JKR and Inconsistency (was:Re: Sirius and Prank again? Fools Rush...)

[eloise_herisson]

No: HPFGUIDX 130030

> Betsy Hp:
> Except that's not the sole reason Snape wants to feed Sirius to the 
> dementors.  It's not pure tit for tat.  Snape believes that Sirius 
> betrayed James and Lily, murdered Peter and the muggles, and came 
to 
> Hogwarts for the sole purpose of murdering Harry.  As far as Snape 
> is concerned Sirius is continuing down a path he started way back 
in 
> school.  Yes, Snape is thrilled to finally see Sirius get his, but 
> he's also convinced that Sirius is guilty of the crimes he's been 
> accused of. (Keep in mind that Lupin is quite prepared to kill 
Peter 
> then and there for those exact same crimes.  And Peter is 
protesting 
> too.) 

Eloise:

Oh, yes, Snape's convinced that Sirius is guilty of all that (as I've 
argued strongly in the past against those who think Snape is solely 
out for personal revenge). But he only needs to take him back to the 
castle to get his just desserts.

"Vengeance is very sweet," Snaped breathed at Black. "how I hoped I 
would be the one to catch you".

At that particular moment, it *is* personal vengeance that is on 
Snape's mind. It's also the personal experience that convinces him of 
Sirius' and Lupin's guilt (it's the event that he's used to suggest 
to Dumbledore that Lupin isn't trustworthy and hence he has 
presumably been brooding on it all year).

In any case, it doesn't alter the case that we have two parallel 
scenarios: Sirius attepts to feed Snape to a werewolf, Snape attempts 
to feed Sirius to the Dementors. It makes a nice balance.

> 
> >>Eloise:
> >The snooping around after MWWP is the superficial reason we are 
> given for the initial resentment between them (which I quite agree 
> might have a deeper cause).<
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Well, no.  Not the *initial* resentment anyway.  At least in my 
> opinion, JKR does a good job of showing that these two (Snape and 
> Sirius) had not liked each other for a good long while.  I was 
> always under the impression that the snooping around was *because* 
> of a mutual dislike, not the cause of it.

Eloise:

I don't think we can argue this one conclusively either way, 
actually. Interestingly I'm involved in a discussion on another list 
where precisely the opposite point has been put to me: that we have 
no knowledge of the chronology or substance of the enmity between 
them (granted this comes from someone who doesn't trust a word 
Dumbldeore says). I certainly believe Snape and James hated each 
other from day one (or possibly even earlier) but it's not clear when 
Sirius and Lupin come into it.


> 
> >>Eloise:
> >Unfortunately, the snooping around *ought* to have alerted Snape 
to 
> what he might face. It's compounded in OoP by having Snape reading 
> about werewolves, a detail surely meant to remind us of the 
> snooping, the resentment, but inconsistent with his decision to 
> enter the tunnel.<
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Hmm, I know others on the list think Snape should have made the 
> connection between his werewolf studies and Lupin.  But I 
disagree.  


Eloise:

This has been answered by Mags in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/130025 

If Snape set the werewolf homework in an attempt to expose Lupin and 
Hermione realised, then surely Snape, two school years further down 
the line, snooping after MWPP and noticing that Lupin disappeared 
every month (did he really not notice it was full moon?) should also 
have put two and two together. Again, I think JKR has been giving us 
deliberate parallels.

Betsy Hp:
> Frankly, we are still missing some very key factors to what 
happened 
> the night of the prank.  So I think it's a bit early in the game to 
> start leveling charges of inconsistency at JKR.  So far, I think 
> she's done a bang up job.  :)

Eloise:
I'm not "leveling charges", just saying that I think its inevitable 
that such inconsistencies creep in, particularly when you just want 
to give enough to hint at a background without going laboriously into 
detail. I take comfort from knowing that I'm not the only one to find 
such inconsistencies and if JKR manages to finish the series tying up 
every single on of them, she will have my undying admiration.

~Eloise