Snape/Harry coincidence?
justcarol67
justcarol67 at yahoo.com
Thu Sep 15 21:53:07 UTC 2005
No: HPFGUIDX 140230
We tend to speak of the books as being written from Harry's POV, but I
noticed on a recent rereading of SS/PS that the narrator deviates from
Harry's POV on several occasions (in addition to the entire first
chapter), for example, to report that Harry is asleep or to describe a
dream that Harry doesn't remember, or to show Ron's and Hermione's
actions while Harry is being cursed by Quirrell and countercursed by
Snape, who is trying (straightforward reading here) to save him.
On another occasion in the same book, Harry is described from the
outside (not seeing himself in a mirror--the narrator is briefly
stepping outside Harry's POV). Oddly, the wording strikes me as
virtually identical to a description of Snape in GoF.
Harry has decided to take his first really courageous and selfless
action, entering the forbidden corridor to retrieve the Sorceror's
(Philosopher's) Stone:
"Well, that's it, then, isn't it?" Harry said.
The other two stared at him. His face was pale and his eyes were
glittering.
"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the
stone first."
"You're mad!" said Ron.
"You can't!" said Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape have
said? You'll be expelled!"
"SO WHAT?" Harry shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets the
stone, Voldemort's coming back! . . . . There won't be any Hogwarts to
be expelled from! . . . I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and
nothing you two can say can stop me! Voldemort killed my parents,
remember?" (SS Am. ed. 270)
Despite his error in thinking that it's Snape who has the stone, there
can be no mistaking Harry's motivation or his courage. He's risking
death (as well as expulsion) to save Hogwarts. But we are not given
his thoughts here. The narrator has deviated from the normal POV
(Harry's) to describe Harry as Ron and Hermione see him. His pale skin
and glittering eyes reveal an almost fanatical determination to do the
right thing "at great personal risk" (to borrow DD's description of
Snape as a spy in VW1).
Compare this passage from GoF:
"Severus," said Dumbledore, turning to Snape, "you know what I must
ask you to do. If you are ready. . . . If you are prepared. . . ."
"I am," said Snape.
He looked slightly paler than usual, and his cold, black eyes
glittered strangely.
"Then good luck," said Dumbledore, and he watched, with a trace of
apprehension on his face, as Snape swept wordlessly after Sirius. (GoF
Am. ed. 713).
The "cold" eyes reflect Harry's perspective, as does "strangely."
Everything else (including Dumbledore's apprehension, which is
confirmed by his long silence) is straightforward narration. Snape,
who is always pale (or sallow) is paler than usual and his eyes are
glittering, just like Harry's in the SS/PS passage. In fact, the
sentence from the earlier book could be substituted verbatim with no
change in the meaning (except to remove the trace of subjectivity). We
know that Snape is being sent to Voldemort, that even if he's on LV's
side (as he claims to be in "Spinner's End"), he's going into great
danger. He has prepared his excuses; he has probably chosen precisely
which memories he will allow Voldemort to see. Only his wits and his
skill as an Occlumens lie between him and death.
Various readers have noticed the similarity between Harry's feeling of
hatred and repulsion as he feeds Dumbledore the poisoned memory in HBP
and Snape's look of hatred and revulsion as he casts the spell that
knock Dumbledore from the tower at the end of the same book. The
similarity between those passages seems unlikely to be coincidental.
Could the SS/PS and GoF passages I've quoted also be deliberately
coincidental, the later recalling the earlier to create a parallel
between Harry and Snape? Why else would JKR have the narrator deviate
from the normal POV to describe SS/PS Harry from the outside and then
repeat virtually the same description for a character Harry hates
three books later?
I suggest that it's because Snape, like Harry, is performing an act of
selfless courage in opposition to Voldemort. His action cannot in
itself save Hogwarts or Harry, but it's a vital step in Dumbledore's
plan to save the WW. Whatever the explanation for HBP Snape, the pale
face and glittering eyes suggest an almost fanatical willingness to
risk death for Dumbledore's cause, exactly like Harry preparing to
enter the corridor in SS/PS.
Carol, who thought this would be a two-paragraph post
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