Snape as a foil (Was: Snape- Universal Teacher - Universal Story)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 128564

Steve (bboyminn)wrote:
> I've been reading the many posts on Snape and whether he is an
> effective teacher or not, and something occurred to me.
> 
> I appeal to our resident authority, Shaun, to confirm or deny my
> statement, but doesn't Professor Snape make an appearance in every
> single British School Boy story ever written? Of course, he appears
> under many different names, but isn't it pretty much standard fare
for there to be one very unpleasant teacher in the school to act as
the Hero's foil, nemisis, and antagonist? <snip>

Carol responds:
Not being an authority on English schoolboys or the literature about
them, I'm not responding to your main question, just the defination of
a literary term, "foil."

A foil serves as a kind of mirror to another character, often but not
always the protagonist. Usually the foil is of the same sex and age as
the character he or she mirrors and is placed in similar circumstances
but reacts differently. As someone in another thread pointed out, Luna
is a foil to Hermione (and I expect we'll see more of that in HBP,
perhaps in relation to ancient runes). Snape has at least two foils in
books 3-5, Sirius Black (as a schoolboy from a Dark Wizard background
and as a damaged adult) and Remus Lupin (as a teacher with a dark
secret). Snape's childhood seems to have been as unpleasant as
Harry's, but we don't know much about it and the contrast to Harry is
less important than the conflict between them which is preventing both
of them from serving the Order to the best of their ability. (Harry's
chief foil, IMO, is the young Tom Riddle: similar to Harry in
background, appearance, and potential, but very different in his
actions and choices.)

Carol