Harry IS Snape!

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 141073


Juli:
<SNIP>
> Okay, before someone shoves a bezoar down my throat to cure me
> of whatever brain-befuddling potion this post's title implies 
I've  ingested,
> let me clarify: *Teenage* Harry IS *teenage* Snape! 


Alla:

Well, funnily enough, even though I would not go that far I 
certainly believe that f Dumbledore meant for any lessons to be 
learned, he had in mind the lesson that it is NOT healthy to be like 
Snape, that nursing twenty year old grudges against DEAD men is 
never healthy and Harry should do his best and not be like Snape, 
but no I would not go that far,simply because I believe that it is a 
possibility that Harry's hatred of Snape is not THAT irrational as 
one may think. :-)


Juli:

> Though I won't repeat everything they said, in that chapter it's  
pretty
> clear Harry's anger and hatred of Snape are out of proportion to 
> anything Snape is doing to him (or has done to him in the past). 
> Yes, Snape's been mean, petty, vindictive--you name it--on a pretty
> regular basis since Harry came to Hogwarts, but even Harry admits
> to himself that he is 'clinging' to his notion that Snape is at 
fault  for
> Sirius's death, just because that belief is so emotionally  
satisfying. 


Alla:

Well, except for the fact that Snape may be REALLY at fault for 
Sirius' death. I realise that possibility that Snape may be telling 
the truth in "Spinner's End" is not viewed as a strong one, but I 
think that it IS a possibility.

And what does Snape say there?

"The Dark Lord is satisfied with  the information I have passed him 
on the Order. It led, as perhaps, you have guessed, to the recent 
capture and murder of Emeline Vance and it certainly helped dispose 
of Sirius Black, though I give you full credit for finishing him 
off." - HBP, p.30.



Julie:
> Read: Harry KNOWS that his perspective on Snape is out of whack,
<snip> to the point that he argues with
> Dumbledore over fetching Snape when he *knows full well* that  
Snape
> has already saved saved Dumbledore from one horcrux curse. <snip>

Alla:

Erm... I think that  whether Harry's perspective on Snape is out of 
whack is really, really remains to be seen.

And as to Harry's reluctance to fetch Snape, well, he may be not so 
wrong, IMO. I mean, unless you are convinced that DD was dying, 
which I am not, then we have alive DD before Snape came and dead DD 
afterwards. 




Julie:
<HUGE SNIP>
 The big question, the issue that I think is going to
> prove one of the most critical in HP, and deliberately so on the 
part
> of JKR, is whether adult Harry will become adult Snape.
<SNIP>
> If this is to be a central issue/theme of HP, it does require  
that 
> Snape be DDM or at least OFH, and because this theme *has*
> been set up so obviously in Chapter 8 with Harry's unreasonable
> hatred of Snape, I think this whole scene is another strong  piece
> of support for DDM!Snape. If Snape turned out to be ESE  as Harry
> suspected all along--sometimes *irrationally* by his own tacit 
> admission--then Harry has little opportunity to willingly  release 
this  
> destructive and misplaced hatred against a man who hasn't earned
> that level of enmity (don't scream, Snape-haters-we're talking 
about
> Harry's feelings through HBP Chapter 8!). 


Alla:

I completely disagree. it would be VERY satisfying to me if Harry 
forgives the man who is truly guilty of all the things he said in 
Spinner's End. I think it would be much harder for Harry to do so 
than to acknowledge Snape's positive actions if there are any.

No, Snape who helped made Harry an orphan, Snape who killed Harry's 
mentor in front of Harry's eyes is REALLY hard to forgive and if 
Harry manages to do so, I think he can truly call himself a hero.


JMO,

Alla.

Great post, Julie.