Hearing from the Great Middle

[Sherry]

No: HPFGUIDX 140223

Lupinlore's post made me sit down and try to organize(!) my
thinking.
I've read lots of fascinating and insightful analysis of
Snape's
position, and I admire the discussion of many members besides those I
quote here!

Lupinlore:
2/3 of us are reluctant to come down on either side, either because  
      we want to reserve judgment or because we think Snape will not,
in  the end, be clearly on one side or the other.

Amontillada:
I voted that I don't know WHICH side Snape is on! I've read closely
reasoned arguments for both ESE and ESG Snape, but I think we've seen
him do too many things that don't fall neatly into either category. 

Lupinlore:
I suspect about half of the mystery has been deliberately created by
the author, and the other half arises from circumstances that JKR
thinks are perfectly straightforward, but which don't appear so to the
fandom.

Amontillada:
Because we overanalyze them, or because JKR is waiting to explain them
in HP7, as Agatha Christie does in the last chapter of her mystery
novels, making readers say "Of course! Why didn't I see that?" JKR
won't have the space available to explain EVERY move Snape's made, so
I can predict one thing: we'll be debating for a long time just which
actions fall into which category. In Message #140128, Allie
illustrated how Snape could be interpreted as ESE, ESG, or OFH. (Thank
you, Allie for telling us that OFG stands for Out For Himself--for
some reason, I hadn't found that one in the Inish Alley table.) Good
arguments, based on canon, can be made in several directions; see
140128 for specif illustrations.

If I had to pick a category right now, I lean toward OFH - with a
twist. Call it OFHI: Out for Himself Intellectually. At heart, Snape
wants to increase his own knowledge of magic--both the Dark Arts and
its opposite (for lack of a better term, the Light Skills). Here's the
rough sequence of events:

1. Harry's glimpses in OoP 26 indicate that Snape grew up in a
verbally abusive family, and was a lonely youth. It would be
consistent with the canon picture of his intellect if he'd turned
to books and knowledge as a haven, in which he discovered his thirst
for knowledge.

2. He delved into BOTH Dark and Light magic even before he finished
school at Hogwarts. Sirius describes Snape as already "a little
oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts" (OoP 29). (Where
did he learn about the Dark Arts? From his mother's family
library?)

3. Soon after leaving Hogwarts, Snape joined LV's forces, which
he saw
as a way to learn more about the Dark Arts. With his naiveté and
intellectual conceit he believed he could seem to follow LV, without
truly committing himself. He found out the hard way what LV demanded
that his followers do to prove their loyalty.

4. This point was when he realized that he had gotten in over his
head, and turned for help to DD, who in turn recruited him as a double
agent. Snape's proximity to LV and his intellectual gifts gave him
unique qualifications for this role. He had begun to admit
intellectually just HOW vicious LV's methods really were, but
James and Lily's deaths forced him to admit it _emotionally_ as
well.

As I see it, Snape has been trying to navigate an independent path
throughout the series, weaving back and forth between Dark and Light
without truly committing himself to either side. At the end of HBP, he
appears to have dropped all pretenses and aligned himself with LV. But
I still think that his FINAL commitment has yet to be made, and
we'll
see it in HP7. I can't begin to predict which way he'll
finally turn!

zgirnius:
Despite having something at least vaguely resembling a conscience, he
remains a nasty, unpleasant, bitter person, hence the interactions
with his students [especially Harry and Neville] that we see
throughout the books.

Amontillada:
Many members of the list have given very well-phrased, succinct
descriptions of Snape's character, so this is far from the only
fine one. Even if he takes Harry's side in the end, it won't
mean
that he's a total Nice Guy after all. Completely apart from his
allegiance in the war with LV, he has many deep personal flaws, which
can be blamed largely on his pursuing knowledge at the expense of
emotion and every other aspect of human development. Turning away from
LV's side, if he does that, won't transform him into a more
likeable
person.

Amontillada