Snape, bias, etc.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 141030

Krista wrote:
<snip>
> I want to know why it is that Snape fetches Harry, vs. Hagrid, from
Tonks at the Hogwarts gate. <snip>> 
> So I'm looking at this scene to see what we find out here that's so
essential to the book that this scene must be included. Let me toss
them out:

><snip Krista's self-discarded explanations>

This is what screams to me to be "the point" of the entire section,
because it covers over one full page of text in a scene that runs from
160-162, and for the first time in the text, we see Harry reflecting,
in an extended manner, on his emotions about Snape. This, I think, is
the point, that Harry's vision of Snape is twisted by a deep,
irrational *hatred* of the professor. JKR is all but holding up signs
in this section to say, "HARRY ALWAYS THINKS THE WORST OF SNAPE. HE
FINDS EMOTIONAL GRATIFICATION IN HATING HIM. HE USES SNAPE AS AN
EXCUSE, BECAUSE SNAPE IS NOT A PLEASANT PERSONALITY. HE IS EMOTIONALLY
VESTED IN HATING SNAPE." 
> 
> Even before Harry and Snape speak together, "Harry felt as though
his body were generating waves of hatred so powerful that it seemed
incredible that  Snape could not feel them burning him."  
> That's a rather clear statement of Harry's emotions, but JKR goes on:
>  "He had loathed Snape from their first encounter." Now we know 
that Harry's feelings are a *bias* that have run back to Day One
between them. JKR hammers on the point that Harry's feelings about
Snape are just that, feelings, powerful and irrational: "Whatever
Dumbledore had said," Harry had decided on his own that Snape was
complicit in Sirius' murder by his "snide remarks." 
> (Harry does not accuse Snape of seeking to kill Sirius; instead, he
accuses Snape of murder on what one must see is a pretty petty charge,
that of calling names.)
>  JKR even has Harry subconciously *acknowledge* he's being petty for
reasons of personal gratification: "Harry **clung*** (my emphasis) to
this notion, because it enabled him to blame Snape, which felt
satisfying," and also because he "knew" Snape wasn't sobbing in his 
pillow over Sirius--ergo, he "deserved" to be accused of murder, in
Harry's very emotional line of thought.
> 
><snip> Snape is, admittedly, being a brat.  I use that word because
Snape's comments here are not especially deep; he's needling Harry on
being late and wearing Muggle clothes, and he brings up past history
of Harry crashing the car with Ron during their second year. But let's
face the facts: Harry's a student, he's late, and he is wearing Muggle
clothes when he should be in his robes. It is reasonable to assume any
other student would receive at the least a lecture from any professor
at Hogwarts, for showing up in such a state. 
> 
> Harry, while receiving this needling, isn't just angry, as someone
unjustly  accused might be. He experiences "fury and hatred"  that
"blazed white-hot." (He also makes it clear he is deliberately
refusing to explain himself to Snape.) His "chest might explode" from
anger and when they finally get to the Great Hall, he heads off ASAP,
"anything to get away from Snape." 
> 
> Is any of Harry's reaction rational here? <snip>
> 
> So, anyway, to throw this back out to the larger group--
> what do you think about this scene? 
> 
Carol responds:
I think you've answered your own question beautifully. Harry *is*
overreacting to what (for Snape) is relatively mild behavior. I also
think your <snipped> point that Snape know about the invisibility
cloak but doesn't confiscate it is well taken. (I won't get into side
issues like why Snape responds to a message intended for Hagrid or
Tonks's changed Patronus, but I admit to still being confused by them.)

To get back to Harry--I think what we're seeing here is his unresolved
anger at himself for his role in Sirius Black's death. In OoP we have
the narrator stating (from Harry's POV): "He would never forgive
Snape. Never." That statement stood out to me the moment I read it as
 an example of the unreliable narrator making an assertion that would
eventually be contradicted, along the same lines as all the "he was
going to die from the pain" statements in the various books but not so
immediately corrected. Why? Because he's so obviously projecting his
own guilt onto Snape, in this case unfairly. Snape's taunting of
Sirius (a fully grown man) did not result in Sirius's death. It was
his own decision to go to the MoM (when Snape had specifically told
him not to); and it was Bellatrix, not Snape, who killed him. But
Harry has never really faced up to the situation. He can't admit to
himself that if he had paid attention to Hermione and questioned the
supposed vision, examining its inherent unlikelihood and the
possibility that it was a trap, Sirius would be alive. So much more
satisfactory to scapegoat Snape, against whom he already holds so many
grudges.

So this scene informs us that Harry still blames Snape for Sirius's
death and for that reason, and perhaps others, refuses to see Snape
rationally. Any dim hope for an understanding between the two of them
has been lost, first through Harry's unauthorized exploration of
Snape's Pensieve memory and Snape's explosive reaction and now through
the scapegoating. (Someone mentioned PTST in relation to Snape. It
seems to fit *Harry* here.)

And of course the situation becomes still worse with Harry's discovery
that Snape was the spy who told Voldemort about the Prophecy, which
occurs at just the wrong moment. There's no time to talk about it or
to compare Trelawney's version with Dumbledore's (they don't match;
why not?). Instead, they have to go rushing off to hunt Horcruxes. 

The set-up is perfect for Harry to witness the death of Dumbledore and
think absolutely the worst of Snape. But as your reading of this
chapter shows, Harry may just be wrong in his judgment of Snape--
especially given that Harry again will have a hard time facing the
truth about his own role in a beloved father figure's death.

Carol, wondering what to make of the chapter title ("Snape Victorious")