Power vs. Trust (was:The Possibilities of Grey Snape...)

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 143057

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> 
wrote:

> This is a series in which childhood, but especially perpetual 
> childhood, is not seen as an admirable state. We see over and over 
> again that childish judgement is by definition poor.   I would not 
> expect Harry's childish judgement of Snape to be validated.

I see a countersentiment running through the series (and in interview 
comments as well), though: children don't tell themselves the same 
sorts of lies for justification that adults do.  It is certainly true 
that children don't understand all of the pain and complexity of 
adult decisions.  But they are often also not willing to accept the 
kind of equivocation that marks adult reasoning and bargaining, and 
there's something sincere, honest, and positive about that.

JKR doesn't seem to be going for the whole 'enemy of my enemy is my 
friend' angle that is so common in the spy or thriller genre, where 
alliances must be made with distasteful characters.  If she were, 
then Harry should have reached a rapport with Scrimgeour instead of 
bluntly shoving him off to the side at the end of the book.  Remains 
to be seen if Harry's idealism will be rewarded, but I'd put better 
odds on than not.

<snip>
 
> If each action of Snape is sincerely meant, and marks a twist in 
> his path, then there is no blanket explanation for them and  JKR  
> will either have to revisit each one to tell us what Snape was 
> doing and why, or leave us in the dark. While some readers might 
> enjoy a Snape debate that went on for ever, that would leave Snape 
> as the books' most intriguing character. It is Harry who is 
> supposed to be interesting.

There is the option of presenting it in broad strokes, instead of 
accounting for each and every action (which she's already covered a 
lot of with Spinner's End, except--oh, he's faking most of it there, 
isn't he?).  We're owed an explanation of why Dumbledore trusted him--
we know that.  We've also been told ex cathedra that we are indeed 
going to get a fuller explanation of the so-called Prank.  I see a 
chapter starring some character as Basil Exposition already.  Why not 
fold in "And then I got tired of doing all this stuff and pretending 
to like the good guys and waited until I could get out of it"?

> Evil!Snape or DDM!Snape is a lot simpler and covered by the 
> explanation we've already been given: Snape is a good actor and 
> whenever he needs to, he can pretend. 

Possible, of course.  I think at least a few other listies have the 
same objection to it that I do: any explanation which covers 
everything *explains* nothing (like psychoanalysis, or hard-line 
Marxism).  Anything which could totally account for both of these 
positions seems rather...boring.  But that's just my opinion.

-Nora still sits the fence with abandon, but feels an imperative to 
be a devil's advocate contra majority opinion at the present