Snape-the Hero -- Snape-the Abuser

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 143311

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

<snip>

> If Snape deserves karmic punishment for endangering Harry with his
> sarcasm and malice, even if Harry didn't come to harm through 
> them, then shouldn't Lupin and his pals suffer karmic punishment 
> also for endangering the innocent villagers of Hogsmead? The 
> Marauders can't be excused for their youth if the outings lasted 
> into their seventh year when they were adults. 

Some have offered the idea that they have: James is dead, Sirius is 
dead (but in a different way), Peter is a subservient creature with 
an indeterminate role to play, Lupin has spent years in poverty and 
alone in emotional deprivation.

Our speculations about what Snape has suffered are, in contrast, 
utterly speculative (redundant, but true).  It's an open question 
whether he's spent a miserable 15 (or whatever it is) years (poor, 
poor baby) having to teach at Hogwarts; he did get off light, thanks 
to Dumbledore, on the whole DE and Azkaban front.  We speculate that 
he's miserable having lost everything at the end of HBP, but that 
does depend on one speculation about his interests and ends.  And 
with the revelations about Snape's parentage, the whole 'poor Snape 
abused by his father/family/whatever' scenario has started to sprout 
at least a few holes.  Also relevant is that the Snape under 
question is in his mid-30's, not a teenager of 15-18.

There's also the issue that the Marauders in Hogsmeade has never 
been shown to have any story-relevant consequences (at least yet): 
no one coming forward to proclaim that it was a free Lupin who bit 
him, no covered-up accidental deaths, nada.  We can speculate, but 
it has not yet made the category of text-extant.  In contrast, we've 
seen what Snape's behavior has sown; even if we argue about the 
extent of its affects (I still argue for OotP as being an 
illustration of what daily strife can sow), it's eminently relevant 
to the main thread of the story.

So the two situations aren't particularly comparable; it's the 
literary question of what exists in the text and what's brushed over 
and implied that seems most relevant.

-Nora hops on for a short time during break...mmm...vacation...