The Possibilities of Grey Snape (was Re: What would a successful AK mean?)

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 142985

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Sydney" <sydpad at y...> wrote:

<snip>

> Argh, cleary I'm not expressing myself very well!  This has ALMOST 
> NOTHING to do with Snape's specific qualities as a personality-- 
> it's why I brought up Pettigrew, whom nearly everybody loathes.  
> It's about the RELATIONSHIP between Harry and Snape.

Yes, but even your view of the RELATIONSHIP between Harry and Snape 
is very strongly influenced by your perception of what both 
characters are, which naturally has to do with their specific 
qualities.

Otherwise we fall into an ersatz generalized structuralism, and I 
don't need any more Joseph Campbell in my life. :)  (Nobody does.)

> As the central relationship, it's bound to undergo a reversal in 
> the finale, just as it was bound to reach it's lowest point at the 
> end of the 2nd act.

I suppose that's one default possible structural model, but I'm far 
less more comfortable than I used to be that it's now 'bound' to go 
that way.  Maybe if it had remained on anything close to the same 
parameters that it was following, but those got blown apart with a 
BANG (unless one is intent upon arguing for a line of thought which 
retrospectively mitigates said BANG).  I'm particularly unfond (I 
admit) of the view that wants to smooth characters out and normalize 
them and make everything into a nice coherent line.

I wouldn't disagree that trust has been one of the major themes in 
the series, but the combination of factors I find most compelling 
doesn't necessarily point to a Snape-positive outcome, which I gather 
is the one that you're pulling for.  There's something ironically 
powerful about Dumbledore's refusal to share and confide in people 
being at least part of what brings him down: given his personality, 
it makes him pathetic in the classical sense of the word, not the 
modern loose usage.  (He's got at least one big honkin' howler of a 
mistake on his hands no matter which of three+ scenarios we choose, 
so I don't understand why it's so essential to keep him pure and 
unsullied in the Snape-trusting area.  Or is it a 'won't someone 
think of the children?' case?)  But it's eminently up in the air, in 
a way that such things as shipping really weren't.

-Nora, who wouldn't dream of pointing out JKR's ambiguous, playful, 
but not exactly hopeful comments about the issue