Straightforward readings? (was Re: Truth vs. what meets Harry's eye )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 140722

Alla wrote:
> 
> <snip> MY straightforward reading for Snape is that he DID something
wrong. ( You know, helping Harry to become an oprphan, bullying  the
children, killing Dumbldore to me count as wrong). That is why I would
feel good when he is caught and punished. <snip>
> 
> Believe me, to me Snape did enough to deserve punishment already.
<snip>

Carol responds:
To me, the straightforward reading is that Snape regretted having told
Voldemort the Prophecy, *returned* to "our side" and began spying for
Dumbledore "at great personal risk" (GoF) at least several months
before Voldemort's fall since he began teaching Potions two months
before Godric's Hollow, attempted to tell James that Sirius was a spy
but was "arrogantly" rebuffed (PoA--the fact that he was wrong about
*who* the spy was is immaterial here), and expressed remorse when the
Potters died (HBP). All straight from the books. Moreover, actions in
the HP books have unintended consequences--Snape's revelation of the
Prophecy does lead (despite his remorse) to Harry's becoming an
orphan, but it also leads to Voldemort's vaporization, giving the WW a
respite from Voldemort for nearly fourteen years (from GH to the
restoration of LV's body at the end of GoF). Not that Snape deserves
credit, only that if it weren't for his action, LV1 would not have ended.

As for bullying children, Snape's sarcasm is mild compared with the
physical harm that other characters have inflicted on Harry (the
Dursleys locking him in his room with bars on the window and only cold
soup to eat, Voldemort and Crouch!Moody Crucioing him and trying to
kill him, Umbridge trying to Crucio him and making him write lines in
his own blood). As JKR and Dumbledore seem to think, kids need to
learn to deal with sarcasm and dislike on the part of their superiors,
and (IMO) Harry needs to just get over it. (It's possible he would
have done so if it hadn't been for his discovery that Snape told
Voldemort the Prophecy--"Sirius Black murdered my parents" all over
again--and, of course, the death of Dumbledore. The relationship
between Harry and Snape must be made as bad as possible before their
differences are resolved.)

Snape not only saved Harry from Quirrell's curse in SS/PS (Hermione's
interference notwithstanding) and later refereed a Quidditch game to
keep it from happening again, he tried to save HRH from a werewolf and
a man he believed to be a murderer in PoA (he conjured stretchers and
brought them all to safety after he regained consciousness), and he
rescues Neville from Crabbe's stranglehold in OoP. If he had not sent
the Order to the MoM, Harry and all his friends would be dead. Surely
all of this makes up for insensitive remarks about Hermione's teeth or
using Trevor (whom he knew would not be poisoned) to test Neville's
antidote or giving Harry zeroes for spilled potion. Or if it doesn't,
it's the reader's personal feelings and educational philosophy (one to
which Snape himself has never been exposed), not the text itself, that
shapes a desire for punishment. (Boggart!Snape dressed in Neville's
grandmother's clothes and the insults from the Marauder's Map are
punishment in kind--not very effective in making him a kinder person,
were they?)

The tower incident does appear *on a first reading* to be Snape
cold-bloodedly killing Dumbledore with an Avada Kedavra curse, but
only if we ignore everything we have already learned about Snape
throughout the series (including HBP), as well as clues within the
scene itself (no blinding flash or rushing sound, etc.) and the
parallel to Harry in the cave chapter. A straightforward reading must
consider *all* the evidence, not just what Harry chooses to see or how
he interprets what he sees. Take away his feeling of terror and his
hatred of Snape, his interpretation (via the narrator) of Snape's
facial expression, and consider only what actually happens--Snape's
gaze into Dumbledore's eyes, the unspoken message, the atypical "Avada
Kedavra"--and a straightforward reading shows us that *we don't know*
what really happened (except that Dumbledore is really dead). Snape's
actions afterwards, especially his advice to Harry, also make any
apparent loyalty to Voldemort questionable. ("Close your mouth" means
"Use nonverbal spells, you dunderhead!" And of course controlling his
hatred and not using Dark magic is essential to his victory over LV,
but Harry doesn't want to hear it because it comes from Snape.)

JKR provided us with clues throughout OoP that Crouch!Moody wasn't
what he seemed. I think she's providing us with clues that Snape isn't
what he seems, either--and she's been doing so since Book 1. I will be
very surprised if he's nothing but a villain who's been waiting for
his opportunity to kill Dumbledore all these years--a mere plot device
and instrument of evil. (As an aside, what has killing Dumbledore
gained him other than his life and the fulfillment of the third
provision of his vow? He's lost everything--mentor, job, respect,
trust, freedom. If he's also suffering a personal hell of remorse,
surely that's punishment enough. I, for one, don't believe in an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.)

Carol, not quite resisting the temptation to state once more that
there's more to Snape than meets the eye, as we will surely discover
in Book 7