The Unloved Son (was Re: Could I be wrong about Snape being evil?)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 156731

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Irene Mikhlin
<irene_mikhlin at ...> wrote:
>
> Three cheers for Salman Rushdie, who managed with one
> question what hordes of snapeophiles could not achieve
> with gigabytes of discussions. :-)
>
> Now can you honestly say that the (brilliant) plot
> you've just described provides for  a thousand times
> more interesting book 7 than ESE!Snape, or OFH!Snape?
>
>

Depends on how each variety is done.  I've never been much of a
believer in ESE!Snape, as I think that's just not a good fit at all
with what's gone before.  OFH!Snape fits much better, as does Grey!
Snape (of which my example might be seen as one variety).  DDM!Snape
raises deep moral questions, particularly about about the DD part.

Actually, I'm not really so much interested in rescuing Snape, who
needs fairly severe punishment, I think, for his abuse of Harry and
Neville no matter what explanation is given, but Dumbledore.  The
unloved son scenario provides a Dumbledore who is loving and means
well but is caught in a trap many a father-figure must face, and who
mistakes classic, but understandable, mistakes in trying to deal with
it.  Other varieties of Snape often predicate fairly noxious versions
of Dumbledore, and leave the title "epitome of goodness" and "very
wise man" as nothing more than bad jokes to be invoked by late night
stand-up comedians.

So the Unloved Son depends for its importance, as far as I'm
concerned, on its corollary -- the Loving but Fallible and
Emotionally Blind Father.


Lupinlore, who finds it so much easier to dissect unreal people, as
you don't have to worry about collecting your therapy fee from them