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

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 140791

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:

> What OFH! Snape doesn't explain is why Snape should bother -- 
> he doesn't seem to be a thrill-seeker like James or Sirius, so why 
> should he  undertake such a risky course, in which he can ultimately 
> rely neither on Dumbledore's protection nor Voldemort's? 

Because OFH! is less risky than complete commitment to one side or the 
other, for some understandings of risk.  It means that should things go 
egg-shaped, there's always an out for Snape.  Be completely on one side 
or the other, and you have to go down with the ship.

> It's not as though spying is all he knows how to do. He's obviously
> not after popularity, nor wealth, nor influence. If he's into the Dark
> Arts so thoroughly, why park himself at Hogwarts, where there's no
> opportunity to practice them? Wouldn't Durmstrang have suited him 
> better? Karkaroff's an old friend; surely he would have been welcome? 

You make emigration sound so easy and tempting, Pippin. :)  [It's a lot 
on my mind lately, because I'm working in the 1920's-30's music 
history, where a huge question exactly is 'why did some people stay, 
why did some leave, and what did it do to them?'  Everyone who 
emigrated paid a heavy price for it.  Everyone who didn't did too.]  Go 
away to a foreign school, they're speaking whatever language normally, 
uprooting from a fairly comfortable position...one that allows more 
insight than otherwise into the workings of things.

I don't buy the idea that Snape is this impersonal detached figure who 
really doesn't want anything for himself.  I think that he likes power, 
and he likes position and authority, so why disrupt his system and give 
all that up?

-Nora should really go to sleep now, really...