CHAPDISC: HBP 2, Spinner's End

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 142063

 
I know I'm repeating others before me, but these are really
inventive questions, Potioncat (and Carol, and SSSusan).
 
<snipping #1--nothing to add to previous answers, and #2--not  a
sociologist>

3. Bella knows Narcissa is going to visit Snape, but she is caught by  
surprise (equaling that of many from this list) at the location. She  
calls it a Muggle dunghill and doubts that any of "our kind" has ever  
set foot there. In fact, Snape, Pettigrew and Narcissa all seem 
familiar  with the area. Yet it was Bella who was supposed to be part 
of young  Severus's gang. What do you think is going on here? How long 
do you think  Snape has been using this location?
 
Julie:
It may not relevant enough to the story for JKR to ever confirm or
deny, but I think this location is Snape's childhood home. We know
Snape doesn't come from money, and this seems like the kind of
mean surroundings that would fit the Pensieve scenes where  young
Severus was cowering and teenage Severus was zapping flies with
his wand. It would be a poetic fit anyway, even if there's no proof!
 
As for Bella not knowing about it, I get the impression Snape and
Bella were never close, for all that they ran around in the same  gang.
There doesn't seem to be any love lost between them at all, and I
don't get the impression it's a recent development. Add to the fact
that she was in Azkaban, it's not surprising she doesn't know about
Spinner's End, or that Snape wouldn't volunteer the information to
her. 
 

4. Snape's tiny sitting room is lined with leather bound books and  
contains a threadbare sofa, an old armchair and a rickety table. It 
had  the "feeling of a dark, padded cell." A padded cell is used for 
someone who  needs protection from himself. What does this room, or 
the house and  neighborhood, tell us about Snape? Do you think this is 
his usual home away  from Hogwarts?
 
Julie:
I didn't really read any significance into the padded cell reference,  other
than it perhaps being Snape's way of protecting himself from the  outside
world. Snape likes small, dark places, like his dungeon office. Would 
his living quarters be any different? And Snape has never been about
appearances, so he's not likely to care about the threadbare state  of
his surroundings, inside the house or out, any more than he cares  about
his grooming. As long as he has his small space and his books,  he's
content. (As I would be, though I prefer my surroundings  lit and cozy,
rather than dark and cell-like!)
 
I do think this is Snape's home away from Hogwarts, which means  he
wouldn't be in residence except during school breaks and in the  summer,
assuming he's not busy playing double-agent between Dumbledore  and
Voldemort. To me, all those books lining the walls seem to  confirm it. 
And the neglected state doesn't mean much, because, again, Snape
doesn't much care about keeping up appearances. 


5. Narcissa is described as having a note of hysteria in her voice  
and the look of a drowned person. She then enters a room that has the  
feeling of a padded cell.  What does that tell us about Narcissa?   
How does that fit with her actions later in this chapter?
 
Julie:
It pretty much just told me Narcissa is desperate. She'll do anything
to protect her son, and sacrifice anyone, including Snape, in the 
process. (I'm not a proponent of ACIDPOPS!)

6. Snape, Narcissa and  Bella drank a toast with blood-red wine. I'm 
not sure which image came  sooner to my mind at that point: Vampire!
Snape or Sir Patrick Spens and his  wrecked ship. In English ballads, 
nothing good comes after drinking  "bluid-red" wine.  Elf-made wine 
doesn't sound too safe either. How  many stories involve some danger 
at drinking something made by elves or  fairies? These are magical 
folk, so perhaps it's not so dangerous. Do you  think this was just 
setting the magical mood, or was JKR waving a  flag?
 
Julie:
I think it was just setting the magical mood, and the foreboding  sense
that something not good is coming.

7. This is a serious chapter,  with lots of dark images. It's 
informative too, but it's difficult to decide  which information is 
truth and which is deception. What images or feelings  made an 
impression on you? How do they affect your interpretation of the  
story?
 
Julie:
My first thought as I read the chapter was that Spinner's End was
the perfect location for Snape. As the conversation between Snape
and the Black sisters commenced, I, like others, was never once
shaken by Snape's declarations of loyalty to Voldemort, or his 
explanations of how his actions throughout the previous five books 
supposedly support that conclusion. No matter *what* Snape is--
DDM, ESE, or OFH--he's not going to do anything BUT declare 
his loyalty to Voldemort in the presence of Bella and Narcissa. 
So I continued from this chapter with pretty much the same 
opinion about Snape, that he is on the side of Good, while being
quite unpleasant in personality. 

8. Narcissa asks Snape to make an  Unbreakable Vow and Bella 
is "astonished" that he agrees. It looks like a  wedding ceremony, and 
is obviously very serious. We've seen that magical  contracts have 
serious consequences--the Goblet of Fire in GoF, and the  SNEAK hex in 
OoP. None of us can really understand why Snape agreed, but is  this 
just Business as Usual in the Wizarding World? How does this vow  
compare to magical deals in fairy tales and myths?
 
Julie:
I think Snape had a good idea what Narcissa wanted from him. I
don't think Voldemort told him, because I don't think Voldemort tells
anyone more than he absolutely has to. But Snape's no idiot, and 
I imagine rumors spread throughout the DE world as quickly as they
do throughout the general WW. So he wasn't surprised by the vow,
as he expected Narcissa to ask for his help. He planned to protect
Draco, he just didn't plan on that third part of the Vow (thus the 
hand twitching). And since magical contracts seem impossible to
break in the WW without serious consequences ensuing, it's no 
wonder Snape hesitated! (That may not always be the case in all
fantasy tales, but we haven't seen an exception in the WW.)

9. (Thanks to Carol for this question): Like "The Other 
Minister,"  "Spinner's End" is written from a point of view other than 
Harry's. But  while "Minister" uses the usual third-person limited-
omniscient narrator,  who sees through the eyes of the Muggle Prime 
Minister rather than Harry's,  "Spinner's End" dispenses with a point-
of-view
character altogether.  Narcissa, Bellatrix, Snape, and Wormtail (if 
we're counting vermin) are  presented from the third-person dramatic 
or third-person objective
point  of view, meaning that they are seen from the outside with a 
minimum of  commentary and no direct insight into their thoughts. It's 
as if both  the
narrator and the reader are invisible, silent witnesses to the scene,  
much like Harry on the tower. How does this change in the point of 
view  affect our reading of this chapter? Why do you think JKR chose 
this point of  view rather than letting us into, say, Narcissa's or 
Bellatrix's mind? How  does having a chapter written from a point of 
view other than Harry's affect  your reading of HBP or the series 
itself? Should JKR have omitted the first  two chapters in order to 
maintain a Harrycentric view throughout the book?  Why or why not?
 
Julie:
Clearly JKR wasn't about to let us see this scene from Snape's POV!
But even giving us Bella or Narcissa's POV would probably give too
much away. There have been a handful of POV's besides Harry's, 
but they've all been minor or one-time characters (Vernon Dursley,
Frank Bryce, the Prime Minister). I'd love something from a major/
pivotal character's POV (Snape, Hermoine, Lupin, etc, etc) but I 
don't think we'll ever get it. JKR didn't write the story that way.
 
I definitely don't think JKR should have deleted Chapters 1 or 2, 
or other non-Harry-centric chapters in earlier books. It's gives  us
the rare opportunity to know something Harry doesn't, and to see
objectively rather than through the lens of Harry's POV. While I
love Harry (or I wouldn't be reading the books) I do enjoy those 
brief diversions. I'm hoping there'll be one or two chapters told
from outside of Harry's POV in Book 7. 
 
Julie
(skipping question #10 as I have no answer right  now)






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