Why does Snape wants DADA job if it cursed? LONG

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 148809

Okay, this post is going to be massive, but I'm so interested in this
subject-- unlike pretty much every other Potter mystery, I've never
heard a theory that made me go, aha!  As nearly everyone on this
thread agrees, it's difficult to reconcile all the facts and make
people's motivations make sense.  And, people, Snape wanting the DADA
job and not getting it, is BIG.  In the first three books, it's nearly
the FIRST THING we're told about this character:

PS:
    "Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked     
   Percy.
    "Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking   
  so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he
doesn't want to -- everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an
awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."


CoS:
        "Hang on. . . " Harry muttered to Ron. "There's an empty chair
at the staff table .... Where's Snape?" Professor Severus Snape was
Harry's least favorite teacher. (...)
        "Maybe he's ill!" said Ron hopefully.
        "Maybe he's left," said Harry, "because he missed out on the
Defense Against Dark Arts job again!"


PoA:

        "Look at Snape!" Ron hissed in Harry's ear.
        Professor Snape, the Potions master, was staring along the
staff table at Professor Lupin. It was common knowledge that Snape
wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job...


Okay, so in GoF she waits a little longer-- it's not mentioned in the
feast, but it comes up in Snape's first class:

        "You know why Snape's in such a foul mood, don't you?" said
Ron to Harry as they watched Hermione teaching Neville a Scouring
Charm to remove the frog guts from under his fingernails.
        "Yeah," said Harry. "Moody."
        It was common knowledge that Snape really wanted the Dark Arts
job, and he had now failed to get it for the fourth year running.


She didn't bring it up for ages in OoP, but then of course we get an
actual scene about it:

        You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post,
I believe?' Professor Umbridge asked Snape.
        Yes,' said Snape quietly.
        'But you were unsuccessful?'
        Snape's lip curled.
        'Obviously'
        Professor Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard.
        'And you have applied regularly for the Defence Against the
Dark Arts post since  you first joined the school, I believe?'
        'Yes,' said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips. He looked
very angry.
        'Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused
to appoint you?' asked Umbridge.
        'I suggest you ask him,' said Snape jerkily.


And in HBP, Snape finally getting the gig seems to be pretty deeply
woven in, one way or another, to the course of events as they unfold,
signalling that something is about to drastically change about Snape's
situation.

We know very little here, but this seems pretty established:

-- Snape has applied for the DADA job every year since he joined the
staff-- and one year before did that, as well.
-- Dumbledore, every year, did not give him the job, and in fact has
been willing to go to great lengths to appoint ANYBODY but Snape--
entrusting his students to dangerous losers like Umbrige and Lockhart,
and subjecting people he likes, like Moody or Lupin, to a curse
-- Snape seems, from the Umbrige scene, to have some sort of emotional
stake in this dispute-- he speaks 'jerkily' and looks 'very angry'; 
it's the only time, in fact, that we see him angry at Umbrige, even
when she's yelling at him about the Veritaserum

So, we need a theory that covers all this stuff... ready?  Here's a
big fat list for you:


-- Snape DOESN'T want the DADA job;  his yearly applications are just
a front to give Dumbledore a chance to make a public display of not
trusting Snape.  Pros:  Snape seemed to think this was a line worth
pitching Bella.  Cons:  Bella was, like, that's a stupid reason to
think you're still evil.  Which it is-- it's just too lame, IMO, to be
a cover story.  Also, no payoff.  Why does JKR keep bringing it up
every single book?

-- Snape doesn't know the job is cursed;  he just kept applying for 14
years because teaching DADA to snot-nosed brats seemed cooler than
teaching Potions to snot-nosed brats, even though he loves both
potions and DADA, and hates snot-nosed brats, so why the big
difference?  Ah, who cares... .  anyways, Dumbledore didn't give it to
him because he though Snape was more worth protecting from the curse
than than his old friend Moody or that sweet Lupin fellow.   Actually,
it was just fun to piss Snape off.  Finally, for no particular reason,
Dumbleodore said, sod it, it's been 14 years, I'll give him the job
already.  Pros:  Snape doesn't have real motivations, he just does
stuff to be mean and weird, and who knows what goes through
Dumbledore's head?  The end.  Cons:  If there's one thing JKR does not
get wrong, it's motivations (math, not so much.. ).  Her whole system
of plotting is based on it.  There's just no way she'd keep whacking
us on the head with this DADA job thing and then not motivate it
properly.  Moving on...

