Snape=Judas?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 150769

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tonks" <tonks_op at ...> wrote:
 
> Tonks:
> Is JKR really Cassandra?
> 
> Makes you wonder doesn't it?  I don't mean that she actually buried 
> a jar, but how does she KNOW these things.  Let me explain:
> When 9-11 happened my first rational thought after cursing the idiot 
> we have for a president (or what JKR calls "that horrible man") 
> was "thank god all of those children read the 4th book of Harry 
> Potter." By that I mean that I think reading about how LV came back 
> helped children understand real evil and maybe somehow it prepared 
> them for it.  And then real evil happened in our Muggle world.  
> 
> Again last year JKR was going to read from the first chapter of HPB 
> on July 16th but had to switch chapters because on July 10th 
> terrible things really did happen in London.  And throughout the 
> books the parallels between the evil that is happening in our world 
> and what is happening in the books are so real.  Now one could argue 
> that evil is evil and the connections are just there because of 
> that, and I would agree.  On the other hand, it does make you stop 
> and wonder. 


Geoff:
I agree with your premise that there are notable comparisons between the real world and 
Harry's but I feel that to draw parallels between Voldemort's actions and those of the 
terrorists who carried out the 11th September attacks in New York, the 7th July bombings 
in London and the Madrid atrocities in 2004 is not accurate. I see Voldemort as more 
directly comparable with Adolf Hitler – and in more recent times - Slobodan Milosevic. 

The terrorist attacks of recent years have been executed by Islamic fundamentalists whose 
aim is to strengthen the hold of their own fanaticism on their own culture and secure a 
grasp on non-Islamic countries which they attempt to do by attempting to destabilise the 
lifestyle and beliefs of people of other faiths. They do also include folk from their own 
countries who profess the Christian faith and faiths other than Islam. There is a worrying 
increase in the reports of Christians throughout the world who are being discriminated 
against, oppressed, attacked and even killed in an attempt to silence the gospel. That is 
not the aim of Voldemort.

His plan is more in line with that of ethnic cleansing which was practised by Hitler (though 
not under that name) and aimed at specific national groups. In the real world, Hitler 
targeted easily recognisable groups such as the Jews; in the Wizarding world, JKR makes 
Voldemort's aim along the same lines – the elimination of a perceived "underclass". This 
covers Muggles and halfbloods and Muggle-born wizards. In other words, it is not based 
on a question of faith but the continued superiority of an imagined "Herrenvolk" who can 
produce all the required evidence of a lineage untainted by inter-marriage with Muggles.


Tonks:
>  Now the story of the Gospel of Judas is just coming out.  Like 
> others, I too thought about Snape and DD when I saw this on TV.  I 
> think that I was one of the first here to say that DD was a Christ 
> figure and Snape was Judas, but still DD's man. (I have said all 
> along that JKR is using many Christian symbols in the books and 
> telling a metaphorical story about ultimate truth from a Christian 
> perspective.) But how does JKR know about these discoveries about 
> Judas before they are made public?  Does she have a friend that is 
> one of the scientist?


Geoff:
I think the answer here is that these ideas are not being aired for the first time. Many years 
ago, I remember coming across a book in my local public library – which I did not continue 
to read – in which the opening chapter was set in heaven after the Ascension and in which 
the author visualised Jesus with his disciples and Judas was being praised for the part he 
had taken in events.

Those of us who are Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross to carry our sins for us 
and open the way to salvation and ultimate life with God; this had to be achieved by his 
arrest and trial. In the author's story line, Judas' actions had been necessary to ensure the 
arrest of Christ. So the idea that Judas may have been working for good is not a new one. 
However, I remain to be convinced that this was a possibility.


Tonks:
> Oh an intuitive level, which connects with the subconscious where 
> our collective unconscious resides, I just sense that there is 
> something in these books that are so much more than just an 
> interesting and enjoyable tale.  There is deep truth here, and I 
> wonder if there is even more.  Is JKR the next Moses?  Is there a 
> burning bush behind that locked door? What is this woman really 
> doing?


Geoff:
I have said previously I believe that Jo Rowling, like Tolkien with LOTR, reveals a covert 
faith in her books. God is present but not openly worshipped. Many people, myself 
included, identify so strongly with her books because the stories are based on the deep 
truth which she hints at in her stories and the symbolism of Harry as an everyman on his 
journey through life.