Is Punishment the only recompense? (was Re: Straightforward readings?)

[bibphile]

No: HPFGUIDX 140822

Marianne: 
And that is a major part of why I would find it very unsatisfying. 
Whether or not Snape would find words meaningless is immaterial.  
It's not about him doing as he sees fit, even if his actions are all 
for the good now. To me that smacks of letting Snape off the hook, 
in a sense, in that it allows him to atone in the way that he's most 
comfortable with or the way he feels is best. He's not acknowledging 
to the person or people whom his actions have hurt that he's sorry 
for what he's done to them.

bibphile:
I suppose there are two reasons it doesn't bother me all that much.  
Firstly, I think each character's action have to make sense for that 
character.  If Snape doesn't see how his apologizing will help 
anyone them it make perfect sense to me for him not to apologize.  
Secondly, I don't think it would mean anything at all to the people 
hurt (at least not to Harry, maybe to some of the others).

Marianne:
Talk, cheap or otherwise, was evidently fine for Snape when he was 
spinning his tale of remorse to try to worm his way back into DD's 
 good graces. But, for me as a reader to buy Snape's tale, I want to 
hear it from his own lips.  I want to see him look someone in the 
eye who has suffered as a result of his previous actions, like 

bibphile:
I think Snape talking to Dumbledore is different than him talking to 
just about anyone else would be.  Convincing Dumbledore was 
necessary in order to accomplish any good.  It was probably about 
more than pouring his heart out.

I think that it is possible (though by no means certain) that we 
will see Snape's remose but if we do I think it will most likely be 
in a pensieve.  Snape rarely shows any emotions other than other 
than anger, impatience, or frustration.  It seems to me that he 
thinks wearing his emotion on his sleeve is what allowed him to be 
manipulated into joining the DEs.  (Just to be clear, I'm not trying 
to absolve Snape here.)  I think even if her were being completely 
honest about his response verbally he would still try to hide his 
emotions from most people.  Unless of course he was pushed to the 
edge like we've seen him a few times then he'd probably call someone 
an idiot and ask why they though he was doing what he was doing.  
But that probably wouldn't do any good.

Marianne:
And, I don't think Snape finds words meaningless. He is one of the 
most eloquent characters in Potterverse.  How powerful it would be 
to hear him use the same verbal grace to express his remorse.  

bibphile:
I mean that I think he finds words easy to fake.  His life is full 
of lies (no matter what side he is own).

And I don't think Snape's eloquence extends to discussing emotions 
(his or anyone else's).

 Marianne:
However, I'm inclined to agree with you that we won't hear it, not 
because Snape thinks actions speak louder than words.  But, because I
don't think Snape was remorseful to begin with.

bibphile:
That's certainly reasonable.  I disagree.  I hope I'm right because 
otherwise I think Snape would pretty much stop being an interesting 
character.

bibphile