudblood" part  the
worst part, as I've said before, then this indicates a very hurt,  very
hurtful human being, who has had a tendancy to lash out at people  who
he cares about. Sounds like abuse symptoms. It comes out a bit the  way
he relates to students, don't you think - though, apparently, this  can
be moot.

When Albus tells Snape "you know what I must now ask  you to do" at the
end of GOF, that conversation doesn't pick up again, in  our
information, until Hagrid's overheard convesation "what if I  don't
want to do it anymore?" This, I submit, is what Snape and  Dumbledore
are talking about. Not the Unbreakable Vow, because the  language
doesnt't fit that scenario AT  ALL.

dan


Julie says:
Actually it does sound like they could be talking about the 
Unbreakable  Vow, as much as they could be talking about 
Dumbledore's comments in GoF. Of course they could also
be talking about whether Snape should wear panty hose
under his robes. (Dumbledore "You made a promise!"="It
will help hide your unsightly varicose veins.")
 
Okay, maybe not. But we got zero real information from that
conversation, other than that Dumbledore wants Snape to do
something and Snape is having second thoughts about it. 
Did I say before that JKR is GOOD?
 
Julie  


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