Harry IS Snape! (Forgiveness)

[krista7]

No: HPFGUIDX 141112

> Lupinlore wrote:
> And if
> the forgiveness is one-sided, well, Harry becomes a kind of saint-
> like figure, if not a Christ figure forgiving the world that
> crucified him. Such is the foundation of a silly and insipid and
> preachy saga that will make for very good kindling.
> 
> Saraquel:
> Yes Lupinlore, I've been struggling with that as well.  But I think 
> that Lily, to date, is the Christ-like figure.  I posted something 
> on that ages ago, that her death parallels Christ's death on the 
> cross, which I came up with based on JKR's statements about her 
> faith, and the fact that at the end of the series, no-one would be 
> in doubt about what her faith was.  


I disagree with the idea that Harry has to be a Christ-like figure
 to forgive Snape. To me, at the point that Harry is at the start of
HBP, to begin the forgiveness process requires empathy; it means 
you have to acknowledge you yourself are imperfect, that you can 
say to yourself, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." That kind of
self-knowledge isn't super-human or really divine, to me. It's true
maturity. (Sirius, one notes, is both a posterboy for immaturity 
in adulthood and someone who, according to JKR, failed terribly--
to see that some good exists in Snape. Not that Snape's perfect, 
but that he isn't all evil, either. Like Harry, Sirius was stuck in 
black/white mode.) 

I believe Harry's being set up, through HBP, to develop the kind 
of self-awareness/empathy that will move him beyond Sirius' model
(or TeenSnape, for that matter. Dumbledore lets him view Voldie's
history, I would argue, as a hint that Harry has to truly
*understand* Voldiein order to defeat him. (And I suspect Harry's
about to go through a mental breakthrough. re: Draco. 
They have three major meetings in this book: 
Draco beats up Harry; Harry lashes back 
(this is a *very* vivid lesson for Harry in that hatred has
repercussions, whether you will it or not); and lastly, 
Harry sees Draco--supposedly unspeakably evil Draco--
hesitate to do the utmost evil. Even with his family and 
his life on the line!) 

Whether all of this requires a major change on Snape's part--
well, I don't see Snape asking Harry over to watch Quidditch on TV 
together! But I suspect Snape's major challenge is to move beyond 
being Dumbledore's Man (doing good because AD wants him to do
 this-or-that) to demonstrate his belief in Harry's value as a human
being. (If this sounds like I think Snape is going to take an AK for
Harry, well, I wouldn't be surprised. He'd probably prefer
that to giving HP a loving hug!) I think Snape already took a giant 
step forward in terms of *his* maturation process by trying to save 
the life of a man he thought had attempted to kill *him*. He is
anything but gracious about it, and he is associated with the 
reasons James' life was at risk to begin with, but the facts are
 that Snape risked his own life in order to try to save a man 
he'd hated/thought evil for most of their shaired boyhood. 
That's not forgiveness, but it *is* a statement of major character 
growth on his part. 

Krista