Harry, Snape and James (was:Re: Sadistic!Snape?...)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 140569

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "M.Clifford" <Aisbelmon at h...> 
wrote:

> 
> After saying all that, I have to agree how dissappointing it would 
be
> for an Singular-alignment!Snape to come of it all. I think such a
> clever narrative on Snape that underlines the readers own morality,
> would be wasted if Snape was ever explained out completely. He needs
> to remain ambiguous til the end, a mysterious character that is only
> as good or as evil as you make him. :P 
> 
>  

I understand exactly what you are saying.  However, I really doubt 
that Snape will be left all that mysterious at the end.  He may very 
well end up not clearly on one side or the other, and I think that 
would be the best ending from a logical and literary point of view.  
But I doubt he will be very mysterious in the sense of our not 
understanding his past, reasoning, and motivations.

JKR seems to me to want to make the moral part of her story very, 
very clear.  Whatever that moral is, Snape is almost undoubtedly very 
important for it.  I just don't sense that she's the kind of author 
who would leave something that crucial without explanation.  

Now, whether we think she has come up with a GOOD explanation is 
something else.  I do agree that Snape is the kind of character that 
almost begs to be left mysterious, because it is so very hard to come 
up with a clear explanation for his thoughts and motivations (whether 
he is Dumbedore's man, DE, or OFH) that doesn't seem forced and 
simplistic.  However, as I say, I sense that JKR wants her moral 
message to be unambiguous, and I just don't think she would be 
willing to compromise the clarity of her message by leaving Snape 
very mysterious.  And that may end up being a very, very big 
problem.  However the Snape arc comes out - Dumbledore's man, DE, or 
OFH - when Snape's history and motivations are revealed I suspect 
that the cry of "Oh come on now, you can't really mean that's IT?" is 
going to echo through the land with deafening force.

Lupinlore