Snape as infidel/House characteristics

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 150553

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, IreneMikhlin 
<irene_mikhlin at ...> wrote:
> The other popular reaction, even scarier for me than the first 
> one, is the insistence that the only way for Snape character to 
> achieve satisfactory closure is to have some public humiliation 
> scene. And as a result, he must acknowledge that Gryffindor ways 
> are the correct ones.
> 

Oh, absolutely this is, imo, the only satisfactory ending to Snape's 
story arc, and the one which allows JKR to avoid an abominable and 
spectacular failure.  But I don't know that it has so much to do 
with Snape acknowledging Gryffindor ways are correct as 
acknowledging that the Gryffindors are correct, which is a somewhat 
different thing.

The various House characteristics have always struck me as more 
symbolic than actual.  As many have pointed out, Hermione has 
Ravenclaw traits, Harry Slytherin ones, Neville Hufflepuff 
qualities, etc.  Even the symbolism seems to shift over time, as 
Slytherin goes from the house of ambition to the house of pure blood 
and Hufflepuff from the house of hard work to the catch all.

The exception to this is, to an extent, Slytherin.  I think this is 
in part due to honest reservations JKR herself has with regard to 
Slytherin's symbolic house traits -- whether pure blood or ambition. 
Even in her most positive statement about the dream of house unity 
she talks of Slytherin as embodying "maybe not the most noble 
traits."  Scarcely a ringing defense.  And let's face it, she hasn't 
shown us any Slytherins who aren't from the wrong side of the moral 
tracks, be it the unctious and manipulative new potions master, the 
abusive and unforgiveable old potions master, or the various bullies 
and losers who dance attendance on Draco (including Theodore Nott 
and Blaise Zabini, upon whom much hope rested).  True, we've seen 
McClaggen and Pettigrew in Gryffindor and Marietta in Ravenclaw -- 
now we need to see a truly good character in Slytherin (and I don't 
mean a DDM!Snape, who doesn't qualify as good in any case).

But I think the more important reason is for narrative impact.  In 
the early books she needed villains and it worked best for those 
villains to be grouped together under one banner, i.e. Slytherin. 
And thus was the house of villainy (or at least venality) born.


Lupinlore