Hooked nose (was: Importance of Audience (was Re: Dumbledore or Snape))

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 141503

> Pippin:
> > There used to be a concern, though I haven't heard much about it 
lately,
> > about whether Snape, with his hooked nose, his insistence on the 
letter
> > of the law, and his stiff-necked attitude wasn't some kind of 
Jewish
> > allegorical reference. If so, that he should be *falsely* supposed
> to have 
> > killed Dumbledore has more resonance for me, as a Jew, than if it 
turns 
> > out that he did kill him but might be forgiven. But that's just 
me.

Alla:

You know, I know from experience what an ugly thing antisemitism is 
and even though my experince is far from the worst ones which many 
jews from former Soviet Union suffered ( no jail time or anything 
like that - just periodical slurs in everyday life and impossibility 
to get into college).

And I have to tell you, I did not pick this metaphor from Snape at 
all.

"Mudblood" resonates with me quite deeply, Snape's situation ... so 
not. Maybe because I evaluate all that happens in Snape life as 
consequences of bad choices Snape made and IMO continues to make, NOT 
as undeserved prejudice against someone who did not do anything bad, 
but just different.

But of course, those are just my experiences

Nicolau: 
> This is the kind of association that makes ESE!Snape profoundly
> disturbing to me. If Snape, the impopular nerd with oily hair, turns
> out to be ESE, and the best that Slytherin house has to offer is
> Slughorn, than the whole Harry Potter series turns out to encourage 
> prejudice, IMO. Unwillingly on the part of JKR, I am sure, but 
still.
> The fact that Dumbledore complains about Draco calling Hermione a
> mudblood does not negate this: it is very easy and common to 
complain
> about prejudice and let it creep in through the back door. That is 
why
> I *want* Snape to be good, redeemed, DDM, whatever: not so much for
> the sake of the soul of an immaginary character, rather for the sake
> of the soul of a real book. 

Alla:

I am not sure I agree with this kind of reasoning. I think Sherry 
Gomes raised a very good point once. The MAIN villain of the book 
used to be handsome, charming young man on the outside. So, it is not 
like JKR portrays  her villains as ugly, they can come in all shapes 
and forms, IMO. If we have a handsome villain, why cannot we have the 
ugly one too, especially if we are not sure whether Snape is ugly 
too? Vary as I am of "Harry's POV" argument, I am quite willing to 
assume that his appearance could be a bit better from what Harry 
describes. ( Not much though :)).

I DO want to see a good redemption story and I think that Snape can 
still be a good candidate for it, even better now, because then he 
has something real to be redeemed for. Now, I still thought that he 
may need redemption for his treatment of Harry, but now stakes are 
raised so much higher.

But , say Snape is not going to get redemption story, but instead as 
Nora theorised "fall from grace" one. I think it could be no less 
powerful, especially when we still have Peter as possible candidate 
for redemption.


> 
> Nicolau 
> (who both thinks and hopes that Snape did not kill Dumbledore)
>

Alla,
 for whom the fact that Snape killed Dumbledore is a given, but the 
reasons may be not.