Snape as father figure

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No: HPFGUIDX 130947

> Phoenixgod:
> 
> > The
> > kind of tough uncompromising father that kids grow up to respect and
> > understand do what they do out of love.
> 
Amanda:
> The whole point is, the children in the equation don't necessarily see that.
> And we are seeing the relationship entirely through the child's eyes in this
> case. The motivating factor for the adult is almost immaterial, for to a
> child's perspective, all that matters or holds weight is the child's
> reasoning and the child's perception--which are not mature enough to have
> moved out of "victim" mode.
> 
Phoenixgod:
> > they want their children to
> > grow up strong and disciplined so they enforce that discipline until
> > the child is ready to enforce that discipline on themselves.
> 
Amanda:
> And I submit that Snape wants Harry to be disciplined until he can grow to
> discipline himself. And Harry has shown Snape precious little evidence that
> he can. Nothing you have said so far is inapplicable to Snape; in fact, it's
> a really good summary of what I think Snape is trying to do.
> 
Phoenixgod:
> > When I was a teen I hated my father and we had
> > a terrible relationship. I didn't understand what he was trying to
> > do.
> 
Amanda:
> This is Harry now.
> 
Phoenixgod:
> > I'm older and wiser now and I see more clearly. He might have
> > been an ass sometimes, but he was an ass that had my best interest
> > at heart and in the end I am better off for what my father did.
> 
Amanda:
> This is where I hope Harry will allow himself to be mature enough to
> achieve.
> 
Phoenixgod:
> > Snape doesn't have Harry's best interest at heart.
> 
Amanda:
> And this is the part I answered in my earlier post. Basically, (a) we don't
> know that, and (b) even if we did, *Harry* is not mature enough to
> understand what Snape is trying to do.

Princess Sara now:

 Amanda, I just wanted to give you a bit of back up because the Snape-as-father-figure 
argument has been forming in my mind for about a year now. The point has been made 
several times here that the books are from Harry's point of view, not anyone else's. Sure, 
Snape's a right horrible bastard (I believe JKR called him a "deeply horrible person"), but he 
has saved Harry's life more times than we even possibly know about. Just in OoP, he gives 
Umbridge fake veritaserum and manages to decode Harry's actions in Umbridge's office 
towards the end of the book. If he truly couldn't stand that the spawn of James was 
walking the earth, I don't think he'd have been so vigilant about the boy's safety.

Is Snape a nice man? Absolutely not. Is he capable of caring about someone? I think this is 
shown throughout canon multiple times. In SS/PS, Snape volunteers to referee a quidditch 
match, something that doesn't seem like a normal occurance, in order to protect Harry 
from Quirrell. I haven't read CoS in a while (I'm gonna before July 16th, I swear!) so I can't 
think of book example, though the scene in the movie where Snape suggests Harry was in 
the wrong place at the wrong time stands out to me. Probably not in the book. Anyway, in 
PoA, Snape's concern about Lupin seems to stem from the fact that he was friends with 
Sirius and could be letting the convict into the castle *to harm Harry*. He follows the trio 
into the Shrieking Shack to face a murderer and his "accomplice" Lupin all by his lonesome 
to save Harry from what he believes to be a grisly fate.

I could continue but I'm getting long winded. All I'm trying to say is that saying Snape 
doesn't have Harry's best interests at heart is contradictory to canon. And it totally makes 
sense that Snape represents the authoritarian aspect of the "father figure". I can totally see 
a scene coming at the end of book 7 in which Snape either a) sacrifices himself to save 
Harry or b) Snape spends the battle covering Harry's back. I think we will see a deepening 
respect between Snape and Harry in contrast to a cooling relationship with Lupin.

- Princess Sara
   (who's desperately hoping Snape doesn't buy the farm in book 6. Desperate crying would 
ensue)