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

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 140755

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> 
wrote:

<snip>
 
> As far as believing Snape or not in HBP, it depends on whose 
> judgement you trust more: DD or Bella.

Speaking as an OFH!Snape fan, the answer is: neither.  :)

Dumbledore has been set up to make particular kinds of mistakes, which 
Alla discussed pretty well downthread.  He has suspicions about Tom 
Riddle but he doesn't share them with anyone else, ensuring that Tom is 
fully and completely able to work his charm on other people.  
Dumbledore doesn't share and doesn't confide, so he never gets that 
cross-checking second opinion.  He cuts Harry off in Harry's 
suspicions: rather than give him real solid actual information to 
relieve Harry's worries, he demands that Harry believe in Snape via 
believing in Dumbledore himself.  Second-hand trust.

Bellatrix, of course, is loony and suspicious, but she does peg the 
essence of the issue: why does *Snape* always come out looking so 
good?  An open and interesting question, I'd say.

And one which OFH! provides a surprisingly 'straightforward' answer to, 
precisely because it allows a number of motivations and disparate 
actions to coexist, and doesn't tie the character into one ideological 
orientation.  I suspect it's hard to like mostly because of its 
thematic resonances: it means that Snape is not a positive redemption 
story, but a negative exemplar.

-Nora wakes up to a disturbing lack of sun