-- Snape doesn't want the DADA job:  he wants the DADA Curse. Here we
have to sub-categorize:

      -- Snape thought he, as Mr. Dark Arts, could break the curse,
and was, what, seeing it as a challenge?  Dumbledore did not think
Snape would succeed, and he was right.  Pros:  certainly in character
for Snape, and has a classical hubris-and-fall structure.  Cons:  It's
almost TOO in character for Snape;  it doesn't tell us anything new or
take the character forward in a way that justifies making the whole
thing mysterious.  I would tend to think that if that was the case JKR
would have revealed the existence of the curse much earlier, have
Snape brag about being able to break it, and made it more overt that
it was the curse whot done him.  It also doesn't contribute much to
the story arc in terms of how Harry would relate to this, or how it
plays in to Snape's goodness or badness, or where the story came from
or where it's going.  Meh.

      -- Snape wants to leave Hogwarts because he did a career
aptitude test and 'teaching grade school' wasn't in the top five
hundred.  But Dumbledore wants him to stay, because (paraphrasing JKR)
he thinks it's good for kids to be exposed to a teacher like Snape. 
Snape feels obliged enough to Dumbledore that he won't just quit, but
he likes to make a coded song-and-dance every year by applying for the
'one year and you're out' job.  Pros:  Sort of funny, which is what I
like best about it.  Cons:  this makes Dumbledore more than a little
mean, plus, it's not a very emotionally intense payoff, plus, if this
was the case, Snape probably WOULD just quit.

      --  Snape expects-- rightly as it turns out-- that the effect of
the curse would be to expose him as a double agent.  He's sick of
spying and wants permission to quit, which he's asking for, again in a
coded way, by appying for the job;  and D-dore is codely refusing. 
Pros:  this is a pretty good motivation, and takes the character in an
interesting direction.  Cons:  Again with the mean Dumbledore:  if
Snape really wanted to quit, wouldn't Dumbledore just let him,
especially as a reluctant spy could do more harm than good?  Plus,
being exposed as a double-agent is pretty close to a death-sentence,
which brings us to:

      -- Snape expected-- wrongly as it turns out-- that the DADA
curse would kill him, as he has darker secrets than most.  Snape
wanted this outcome and Dumbledore didn't;  Snape has enough
obligations to D-dore to drag out his miserable existence under his
kindly eye, but applies for the DADA job yearly as a scab-peeling
excercise in Dumbledore's face.  Pros: You have to love the irony of
the actual outcome of the curse.  Big emotional payoff, and probably
the most shocking thing for Harry to discover.  Plus, the scab-peeling
does sound so very Snapey. Probably the most in-character option for
Dumbledore  Cons:  does Snape really seem suicidal?  Would he do
himself in before he could take V-mort with him?  I'm the world's
leading suicidal!Snape proponent, and even I'm dubious about this.

-- Here's an intriguing one:  there's something beyond the DADA Curse
that is magically attached to the post, something desirable;  I don't
know, access to rarefied magical knowledge via the secret DADA
library? Part of the Golden Key that gets you to Level 5?  Really cool
hat?  Riddle did, after all, apply for THAT job, so maybe there was
already something weird and unique about it.  So, Snape felt that the
Magic Thingie was worth enduring the curse to get, and Dumbledore
didn't?  Pros:  introduces cool new stuff.  Actually makes sense as a
motivation.  Cons: the thing would have to be REALLY COOL, as there's
very little EMOTIONAL payoff to this revalation.  Hard to see why JKR
would keep hitting it so hard as a key thing about Snape.   Zero canon
evidence.

-- Oh, all right, I'll throw a bone to ESE!Snapers:  Snape, as
Voldemort's man, expects the curse to be lifted for him.  He keeps
applying for the job because.. he's after the mystery thing from the
preceding theory.  Dumbledore doesn't give it to him, because... oh, I
give up, I just can't make ESE!Snape theories make any sense.

-- adding  Jen's theory:

>My brain can spin all sorts of theories about why Snape got the
>position and for efficiency reasons my personal favorite is simple:
>Voldemort, for whatever twisted Dark Lord reason, said to
>Snape: "Get the DADA job or else", so Snape went to Dumbledore and
>said, "give me the DADA job or I'm a dead man" and Dumbledore
>said, "Hmm, compelling reason. OK."  Simple, efficient, and
>requiring only a modicum of explanation.

Pros:  it's certainly simple.  Cons:  this has been going on for 14
years--  before V-mort's return.  Wait:  okay, I got one:  V-mort gave
Snape an assigment to get the DADA job, and dagnab it, Snape just
hates to leave a job half done.  Okay, this is now my favorite.

-- -- The real reason Snape wants the DADA job:  Comes with parking space.

Argh.  You know what?  I don't really like any of these!  Any other
suggestions?

-- Sydney, forlorn for lack of a pet theory.